Even separated by continents, Cambridge Realty Capital managed to impress borrower Avraham Wagschal with the speed and efficiency with which it was able to complete a recent transaction. Wagschal, who currently resides in Israel, called his latest dealing with Cambridge “a most pleasant experience.” Cambridge President Jeffrey Davis was pleased, but not entirely surprised, to hear of Wagschal’s positive experience. “We have a tremendous staff here,” he stated, “and I have the utmost confidence in their skill, knowledge, and proficiency in their various specialties.”
Wagschal first worked with Cambridge Realty Capital in 2012. He was shopping for a HUD provider at the time, and he had heard positive reviews from colleagues about Cambridge’s knowledge and professionalism. Cambridge’s name came with “high recommendations about their organization and ability to get things done efficiently and economically,” Wagschal recounted. “I decided to make a visit to their offices in Chicago to see for myself.”
Wagschal said he was not disappointed. “I was treated with respect, courtesy, and honesty and found the staff that I met extremely knowledgeable about the process and procedures and ability to obtain attractive long-term fixed rates.” Wagschal ended up signing a HUD 232 deal with Cambridge soon thereafter.
Of course, life goes on as life is wont to do, and eventually Wagschal’s life and work took him to Israel. In the meantime, interest rates dropped steadily in the years after he signed the deal with Cambridge, although Wagschal hadn’t given a great deal of thought to his existing portfolio with Cambridge.
It was Cambridge, he stated, that reached out to him in recent months to let him know that he could reset his rate considerably lower than it was. In spite of the fact that Wagschal and Cambridge were oceans apart and in vastly different time zones, the switch took remarkably little time, or much effort on Wagschal’s part. “I was amazed at the time it took to reset my rate with NO difficulty at all, and not at all time-consuming,” he declared. “Considering I was overseas 8000 miles away, the whole process took less than 3 hours, and the closing took place 3 weeks later.”
That’s not to say there wasn’t some negotiating of logistics involved in the process. Original documents had to be shipped from Chicago to Wagschal in Israel and was accomplished overnight by Federal Express. Approval and signing took place via Zoom conference, with Cambridge staff adjusting their schedules to compensate for the eight-hour time difference. “It was as if I was next door,” Wagschal reported, ‘with an effective cost so negligible, that it’s not even worth mentioning.” And the cost and near hassle-free process was well worth the gain, according to Wagschal. The savings he would see over the life of the 30-year fixed-rate loan were “significant.”
Wagschal worked closely with Cambridge Vice President Anthony Marino and Senior Managing Director Sampada D’silva, whom he described as professional and pleasant to work with. He also expressed his gratitude to Abby Althoff, Cambridge’s Senior Loan Administration Officer, who maintains the monthly administration of Wagschal’s account.
“I feel extremely confident in referring people requiring Cambridge’s service, even to the extent that I have referred my own brother who is working with them on a project.”
