Our Real Estate fund is a hard money lender. The core product is mortgage loans, which typically have different levels and types of risks than mortgage loans originated by more traditional lenders (such as banks, insurance companies or conduit lenders) and, as a result, typically earn a higher yield and have a shorter term. Although hard money mortgage loans generally involve a higher cost to the borrower, the demand for such loans is supported by various factors, including, without limitation, tighter loan underwriting standards employed by traditional mortgage lenders, a borrower's desire to limit equity dilution that results from bringing in an equity investor to provide needed funds and borrower timing issues that require an expedited loan closing without the delays typically encountered in a conventional financing.