Name
Dave Rainford (alias ‘Yoda Dave’)
Job title
Property Finance Director
How long have you been at Cowgills?
7 Years
Ok so what exactly do you do?
Some of my esteemed colleagues would pass a few disparaging answers to this question along the lines of ‘don’t know – he’s never in the office’ which is partly true given I am often found working out of well-known Coffee establishments.
When I am not drinking coffee I am an ex property banker with 4 years real life experience with a developer during the crash, prior to joining Cowgills in 2012 where I now sit firmly in the middle acting in an advisory capacity assisting property developers and investors source and structure debt for residential and commercial schemes, property acquisitions and refinancing. It’s very much working client side, drawing on over 20 years banking experience and my contacts within the property finance sector presenting proposals to funders, negotiating terms and most importantly making sure the deals get across the line.
I have also run Cowgills sister bridging business – PMJ Capital Ltd – since this was formed around 4 years ago. PMJ is a short term principal lender providing 1st charge secured loans on both residential and commercial properties and supporting small new build residential developments and refurbishment projects. We get stuck in, understand the deal and have a growing repeat customer base who like dealing with decision makers and our pragmatic and flexible approach to funding.
Give us some highlights
On a business level I’d like to think we have helped drive some of the activity in the North West and in 2018 we raised over £150m of funding and in turn helped clients deliver over 350 homes. Alongside this we hit a milestone within PMJ Capital earlier in the year with over £30M of loans out the door since we set up.
The best parts of the job however are the clients and professionals we work with across the North West Property sector and how we support each other on a daily basis.
What challenges do you find clients are experiencing at the moment, and how are you helping them to overcome them?
The 3 challenges are fairly constant – finding opportunities / sites; planning and funding. Being neither an agent or planning consultant it is fair to say I am not the ‘go to’ person for the first 2 but we have had plenty of success on the funding front. Honest advice is at the core of what we do and spending time with our clients to understand both the business and the opportunity and presenting deals in a comprehensive way to the right lenders means they have far more chance of success.
So what then is this ‘Yoda Dave’ badge ? I have one of my good friends, Ian Barber of Landmark Development Solutions to thank for this who has affectionately labelled me as the Yoda of the property development finance world and introduces me to his own clients and contacts at ‘Yoda Dave’! I will leave you to be you own judge whether he refers to my wisdom or a canny resemblance to the Star Wars character.
Disclaimer
The information was correct at time of publishing but may now be out of date.
