Where Opportunities Meet Capital

Question 1: Talk about the people who are your clients at Bison Financial Group.

Answer: Our clients are real estate entrepreneurs and opportunists. A typical client is a real estate investment and development company that does multiple transactions each year. They want to focus on their core business of owning and managing properties and seek our assistance in the complexities of buying, selling and financing.

Question 2: Why do they work with you?

Answer:   Our typical client has worked hard over a number of years to accumulate a substantial net worth. Realizing that “Life is not a dress rehearsal” they hire us to help them buy, sell and finance their properties so they don’t have to keep their nose to the grindstone quite as much.

Our ideal client understands the benefit of having a team of experts a phone call or e-mail away to be brought in on a special assignment. This saves them the time, energy and expense of feeding the overhead of a massive in-house staff. They are confident we will not “drop the ball”.

Question 3: What sort of services do you provide your clients?

Answer:  We are licensed as a real estate brokerage and mortgage brokerage business. We handle acquisitions, dispositions and arrange debt and equity capital for our clients. Our typical transaction is a special situation with intense time pressure as in the case of a client buying a foreclosed property from a lender.

Question 4: What types of properties do you typically work with?  Do you specialize in certain areas?

Answer: Sixty percent of our transactions involve multi-family rental communities, with the balance pretty equally spread among manufactured housing communities, shopping centers, office buildings and land development projects.

Question 5: Let’s be specific, what exactly do you do for your clients?

 Answer:  Essentially, we do two things for our clients: we find unique investment opportunities and we locate money.

Question 6: What do you mean by unique investment opportunities?

Answer: We look for opportunities to acquire properties owned by banks or distressed sellers. The ideal investment opportunity can be acquired and renovated for a fraction of its intrinsic value. Lately our clients have been buying underperforming Florida apartment communities and residential subdivisions. 

Question 7: Do you also list and sell properties for your clients?

Answer: Yes, our clients sell properties from time to time and we help them locate purchasers that can close at the highest price in the shortest amount of time and with the least amount of grief and aggravation.

 Question 8: You also secure financing, right?

Answer: Yes, we arrange debt and equity capital. We structure acquisition financing and refinance income-producing properties. We’re in the market every day, arranging financing and developing our network of lenders – ones that’ll do high leverage, non-recourse loans at low rates that close quickly and efficiently.  We have access to hundreds of national lenders, not just people we know through church or the local chamber of commerce. We create an auction environment for our clients to get them the best blend of rate, term and leverage. We’re also not shy about asking for non-recourse financing.

Question 9: Isn’t it unusual to be both a real estate brokerage company and mortgage brokerage business?

Answered by David Repka: Yes, it is rare to wear both hats, but necessity is the Mother of Invention. As a real estate broker during the recession of the early 1990s I had several deals collapse because the buyer’s financing fell apart at the 11^th hour.  I rolled up my sleeves and found new sources of financing to hold the deal together.

Because we can find both debt and equity our closing percentage increases every year.

Question 10: Since the formation of Bison Financial Group in 1994, just how much business have you closed?

We have closed more than fifty-seven million dollars in real estate transactions, eighty-four million dollars in debt transactions and placed sixteen million dollars of equity into real estate development projects -- conservatively speaking when the projects are built out they will have an economic impact of close to half a billion dollars.   For a more detailed explanation of our track record, please visit the recent deals section of our web site (click here).

Question 11: Why is your website relevant to your clients?

Answer:  Intel’s Chairman Andy Grove says, “All businesses will become Internet businesses… or they won’t have a business.” We upgrade our web site on a daily basis to provide tools and innovative data to make and save our clients money as well as preserve their most valuable commodity… time.

Question 12: Anyone who surfs www dot bisonfinancial dot com will realize that you've been very successful. What would you attribute your success to?

Answer:  We walk our talk. We make our clients money, save them money and consistently and dependably close deals. Ultimate success is building long lasting, mutually beneficial relationships built on a foundation of honor and utmost integrity.

Question 13: I understand your corporate logo of the running Bison has special significance, can you explain it?

 Answer: The bison is one of the greatest symbols of the American West well known for legendary strength and endurance.  But it is a little known fact that this powerful animal can accelerate from a standing start to thirty miles per hour in as little as three steps. 

We always keep this visual image in mind during the deal-making process because we pride ourselves on getting “up to speed” quickly, and we possess the dogged determination necessary to see complex transactions through to closing.

Question 14: OK.  But why do I need to pay a fee for this service?  Why can't I just arrange my own  transactions?

Answer: One of our most successful clients said it best, "Since I met Bison Financial I no longer spend my time chasing money, I now have more time to spend minding my own business!"

There are only 24 hours in a day – our most successful clients have figured our what they do best and then delegate the rest.  We get paid based on performance.  We do not charge up front fees.   We negotiate hard for our clients and more than offset any fees we are paid by saving them time and money.

Question 15: Why should an investor want to do business with Bison Financial Group?

Answer: Because we make our clients money and we save them money.

We are a very entrepreneurial-minded firm that understands the business from all sides of the table: buyer, seller, financier, mortgage broker and real estate broker.  We get the job done in the least amount of time and we bring in deals with a high probability of closure. 

Question 16: If I had a million dollars to invest, what kind of property would you advise me to buy -- and why?

Answer: I especially like ‘C’ apartment properties in a ‘B’ or better location with good “bones”. The property should be well built and cosmetically ugly -- needing upgrades like new paint, carpeting, appliances and landscaping. A deal like this has an upside potential that can be created with a sound repositioning plan and quality management. Once the property is stabilized at higher rents, we’d advise you to refinance it pulling out all your cash. 

We know which special programs allow subordinated debt, we’d advise you to put a second mortgage on it and in three or four years take out more money to do it again, some place else. 

Bison Financial Group arranges loans like this all the time.

Question 17: If the person reading this list of FAQs could only remember one or two things about you and what you can do for them, what do you feel are the most important points you definitely want them to remember?

Answer: The subtitle of this list, “Where Opportunities Meet Capital” says it all. We have a good nose for finding both profitable opportunities and we put together the money to close ‘em.  Clients that have worked with us on multiple transactions view us as an integral part of their team rather than just another broker.

Question 18: Let's assume I like what l I’ve read so far.  What would be the next step?

Answer: Tour the rest of our site and check us out for yourself.  Or give us a call.  Talk with us.  Whether you're buying, selling or financing property, we want to help you.

We thank you for spending your valuable time with Bison Financial Group today.

CONCLUSION

What you've just read is a small sample of the many services that set Bison Financial Group apart from others in the industry.  If you would like to find out how Dave Repka and Jared Repka might be able to help you, we cordially invite you to call or e-mail today.

Bison Financial Group, bricks-and-mortar (and palm trees), is headquartered in Tampa Bay, Florida with affiliated offices in Buffalo and Northern Virginia.