Erica LaCentra, Director of Marketing, is responsible for planning, developing, and implementing RCN Capital’s marketing plan as well as overseeing the company’s marketing department. Joining RCN Capital in 2013, Erica led a strategic rebrand to position the company for nationwide expansion. Erica’s ongoing efforts have rapidly expanded RCN’s customer base and elevated the company to a national brand. Erica currently serves as a member of the American Association of Private Lenders’ (AAPL) Education Advisory Committee, the Marketing & Communications Chair for AREAA Boston, and a member of the REI INK Editorial Board. Erica holds a B.S. in Advertising with a minor is Fine Arts from Suffolk University in Boston, MA.

Q: How did you first get involved in real estate, and private lending specifically?

Honestly, my start in real estate and private lending was a case of being in the right place at the right time. I was working as an administrative assistant in the ticketing industry right out of college and I connected with a female executive that was in charge of planning and executing one of the largest annual conferences for their space. She ended up becoming one of my early mentors and ultimately gave me the opportunity to fly out to Las Vegas to be a member of her conference staff.

It was at the closing event for that trade show in Las Vegas that I inexplicably met a Loan Officer from RCN who struck up a conversation with me about my background in marketing. RCN had a marketing vacancy at that time and that Loan Officer ended up introducing me to RCN’s then Managing Director, now CEO, Jeffrey Tesch. He lined up an interview for me when I got back from Las Vegas, which resulted in me getting the Marketing Associate job at RCN, and the rest is history. I like to think that RCN opened the door to the world of real estate and more specifically private lending for me.

Q: How have you seen RCN grow and expand in the last few years?

The growth and expansion that RCN has gone through over the last few years has been nothing short of incredible. When I started at RCN back in 2013, I was employee #11 and we closed out the year just shy of $50M in originations. Fast forward to today. The company has grown to over 100 employees with 2019 being the best year RCN has had since its inception, closing over half a billion dollars in loans for the year. Being involved in RCN’s evolution from a small regional lender that was only originating on the East Coast to a nationwide lender with a full suite of loan programs for real estate investors is definitely a huge point of pride for me and I look forward to seeing and being a part of company’s future growth.

Q: What are some of your strategies for staying positive and productive throughout the COVID-19 pandemic?

Adjusting to this “new reality” has certainly been challenging, but overall I think the leadership team at RCN, myself included, has done a great job keeping employees motivated and connected while working remotely through these uncertain times. The biggest thing for us has been stressing the importance of communication. It’s so much easier to feel isolated while working from home if you aren’t making an effort to reach out to your team and fellow coworkers.

Before working remotely, my team was all together in a large open office so that we could easily collaborate and talk to each other throughout the day. In an effort to keep some semblance of that alive, I have at least one video call daily with my team to check in to see how everyone is doing, and all of our internal department meetings are held as video calls. Having consistent face-to-face interaction definitely helps keep the team motivated. It gives us the opportunity to make sure projects are on task, talk about other projects we can focus on now that had previously been backlogged, and just be social and talk about things other than work like we would if we were still in the office.

To keep the optimism going, we’ve had themed video calls including wacky outfits, onesies, and even one based on Tiger King (yes, I did dress as Joe Exotic). I’m trying to keep our interactions as positive as possible and I’ve been willing to let my team have a laugh at my expense during this because seeing them happy makes me happy.

My team has also been trying to keep all members of the company connected by sending out regular quarantine activities that our coworkers can participate in such as “Quarantine Mad Libs”, where you provide specific words to fill in the blanks of a story that Marketing wrote, and “My Coworker is Doing What?!”, where folks refer to their pets, spouses, roommates, children, etc. as their “coworkers” with hilarious results. RCN was like a big quirky family before all of this, so it’s important to keep that dynamic going even when we’re apart.

Q: What is something that most people would be surprised to learn about you?

I think people might be surprised to learn that working for RCN was my first “real job” out of college and I have no background in real estate or finance. I’m very thankful that I got the opportunity I did at RCN and that they were willing to take a chance on me almost 7 years ago.

Q: What is something that most people don’t know about RCN Capital?

