As of January of 2010, Scientific Capital leverages a wide range of lending sources in the hotel capital markets including:

• Depository Lenders/Banks: The majority of the current hotel SBA and USDA financing is originated by national or local community banks. Recently most small to mid size banks are purely relying on the secondary market for the source of their capital where they sell a guaranteed portion of the loan almost immediately right after the funding. These lenders seldom lend on conventional basis but with lower Loan to Value.

• Non-Depository Lenders: This includes lenders who use investor funds, warehouse and lines of credit, and the secondary market to lend. Currently most of the lenders in this category are focused on either SBA 7a or USDA B&I financing. Nearly all these lenders are extremely cautious with hotel assets and focus on newer hotels with preferred flags and stable historical financials.

• Foreign Banks: A number of foreign banks have set up operations in the United States. These lenders are mostly interested in larger and sophisticated projects in primary markets. Although currently most of these lenders are on the sidelines specially when it comes to hospitality lending in the US markets, they may slowly show come back to the market starting mid 2010.

• Investor and Hedge Funds: After the market crash of 2008, many hedge funds started diversifying investments and entering  shorter term bridge commercial real estate financing. Some of these lenders are familiar with hospitality financing but the return on investment they expect is very high ranging 15% to 23%. Most financing projects are over 20MM.

• Life Companies: Insurance companies provide another source of permanent hotel loans. In the past they were not as aggressive as CMBS conduit loans. Although far more conservative and cautious now, with credit market for conventional hotel lending fairly dry and CMBS market nearly extinct, insurance companies are for the time being a viable source for hotel loans. In today's market they focus on primary and select secondary markets, stabilized hotels, and low loan to value.