HACKENSACK, N.J., April 3, 2008 – Kennedy Funding, Inc., a leading direct private lender, has closed a $3.9 million loan to Mills Farm, LLC, of Delaware. The Mills Family, through Mills Farm, LLC, owns four individual tracts of farmland in Milford, Sussex, and Kent counties in Delaware, totaling 631.6 acres. One of the tracts is a working farm operated by the family, with a farmhouse, barn, accessory buildings, and grazing dairy cattle on 215 acres. The other three tracts are raw, undeveloped farmland, and one of them has entitlements for residences to be built.

The Mills family was looking for a loan. They intended to use the loan proceeds to settle and/or pay down some debt, consolidate some other expenses, and conduct further farm business. Their intent was to use the four farming tracts as collateral, but they were unsure of their value in a market that had dropped precipitously in the past 18 months. And they had been hearing for some time that ‘no one was making loans in today’s market.’

However, when they contacted Kennedy Funding, they learned that at least one direct private lender definitely was. Kennedy Funding, headquartered in Hackensack, New Jersey, is one of the direct private lending industry’s largest and most successful lenders. Founded in 1987, Kennedy entered the market as an alternative to the established, ‘mainstream’ lending institutions. Instead of waiting for weeks or months, as with a bank loan, Kennedy clients could often see their loans closed in a matter of days. Instead of seeing their loans refused because of not fitting into the established ‘cookie-cutter’ pattern of red tape, they saw even the most difficult loans closed with relative ease. Kennedy’s strategy of providing speed and flexibility to the lending constituency proved to be a popular one.

“The Mills family’s situation wasn’t quite the dilemma they feared it might be,” said Kennedy President and Co-CEO Jeffrey Wolfer. “It’s true that the economy is kind of in the doldrums right now, and it’s also true that the residential real estate market has taken some significant hits. But the Mills land was all in desirable locations, one of them was an actual working farm, and another included permission for residential units to be constructed. In addition, we’ve done our fair share of raw land and partially developed land deals in the past 20 years, so we had some good ideas of how we could get the job done.”

Wolfer further explained that, even though there was a seeming abundance of land on the market in one of the counties (Sussex), things weren’t necessarily the same in others. “Prices also fluctuate in terms of a property being developable or not,” he said, “and the prices change accordingly. Developable land usually has water and sewer available, and such land is a bit more expensive if it’s in an urban setting, as opposed to rural. But farmland prices can also rise if the property is, by certain standards, exceptional. The Mills tracts were good, solid, attractive parcels, all of them in pleasant areas. We had little problem making them a $3.9 million loan, and we were more than happy to be of service.”

Kennedy Funding can issue loan commitments in as little as 24 hours, which often leads to closings in as few as five days and, in some cases when time is critical, even less. Available financing ranges from $1 million to over $100 million, with rates as low as 10% and three points. The staff at Kennedy Funding is skilled in a wide range of business sectors beyond financing, and focuses an impressive amount of expertise, experience, and dedication on each loan request.

Specializing in commercial real estate bridge loans, their flexibility and diversity have resulted in loans for a wide range of applications, including land acquisition, development, refinancing, construction, bank workouts, bankruptcies, and foreclosures. Across the country and around the world, Kennedy has produced funds for conventional and unconventional projects, often succeeding when other financial institutions cannot. They can fund up to 65% loan-to-value for commercial land development, acquisitions, workouts, refinancing, bankruptcies, and foreclosures.