Melanie Stephens

Owner/Broker: Wild Palm Capital

A Woman-Owned Business Funding Nationwide

I approach commercial lending with a lifelong entrepreneur’s perspective, a journalist’s eye for detail, and an artist’s eye for possibilities. Foremost in that approach are my core values: ethics and integrity.

Navigating the funding and operation of my own businesses—including the future Wild Palm St John glamping resort in the USVI—has taught me a critical fact: the success of a development hinges on the structure of its debt.

As a lifelong entrepreneur and self-employed business owner, I have worked with many types of lenders. I understand the difficulties, headaches, and stumbling blocks with getting funding for my projects.

I decided to become a CRE loan broker after spending many years writing professionally about real estate. I wrote a column for Bigger Pockets (Monthly column for Wealth Magazine: “Biggest Mistake, Lessons Learned) and wrote all types of content for a (now) major alternative investment lender including websites, ebooks, ghostwritten articles, blogs and more.

This has given me great insight into both the investors I work with and the industry itself.

To ensure my clients have access to a full and diverse capital stack, I work as part of a veteran financing team with 25+ years of institutional knowledge. We navigate the spectrum of debt—from low-rate traditional bank loans to fast-execution private and hard money—to find the specific financing that fits your project’s timeline and goals.

If you are looking for a funding partner who understands the borrower’s side of the table and has the deep-market connections to execute, let’s talk!