Utah News Source - Utah's best source for news service to the local media

SilverLeaf Financial’s CEO, Shane Baldwin speaks about how his company is
flourishing in the current down economy. 

Salt Lake City, UT - “The financial crisis may not be over any
time soon, but that’s alright for SilverLeaf Financial’s
(silverleaf-financial.com) Chief Executive Officer and President, Shane Baldwin. 
SilverLeaf Financial has managed to  have found a bright spot in the current
financial doom and gloom. 

Located in downtown Salt Lake City sits a 100 year, old four story brick building
adorned with enormous windows and large iron beams extending across the 25ft tall
ceiling.  Inside is SilverLeaf Companies, consisting of the Real Estate division,
Mortgage division, and Financial division.  Shane Baldwin, Trevor Linton, Colby
Bond, and Cary Clark make up SilverLeaf Financials high powered management team.
Each one of those individuals plays an important role in the company’s daily
operations.

Since opening their doors in 2008, the company has made remarkable progress by
focusing on the short-term window of opportunity that has arisen in the current
financial market.  Shane Baldwin says, “Every Friday, another couple banks fail. 
What happens to those assets and the deposits?  The deposits are sold off to banks
that are in good standing with the FDIC, and the loans are packaged and sold in
pools by the FDIC.

“In the beginning we started acquiring an asset at a time with our own capital,
just to get things going and create some momentum.  Now we are working with multiple
accredited investors who are bringing in millions of their own capital.  Says
Baldwin.

The process works like this.  Bids are made and awarded to the highest bidder.  If a
company is awarded the bid, they typically have about ten business days to fund and
close it.  Immediately after buying the assets, SilverLeaf seeks to monetize the
loans by refinancing, or restructuring them with the current borrowers.  This is
referred to as a workout.

Baldwin goes on to say, “SilverLeaf Financial focuses primarily on buying
performing, income producing commercial real estate notes nationwide. We are able to
buy these1st position deeds of trust at a substantial discount from the FDIC.

 
“To date we’ve acquired 11 pools consisting of  17 loans, which equal nearly 80
million in assets.  7 of those 11 pools we’ve purchased have been worked out
successfully; the remainder are still in the process. “The average workout time
from purchase to return on investment is 120 days. Trevor Linton, Director of
Acquisitions says, “We target a prompt return of investor capital at an above
market yield.   “And we can do that confidently because of the expertise of our
research team, and that is vitally important.

Colby Bond, SilverLeaf’s V.P. of Business Development says, Before we make an
offer on any asset, we perform extensive research of market data, and on-site due
diligence for each prospective loan and its associated collateral.  This includes
reviewing file documents, loan collection history, status of any legal action, and
any historical or current appraisal information.   Baldwin goes on to say,
“Other important considerations are geographic dispersion of assets, and economic
conditions. With every loan we purchase, we have an anticipated plan of action.
Worst case scenario, we have to foreclose and take the asset back, but more often
than not, we are able to restructure the loan and make it a win/win for the borrower
and us.  This system has proven to be very profitable for our company.

 SilverLeaf Financial has raised 35 million dollars since September of 08, and plans
on raising an additional $65 million this year.  For more information about
SilverLeaf Financial, visit their web site, www.SilverLeaf-Financial.com

Press Contact:
Campbell Dosch
V.P. of Public Relations
SilverLeaf Companies
Phone: (801) 413-4702
Email: 
 This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it
 
###