SilverLeaf Snags $28 Million in Assets

[Update 4: clarifies status of General Motors' bankruptcy, clarifies loans were originated by GMAC, and seller's unknown identity.]

SilverLeaf Financial acquired $28m in mortgage notes, containing loans originated by GMAC, for a sharply discounted price of $4.9m, according to a corporate release.

In the bundle, SilverLeaf receives 321 30-year single-family mortgages from the financing arm of General Motors, which recently emerged from a bankruptcy filing. While GMAC book runs car loans for the auto maker, among other things, it also works on the banking deposit product side, with institutions Ally Bank and ResMor Trust. GMAC is also a mortgage lender and servicer through the GMAC Mortgage and ditech brands.

SilverLeaf reports it will negotiate with individual borrowers to improve under-performing loans in the new acquisition.

“Typically, we don’t buy residential property,” a spokesman for SilverLeaf tells HousingWire. “But in this instance, we had investors who were interested.”

SilverLeaf satisfied its commercial real estate interests with the purchase of a $5m note, secured by storage facility in Fort Meyers, Fla. ASAP Storage owns the facility, which sits at 50% occupancy.

SilverLeaf continues to fill its portfolio with failed bank assets purchased from the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. The discounted prices make even under-performing loans attractive. Their usual price interest comes between $1m and $10m, a spokesman for SilverLeaf said.

While GMAC originated the mortgage loans that were sold, it’s unclear who the seller was; an earlier version of a press statement from SilverLeaf had suggested that GMAC sold the loans. A spokesperson from GMAC Financial Services contacted HousingWire to say that the firm “has never done business with Silverleaf Financial and we have no knowledge of or participation in this transaction. Silverleaf Financial did not purchase these loans directly from GMAC Financial Services or any of our subsidiaries.”

Write to Jon Prior.