Content Partner

High Tech Solutions Lenders Bill Hyman Lument quote

How One Lender Is Finding High-Tech Solutions to Complicated Application Processes

by Sarah Daniels October 26, 2023

Today’s accelerating technology transformation is altering how the commercial real estate industry executes transactions and manages assets. “The amount of information that a multifamily borrower needs to submit and disclose has become more demanding over time,” says William (Bill) Hyman, a Lument senior managing director who oversees the firm’s strategic business technology transformation and conventional loan production. “That has made due diligence more complex and data intensive, and we wanted to create a more secure and expedient way to tackle that process.” Seeing this need, Lument responded by creating a suite of proprietary technology tools. Across the industry, the advent of online, friendlier multifamily loan application and servicing processes has not only eliminated the transfer of sensitive information through email by moving the processes to secure portals, but it has also streamlined common paper-based, time-consuming and burdensome tasks. That has translated into much speedier decisions about loans and responses to questions and requests. LeapOnline Beginnings Lument is a commercial real estate finance solutions provider based in New York that specializes in Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac, Federal Housing Administration and balance sheet lending. The company’s digital transformation began in 2017. At the time, the company saw the opportunity to better …

October 26, 2023

John Ducey Walker & Dunlop agency financing affordable housing

Affordable Housing Content Partner Development Features Loans Midwest Multifamily Northeast Southeast Texas Walker & Dunlop Western

How to Maximize Agency Financing for Affordable Housing

by Sarah Daniels October 24, 2023

There are a variety of ways to build affordable housing, but implementing these strategies has become an increasingly difficult proposition in 2023. Affordable housing projects seem to face challenges on every front. Generally affordable housing developers will: Despite intensifying renter demand for new units, developers are struggling to make their projects financially feasible, says John Ducey, chief production officer in the affordable lending group at Walker & Dunlop. “Affordable housing developers are facing some of the toughest headwinds I’ve seen in more than 20 years in the industry,” Ducey says. “That means developers are forced to work harder than ever to structure deals that stretch scarce housing subsidies and maximize agency financing.” Challenging Conditions One impediment to affordable housing efforts is reduced future rent levels, related to area median income (AMI) caps the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) imposed recently on LIHTC properties in many markets in the United States. The unexpectedly restrictive caps forced developers to slash revenue projections, scuttling some transactions and forcing many loan applicants to renegotiate or seek alternative financing to salvage deals. On the expense side, inflation and the labor crunch continue to drive up costs for new construction, renovation of older affordable …

October 24, 2023

Matt Mrva Pharmaceutical Manufacturing Site Selection Quote

Bohler Content Partner Development Features Industrial Life Sciences Midwest Northeast Office Southeast Texas Western

Site Design Science: How Understanding Operations Draws Pharmaceutical Manufacturers

by Sarah Daniels October 17, 2023

Pharmaceutical companies have captured the interest of many developers and with good reason. Softening demand for traditional office space has planners looking for alternative uses to fill out business parks and multiuse developments, and drug makers represent a promising source of highly valuable occupancy. Speculative construction that accelerated during the pandemic has given pharmaceutical manufacturers plenty of options and enabled them to be choosy in site selection. However, to compete for end users, developers must ensure their properties offer the features and amenities drug makers seek, says Matt Mrva, northeast director of planning and landscape architecture at Bohler, a land development consulting and site design firm. “Simply adding a life sciences label on conventional flex space is unlikely to lure pharma companies. Research, lab and pharmaceutical manufacturing facilities often require specialized infrastructure and site layouts,” Mrva says. “Even if a property is zoned to allow for life sciences, design and development teams need to understand the proposed operations in order to optimize the facility.” Unique Facility Requirements Depending on anticipated needs, tenants may require advanced climate control and ventilation, redundant electrical feeds, high-volume water and sewer service, on-site wastewater pretreatment, backup power generation, reinforced floors to handle the weight of …

