In this interview, Global Integrity Finance COO Brian Ogilvie introduces Koby McDonald, a former mortgage loan officer turned musician and now a lending specialist. Koby shares his eclectic background and explains the suite of financing products Global Integrity offers to real‑estate investors and brokers, including bridge loans for fix‑and‑flip projects, ground‑up construction financing, and long‑term DSCR (Debt Service Coverage Ratio) loans. He attributes the recent surge in investor demand to high conventional mortgage rates, persistent housing affordability challenges, and a growing pool of renters, which creates opportunities for investors to acquire and rent properties. The conversation details how bridge loans work—a typical 12‑month, interest‑only loan with no prepayment penalty that can effectively cost as little as 3% for a three‑month hold—and how borrowers can later refinance into a 30‑year fixed DSCR loan that leverages projected rental income to cover the mortgage. Koby emphasizes his role in helping investors scale portfolios, turning two projects into four, then eight, ultimately building a retirement fund. The interview closes with a personal note on Koby’s satisfaction in supporting clients and a forward‑looking statement from Brian.
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This is Brian Ogilvie, Chief Operating Officer with Global Integrity Finance, and today I wanted to introduce Mr. Koby McDonald. Koby has been a wonderful asset to our team with even the short amount of time that he's been here, and I'm going to go ahead and let him take the floor, introduce himself. So Koby, you know, tell us about who you are, how long you've been in the business, and maybe some fun facts about yourself.
Thanks, Brian. Happy to be here. My first job out of college was actually at a mortgage company as a loan officer, traditional lender, and did that for a little while. And then my music career took off. So I was on the road playing music for the next, well, a long time, playing over 200 shows a year as a full-time working musician, singer-songwriter. Anyway, Yeah, I'm glad to be here. Had a background in software and technology, and then the path led me here to Global, and I couldn't be happier to be here and be a part of a great team.
It's great to hear somebody that's been out there in the real world, right? Behind— instead of just sitting behind a desk all the time. So that's, that's something that you could talk about. Definitely a great icebreaker to talk to people because I think, you know, music is a universal language. I think you could probably agree with that as well. So, okay, so you're at Global now, right? And you're helping out real estate investors, you're helping out brokers. How are you helping them? What kind of products do you have? Like, where could you be their expert?
We've got products that are geared towards real estate investors, brokers, non-owner occupied properties.
Okay. Some business purpose stuff, right? People that are going to closing an entity name and this is for a business you're investing in this property, right?
That's right.
Yeah.
So we, we offer programs to folks that are flipping homes, doing fix and flips, fix and holds, long-term rentals, as well as ground-up construction.
So when it comes to the, you know, like you said, the ground-up construction, you know, you have your long-term loans, things like that. We just We just got out of a market that had, you know, super low rates, right? Stuff we'll probably never see again in our lifetime. This quarter, at least for me, where I sit, right, I'm already seeing pipeline volumes increase. Phones are ringing more. Like, why do you think that is? Why is it that people are still chasing after the bridge in these long-term rental, the DSCR, as it were, type products? Why do you think that is?
It's a great question. And, you know, I've got friends that have been in the mortgage business for a long time. In fact, friends that I worked with years ago with my first, my first job, and they're on the traditional, the, the QM side, and their phones aren't ringing and they're struggling. We're not. Our phones are, are ringing like crazy, and I think it's because rates are high, home values are still high, and you— we've got a generation of young people that are getting married or coming out of college that are not going to be able to realize the American dream of home ownership. just due to not being able to afford mortgages right now. So all of these investors and builders are, are seeing that, and they're buying up rentals or buying up these new homes and new constructions or doing fix and flips so that they can put renters in there, just because there are so many people out there that can't go the route of buying, buying a new home at this, at this time. So there's a huge opportunity for those investors, there's a huge opportunity for us as a non-QM lender, uh, to be able to capitalize on the CSC loans and on these bridge loans.
Can you teach us something about bridge loans? Like, if somebody called and said, hey, you know, I have this screaming deal on this property, but I'm not quite sure what I'm doing, like, what are you looking for in a candidate? What can you teach them kind of about that process? Is like your elevator pitch right now, right?
