Gary Walsh proprietor of Optima Property Funding

About Optima

Gary Walsh, the proprietor of Optima Property Funding, has provided information on what the business does, the market it operates in and how it works with property developers to broker property development finance.

Who is Optima Property Funding and what do they do?

Optima Property Funding (Optima) is a finance brokerage that works with Property Developers & Investors to arrange funding for their property projects.

We broker the full range of products required by Property Developers & Investors namely:
  • Senior & Stretched Senior Debt
  • Mezzanine Debt
  • Equity, JVs & 100% Funding
  • Development Exit Finance
  • Bridging Finance
  • Investment Mortgages

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Optima are based in St Albans (but also work from a central London base as required) and broker finance for projects in England, Scotland, Wales, Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland. As a rule of thumb, we have a minimum loan size of £1M for 1st charge Development Finance (Senior and Stretched Senior Debt). £250,000 for Mezzanine and Equity slices and £500,000 for Development Exit Finance, Bridging Loans and Investment Mortgages. There is no cap on the maximum loan we will broker and we place cases running into multi-millions.

Do Optima broker FCA Regulated Business?

Optima is regulated by the FCA (Financial Conduct Authority) and therefore does broker FCA regulated business where the borrower is non – incorporated and the debt is secured by a 1st legal charge on land.

 

Therefore we are able to broker finance for a wide range of legal entities to include Limited Companies, Partnerships, Limited Liability Partnerships, Sole Traders, Trusts, and Offshore Vehicles.

 

We do not broker finance where the property is the residence of the borrower (MCOB Regulated Mortgage Contract)

Who is behind the name?

The proprietor is Gary Walsh who spent twenty five years in banking including the last six of those years in a senior position in the property finance division of a large bank. Gary is a professionally qualified, having passed the recognised ACIB (Associate of the Chartered Institute of Bankers) examinations.

 

After leaving banking, Gary set up the brokerage in 2003.

 

Gary has also undertaken a handful of property development projects thus gaining hands on experience of the challenges!

Do Optima have any industry accreditation?

 

Optima are members of FIBA (Financial Intermediary & Broker Association); a recognised and reputable body. Optima operate within the Code of Ethics and Professional Conduct of FIBA.

How do Optima operate, what fees are charged and when are they payable?

We operate the following transparent and fair policy on fees:
We agree a fee with a client for the project, normally in line with our tariff but subject to negotiation on larger deals and for repeat or volume business.
Our tariff is competitive.
We disclose and rebate any procurement fee we receive from a lender. So for example let us say that we agree to charge a client 1.00% for raising £3M on a project. If the lender pays us a procurement fee of 0.5%, the client would pay only the balance of 0.5%. Therefore in essence we don’t accept lender procurement fees and hence there can be no issue of any conflict of interest.
We do not charge an upfront commitment fee with submission of the full application to the lender. Most brokers charge a non-refundable commitment fee which can range from £500 to many £’000’s.
We do not charge a fee on the issue, or acceptance of a lenders offer letter. It is common practice for brokers fees to be legally due (included in their Terms of Business) at offer stage even if in practice they are collected at drawdown of the finance. If the project aborts without completing, many brokers will pursue the client for the fee.
Our fee is paid in full upon first drawdown of the loan and hence it is in our interest to work with all interested parties (our client and their solicitor, lender and their solicitor(s), valuer, QS etc.) to get the project over the line.
A copy of our Terms of Business and our Tariff is available upon request; we do not make it available on line as we do not wish our competitors to see it!

We work with many satisfied Property Developer & Investor clients, some of whom have provided references which you can view on the Testimonials page of the site and who if contacted, will vouch that as well as being both professional and competent, we are competitive and fair in our fee policy.

Where are we located?

By Tube/Train – 1 minute from Kings Cross St Pancras Interchange. The Stanley Building is next door to the German Gymnasium Restaurant & Bar in St Pancras Square.

The Stanley Building
7 Pancras Square
Kings Cross
London N1C 4AG