October 17, 2023

Acquisitions Content Partner Development Features Midwest NAI Northeast Self-Storage Southeast Texas Western

Following Pandemic-Fueled Run-Up in Acquisition Prices, Where Is Self-Storage Headed?

by Sarah Daniels October 12, 2023

Self-storage has had an amazing run since just before the pandemic. Cap rates started near 6 percent, with buildings starting at $150 per square foot. Then came the flood of pandemic capital pushing prices — by mid-2022 prices jumped to a point no one had previously experienced. “In some of the bigger markets, we were seeing per-square-foot prices of $300 and above for the first time,” says Denise Nunez, executive managing director with NAI Horizon. Cap rates fell to as low as 4 percent. “The low cap rates had gotten to such a point where many brokers were not even pricing deals because they didn’t want to miss that extra that they could get on the sale.” But rising interest rates have had an impact on self-storage, as they have had on every other commercial real estate asset class, with prices reversing again. Investors are still unsure of what the Federal Reserve will be doing in the near term with monetary policy. Building costs are high — final delivery construction costs are still higher by 40 percent or more than pre-pandemic. That reality has resulted in investors alternating between cold feet and, with some signs that the Fed may plan …

October 12, 2023

Eran Dor Pavlov Media Future Multifamily Tech

Content Partner Features Leasing Activity Midwest Multifamily Northeast Pavlov Media Southeast Texas Western

Multifamily Internet Connectivity: Planning for the Future

by Sarah Daniels October 4, 2023

Internet connectivity is the digital equivalent of a foundation for any multifamily property. Residents want access for communications, entertainment, business and personal needs. Property operators need connections for management and reporting software resources. Good and reliable connections to the Internet, and a dependable Wi-Fi network as a way of distributing that access, are essential. Looking three to five years into the future, these connectivity needs become even more demanding and complex. The Internet of Things (IoT) creates a layer of interesting application and use cases for property owners. IoT defines the collective network of connected technology that enables communication between devices (“things”) and the cloud and/or among the devices themselves. IoT devices are the technology that creates smart home and buildings. IoT devices also support and simplify functions such as rental property management, energy usage reduction, maintenance cost reduction and more. “Looking into the future, IoT applications can make the property more efficient in surprising ways,” says Eran Dor, vice president of technology products at Pavlov Media. Leak detectors can provide early warning of flooding and appropriately shut off water before any significant damage occurs. Trash cans can be equipped with sensors that indicate when to collect, rather than requiring …

October 4, 2023

Randy Dowis NAI Industrial Colorado Springs

Colorado Content Partner Features Industrial Leasing Activity NAI Western

Diverse Demand, Tight Supply Elevate Colorado Springs’ Industrial Market

by Sarah Daniels October 2, 2023

Industrial activity runs a wide gamut in Colorado Springs. Situated on the busy I-25 corridor, the Centennial State’s second-largest city is a key distribution point to Northern Colorado and surrounding states. But distribution is only part of the story. Thanks in part to Fort Carson Army base on its southern edge and the U.S. Air Force Academy to its north, the seat of El Paso County is home to an assortment of aerospace and defense manufacturers, as well as other industry clusters ranging from medical equipment makers to suppliers of semiconductor components. “It’s a military-friendly community that offers a lot of support for entrepreneurs and families just separating from their respective branches,” says Megan Mechikoff, an associate broker specializing in industrial real estate at NAI Highland Commercial Group. “That generates a lot of startups that work directly for the Department of Defense or attach themselves to a larger brand like Lockheed Martin or Northrop Grumman.” Colorado Springs attracts employers with its highly educated workforce, affordable cost of living and excellent quality of life, which includes mild winters on the protected Eastern slopes of the Rocky Mountains and proximity to outdoor activities and winter sports, Mechikoff says. What Colorado Springs lacks, …

October 2, 2023

Susan Mello Life Insurance Multifamily quote

Content Partner Features Loans Midwest Multifamily Northeast Southeast Texas Walker & Dunlop Western