Right. Uh, I love the bridge loans. It's for someone that's doing a fix and flip, right? Um, if it's, it's gonna be a, uh, typically a 12-month loan. Uh, the, the good news about it is it's an interest-only loan and there's no prepayment penalty. So if we get somebody into this loan and they're able to do their rehab, get it completed from the time that they close on it, um, get it ready to get on the market, get it sold. Let's say that they're able to do that in 90 days. Well, because it's a 12-month loan and because, uh, the interest is annualized over 12 months, if they're in there in and out in 3 months, they've essentially been able to get money to fund that at a rate of 3% if you're talking about 3 months on a 12-month program. There's not anywhere out there you can go and borrow money at that kind of a rate. So it's a huge win, uh, for them to be able to get that type of a loan and not have to worry about a prepayment and move on to their next project.
Yeah, absolutely right. So I think a lot of people were nervous about values, right? I mean, A lot of the older generations, they understand what it was like back in '07, '08. So, you know, to see where home prices are and that they've been holding and holding strong, I personally follow quite a few economics and economists, I should say. And, you know, they're very bull on values staying put. Right. A couple of markets will feel some up and downs, but overall, we're never going to see like what we saw in '07, '08 again. Right. They put in the reform, they fix some things. So with those buying those, those fix and flip people, they should be able to get out in the time frame they allowed if they scheduled their project right, right. If they planned it out accordingly in the sense of what they're doing. But like, let's say they get to their 8-month, right, because they have a big project they're doing. Maybe they're doing a, you know, a mixed-use property or something like that with us. If they get to like month 8 and they're like, you know what, I'm not going to be able to sell this, or, you know what, forget it, I actually want to keep this and I want to put those renters in. What would happen then?
Uh, that's a great problem to have because we've got our DSCR program to where, you know, we can refinance them out of that into a DSCR, which is going to be a 30-year fixed. And, you know, they'll be able to have that property at a much better interest rate because what we're seeing right now, rates are dropping a little bit. We're in an election year, and if you follow the trends follow the gurus, it's looking as though the rate, you know, could potentially be going down over the next, you know, 6 to 8 months. So if they're coming out of that bridge loan, they get into the summer, they get into the fall, and those rates are down, it's going to be a more favorable time for them to refinance into that DSCR loan, that long-term loan, and be able to you know, have a lower payment than what they would on that if they were to lock in today, uh, to, you know, help them to offset that risk. I mean, that's what a DSCR is, is, uh, debt services credit ratio. So for them to be able to have a rental that'll essentially pay for the mortgage on it, right?
So they're using either that, that the market rent, the verified rent from a certified appraiser saying, hey, this is what this is going to rent for, Or maybe they already be lucky enough to have leases in hand. Right. And they'll be able to qualify kind of one of those two ways. So I think that'll be huge. It's better than having to hand over your tax returns and allow a lender to kind of see all the documentation or all the income that you've been claiming or not claiming. Right. If you're self-employed, depend on what those write-offs are. So what do you want to share with the public to kind of say, here's who's who Kobe is and why you should give me a call and give me a shot?
I've wanted to get back into something on the real estate side for a long time. So it's been a blessing to come back in here and start doing something again that I'm— that I love what I'm doing. I love showing up every day and the being in a position here to where I can use my knowledge and the resources that we have here to really help these clients to scale their investment. Portfolio, be able to utilize, you know, some of the rehab money maybe to fund future endeavors that they have, and then turn 2 projects into 4, and then 4 into 8. And then over the course of a year or 2, they've built a portfolio that's essentially going to turn into a retirement fund. So knowing that I have the power to do that and that we have the resources here to fund those kind of deals. Um, I get a lot of satisfaction out of that. I truly enjoy what I'm doing and the people that I'm working with.
That's awesome. Thank you so much, Kobe. I appreciate that. Uh, you know, continue— I look forward to continue working with you. I, I think you have a very bright future ahead. Uh, and until next time, you know, take care and thank you so much, man. We'll talk to you soon.
