- Struggling Properties Can Exercise Workout Options to Improve Financial Health
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This year is shaping up to be the most active period for real estate workouts since the early 1990s, primarily due to the declining value and performance of commercial properties during the economic slowdown. Tightening capital markets have compounded the
- Wait and See
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Last year, the commercial real estate debt market again decreased considerably from the last decade's double digit growth rates. This slower growth indicates a lower level of transactional activity —buying, selling, and refinancing — taking place as the industry awaits
- What's Your Exit Strategy?
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There are many factors to consider when entering into a fixed rate commercial real estate loan what’s often forgotten is how to get out. Negotiating a solid exit strategy should be a critical aspect of all fixed rate loan originations.
- Separation Anxiety
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In February the White House published a report to Congress mandated by the Dodd Frank Financial Reform Bill. The white paper indicated a significantly reduced role for the government sponsored entities Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, winding down their conventional
- Understanding Today's Underwriting Criteria Makes Refinancing Easier
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With historically low interest rates still available, many property owners are seeking to refinance their loans. However, they should be aware that today's lenders underwrite real estate values far differently than in the past by using a relatively new set
- Understand Lender Criteria to Finance Manufactured-Housing Communities
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Manufactured housing is a niche that offers potentially strong returns for some investors. Once thought of as simply mobile home parks, today's manufactured home communities are split into two primary categories landlease communities where residents own their homes and lease
- Affordable Money
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With the ever increasing need for more affordable housing, both nonprofit and for profit developers must consider every available below market rate financing program to make such projects economically feasible. Viable sources may be 501(c)(3) bonds for nonprofit developers
- Consider the Options
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When fully understood, properly prepared, and used correctly, real estate options are an excellent way for knowledgeable investors to conserve capital, create leverage, and reduce risks. Investors and clients who may be short on capital may find options a good
- Construction Plans
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Sponsors and owners considering financing the construction of commercial real estate projects need to know how lenders evaluate a project's overall risk. Such understanding increases the likelihood that a developer's application for financing will be approved. Lenders view construction loans
- It's A Wrap
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While condominium demand outpaces supply in many markets, some lenders are starting to tighten their financing parameters in anticipation of a possible market slowdown. To maximize their opportunities in this changing environment, commercial real estate developers must carefully manage potential
- FHA Facts
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In today’s tight credit market, multifamily owners and developers are challenged with finding financing that works now as well as in the uncertain future. In such turbulent times, the Federal Housing Administration loan programs serve as good, reliable sources of
- Loan Liaison
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Appraisers and underwriters are involved in the commercial real estate financing process as objective sources to ensure that buyers and lenders do not let optimism for projects result in unfavorable transactions. However, sometimes these professionals base their assessments on data
- IRA Investments
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Purchasing residential property using retirement funds has received a lot of press, but what's still new to many investors is the fact that commercial real estate also can be bought this way. In fact, the Internal Revenue Service allows individual
- Looking for Leverage
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Small apartment properties can be an excellent way for first time investors to enter the commercial real estate market. Apartment properties with between five and 50 units are attractive investments because there is less competition for them. Buildings with five
- Debt Transfer
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While new money is difficult to find in the current economic climate, loan assumptions may provide the prospective debt commercial real estate buyers need to close deals. A loan assumption is exactly that A property buyer assumes a mortgage loan
- Financing Fusion
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Many areas of the U.S. have an oversupply of office and industrial property, tight access to capital, and fewer and shrinking local businesses to sustain property absorption. During this turbulent period, the ownership leasing hybrid approach may provide an attractive,
- Fast Funding
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Traditional financing is suitable for a multitude of commercial real estate transactions, which often allow several months of lead time to secure funds. But what happens when funding for a property transaction is required immediately or when borrowers are inexperienced?
- Know Your REITs
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Today's almost instantaneous access to financial information along with corporate governance improvements have dramatically altered the commercial real estate landscape for investors interested in diversifying through real estate investment trusts. This additional capital has put non exchange traded REITs on
- More Money
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Commercial real estate developers often use federal, state, and local tax incentives, including historic rehabilitation credits, brownfield redevelopment programs, and tax increment financing, to reduce their projects' costs. However, the arsenal of tax incentives is much more extensive than many
- Master Plans
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Financing a commercial real estate project based on its rental stream presents many challenges for property owners. These challenges intensify when deficiencies arise from vacant space, scheduled lease expirations, tenant concessions such as free rent, or other lease attributes that
- Redefining Debt
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Downsized operations and scarcity of tenants have temporarily left many business owners and developers with too much real estate and too much debt. Refinancing often is the solution of choice, but doing so isn&rsquo t always viable. Owners or developers
- Pre-Underwriting Helps to Sell Properties
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Residential homebuyers often get pre qualified to facilitate their negotiating and purchasing process. Commercial property brokers can use a less common but similar process for their income property listings — although it's the property that gets pre qualified, or pre
- Private Mortgage Loans Provide a Short-Term Financing Alternative
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Private mortgage loans are made by private lenders instead of traditional financing sources such as banks, lending institutions, or government agencies. They usually are short term (6 months to 3 years) hard money or asset based loans, and the decision
- Low Rates Help Insulate Commercial Markets from Unstable Economy
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Last year, the commercial real estate debt market slowed considerably from the double digit growth the industry experienced the past three years. Overall, at the end of second quarter 2002, the debt market had grown 3.7 percent from the end
- Rising Rates
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Recent commercial real estate capital market demand has caused capitalization rates to decline significantly, which has inflated real estate values despite poor fundamentals. Yet most experts believe that cap rates soon will climb. Investors should assess their properties to ensure