When we think of a Titan, we often think on a national scale. But sometimes we need to look for Titans who are dominating a specific market. Tom Meade is just that. He is dominating the market of Boston in a way that other national lenders and developers can only dream of.”
EDDIEWILSON OWNER AND CEO OF THINK REALTY AND THE AMERICAN ASSOCIATION OF PRIVATE LENDERS
Eddie Wilson (left) confers with Tom Meade (right).
flexibility has been imperative. “During this pandemic, instead of tightening down on leverage, increasing cash requirements, and lowering LTVs, we are leaning in. We see an opportunity to provide liquidi- ty into the market; we are looking for ways to help borrowers recapitalize their projects and put them on firm - er footing coming out of this crazy time,” Meade said. The markets in Meade’s home- town are not unlike other markets across the nation in that values are not dropping. Demand is high and supply is lacking, which has prices increasing and bidding wars esca- lating. Touchstone is answering with solutions in ways other lenders are not. “While everybody else is raising money for funds to buy distressed debt, we are raising additional funds for our existing pooled mortgage fund, which has the ability to invest up to 20 percent of its assets in mez-
zanine debt and preferred equity. We think putting some money to work deeper in the capital stack provides an excellent risk-adjusted return for investors, and some much-needed relief for borrowers,” Meade said. Meade attributes much of Touch- stone’s success on lending locally, especially when it comes to small balance construction and bridge loans. “In my view it’s very difficult to do this well at a national scale. There is the obvious issue about ‘knowing your market’ and understanding that you cannot underwrite based on zip codes. You can find very different val - ues from street to street in a given city/town/neighborhood. Hopefully we learned some lessons coming out of the 2008 debacle as far as ‘desktop underwriting’ and relying on appraisers. Beyond that, with construction and bridge lending, you need boots on the ground. We do all our own construction inspections
valuable lesson. Meade had formed Touchstone Capital Partners, LLC in 2010, when he and some partners were buying distressed debt from the 2008 down- turn and doing small volume fix- and-flip lending. During that time, Meade met his business partner Ray Loughlin in 2010, and together they continued doing one-off deals until 2014 when they launched what has become Touchstone’s flagship fund, TCP Fund II – a pooled mortgage fund. After that distressing news on the last day of 2014, Meade went all in with Touchstone Capital in 2015. “Looking back, that’s how my life has gone—I have gained perspective and life lessons from negative situa- tions,” he said. ALOCAL GAME Touchstone Capital is a flexible, full-service capital provider. And, with the current economic situation,
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