CUNA Mutual Group Insights

MEMBERS Capital Advisors Commercial Mortgages & Real Estate Group is responsible for investing on behalf of CMFG Life Insurance Company and select third party investors. They support CUNA Mutual Group’s various lines of insurance and financial products by originating high-quality debt positions in commercial real estate. Annual production volume for CMFG Life Insurance Company and its clients has averaged approximately $400 million over the past four years. The company’s real estate professionals possess in-depth market knowledge and have developed strong relationships within the industry. Commercial mortgages are originated through a national network of mortgage banking correspondents. PSRS is one such valued correspondent. PSRS and CUNA have had a long tenured correspondent relationship. Furthermore, PSRS services all loans originated for CUNA.

We sat down with a Senior Mortgage Loan Officer at CUNA Mutual Group to see how 2017 has been treating them:

How is 2017 shaping up for CUNA?

We are on track to exceed our 2017 goal and should surpass our 2016 production levels. Looking back over the past five years, we are slightly higher than the running five year average.

Do you foresee issues with allocation, in product type and/or within the market?

Our greatest exposure is in California. As a result, we are selective in this market and on the tenant mix in the properties we see there. Next would be the Midwest.

Retail comprises 33% of our portfolio. So we began pulling back on the product in 2016. We do still have appetite for product in both California and the Midwest and feel that we are most competitive when we have a grocery-anchored center, national tenants, and an A+ location.

Our Industrial appetite is still very strong and we will compete on it in any market. While we aren’t pushing leverage on multi-family, we separate ourselves from our competition by having the ability to lend on older product. That is a lot of what we are now seeing in Southern California.

Why are you winning business over your competition?

We price competitively. Ultimately, clients appreciate our process. Our approval is often limited to one Senior Officer, who typically blesses the quote. This goes a long way in certainty of execution.

We can often provide flexible prepay, non-recourse, long-term fixed rate debt, locked at application. Also, our in-house counsel prices competitively.

Additionally, we separate ourselves by considering alternative investment properties such as student housing, self-storage, medical office, manufactured housing and mobile home park loan requests, in addition to the four major product types.