Probably what the “RCN” in RCN Capital stands for. I get that question pretty often at trade shows and conferences. When the company was founded in 2010, it was operating under the name Rehab Cash Now (still utilizing the acronym RCN) because, at the time, it was focused solely on providing funding for fix and flips. In 2013, right around the time I joined the company, there were discussions of starting a complete rebrand so that as RCN made efforts to expand, it could project a more professional identity and be taken more seriously in the industry. As an homage to the company’s humble beginnings, we rebranded as RCN Capital  so as to never forget where we started. 

Q: What advice would you give your younger self?

I would say to trust yourself more and stand up for your ideas. You know a lot more than you give yourself credit for. This industry will take time to learn, but your marketing skills and knowledge are strong and that gives you the foundation you need to succeed.

I would also say, don’t be so hard on yourself. I was very critical of myself when I was starting out because I thought I should immediately have a full working knowledge of the industry, and that often led me to think about changing my career path because I wasn’t getting it as quickly as I thought I should be. I’m so glad I stuck it out though because I can’t imagine doing anything else.

Q: In your opinion, what sets RCN apart from other lenders in the industry?

What sets RCN apart from all other lenders in the industry are our people. While RCN has values that it was built on, it’s our people that carry those values through everything they do for the company. Our people believe in providing excellent customer service and they care about our customers and their businesses, not just the sale. We have such a great group of diverse and talented people that are constantly introducing new ideas and pushing to move the company forward and make the company better.  I can honestly say I work with the best people in our industry.

Q: What mistakes have you seen others make in this industry? How does RCN avoid making those same mistakes?

The biggest mistake I see other lenders making in this industry is not being upfront with their customers throughout the origination process. This could be anything from hiding fees, to not providing accurate timelines and process expectations, to changing terms and not disclosing until the last minute.

With how competitive the space is, I think many of these lenders are trying to lure customers in with these gimmicks; saying their rates are lower but tacking on numerous fees throughout the process or at closing, or saying they can close faster than competitors while knowing those timelines aren’t realistic. At face value these things sound good, and these lenders may get the initial business, but the process becomes such a nightmare that not only do they lose any chance of repeat business but you’d better believe that the customer is going to tell everyone they know in the industry about their experience.

RCN has avoided making those mistakes since day one. Our CEO, Jeff Tesch, founded the company with the intention of legitimizing hard money and pulling it out of the shadows. Providing our clients with transparency throughout the origination process and a superior customer experience are RCN’s core values and those values were carried through into every aspect of the business. In 2019, when lenders’ rates and terms were almost identical across the board, that focus on customer service is what gave RCN an advantage and continues to keep our clients coming back time and time again.

Q: How are you seeing RCN perform during the ongoing global pandemic and financial crisis?

Overall, I think RCN has been performing very well during this ongoing global pandemic. Our Executive Team was extremely proactive and had a comprehensive plan in place to deal with a lot of the challenges that presented themselves once things really hit the fan. For one, we made sure employees had everything they needed to work remotely long before shelter-in-place orders went into effect, so they weren’t scrambling when that time came.

That’s not to say that we haven’t seen substantial challenges because of the pandemic though. RCN did have to temporarily suspend lending, much like many other private lenders in our space. I think the reason we were able to handle that particular challenge so well was because of the strong foundation RCN was built on. RCN was founded on the belief that our clients deserve a transparent origination process with a superior customer experience from start to finish. We integrated that belief into all our outreach efforts to our clients since the virus hit.

Unlike some lenders that claimed to still be closing loans, we were fully transparent about what was going on. We then refocused our efforts on trying to be able to provide our clients with educational resources, articles, webinars, regular emails, etc., that would keep them informed as to what was happening in the industry. We may not have been able to originate but we were still trying to help our clients in whatever way we could.

We have already established new interim loan programs and are rolling them out slowly but surely. I don’t think we would have been in nearly as good of a place if we hadn’t approached the situation the way we did and had such strong leadership.

Q: Before the shelter-in-place rules kicked in, what did you enjoy doing with your free time? How has that changed?

It’s a little funny because before the shelter-in-place rules kicked in and the pandemic affected every aspect of our lives, I was so busy with work and work travel that I had very little free time. I’m actually enjoying having this extra time to be able to do a lot of the things I wasn’t able to get to before. I’ve been doing a lot more cooking, channeling more of my creativity into crafting, painting and drawing, and getting outside much more. I also think I’m seeing family and friends more frequently through video chat than I ever was in person which has been really nice – although nothing really beats seeing people face-to-face.