Investments from Life Insurance Companies May Throw a Lifeline to Multifamily Sector

by Sarah Daniels September 28, 2023

No one in the multifamily sector needs a lecture on the difficulty of financing projects and deals these days. But, when there are challenges in the market, attention to detail and alternative financing can result in a better chance of finding solutions. Considering life insurance companies as viable investors is one example. Insurers often can provide needed liquidity as they search for yield, especially in the multifamily world. Multifamily fell to the same forces that have affected every other commercial real estate (CRE) class. After a buildup of easy money over more than a decade, the zero-interest rate policy in response to the pandemic collapse set asset investment on fire. Prices soared, opportunities were widespread and big leverage was in. “Starting in 2019/2020, you saw a lot of floating-rate bridge money,” says Susan Mello, executive vice president and group head of capital markets at Walker & Dunlop. But as loans came up for refinancing, quick and large Federal Reserve hikes of the benchmark federal funds rate kicked up loan costs everywhere and made penciling a deal difficult, if not impossible. “The rapid rise of interest rates put values in question across the board. That’s exacerbated by how much liquidity there …

September 28, 2023

Content Partner Features Midwest Multifamily Northeast Pavlov Media Southeast Student Housing Texas Western

Multifamily Must Innovate, Adapt Now to Anticipate Resident Connectivity Demands

by Sarah Daniels September 19, 2023

“Traditional wired and wireless networks are becoming faster and more reliable with each new standard on the market,” says Pavlov Media CEO Cory Douglas. “We’re seeing multifamily consumers extend these data networks well beyond the need for just for voice and video. There are all kinds of new demands on multi-dwelling units (MDUs) for integrating Internet of Things (IoT), life safety and power and water management systems into traditional data networks.” For more than 30 years, Pavlov Media has been the leading national provider of residential Wi-Fi service, and now, with Douglas as the company’s newly named CEO, Pavlov Media has plans to build on its success through its unique technology and its eye on the innovation required by multifamily’s evolving needs. Douglas, promoted to replace retiring founder and CEO Mark Scifres, says what sets Pavlov Media apart is its ability to rapidly implement broadband Wi-Fi and video solutions for any style of community, located in any part of the country. “That capability is really driven by the investments in our back office, technology and engineering workflows that we’ve developed over time,” Douglas explains. “It’s our goal to make the purchasing and deployment experience easy for our customers. It’s done …

September 19, 2023

Multifamily Market Overleveraged Revere Capital

Acquisitions Content Partner Features Loans Midwest Multifamily Northeast Southeast Texas Western

Multifamily Market Faces Strain as Overleveraged Investors Confront Rising Costs, Property Value Decline

by Sarah Daniels September 12, 2023

As the pandemic lockdowns hammered offices and retail properties, investors abandoned those assets and plowed cash into apartments and warehouses, both of which witnessed robust rent growth and appreciation as the economy reopened. But in many cases, apartment investors tapped ultra-cheap, variable-rate financing to overpay for multifamily properties, expecting rental rates to continue to climb and help the deals pencil financially. While in large part rents have grown — albeit not at the same double-digit level seen during 2021 and early 2022 — buyers often made the deals with too much optimism and failed to account for potential risks or often, at least, underappreciated them. Now, not only has the debt on those multifamily assets become considerably more expensive in about a year’s time, but labor, insurance, taxes and other operating costs also have increased. As a result, financial cracks are emerging in the multifamily market, says Jeff Salladin, a managing director with Dallas-based private debt fund Revere Capital. What’s more, because of the typical 12-month apartment lease term, landlords are unable to pass those higher expenses onto tenants in a timely fashion, declares Salladin, leader of the firm’s real estate debt team. Even if multifamily owners could increase rents, …

September 12, 2023

Acquisitions Build-to-Rent Content Partner Development Features Leasing Activity Midwest NAI Northeast Single-Family Rental Southeast Texas Western

Single-Family Rental, Built-to-Rent Investment Sales Outlook Remains Positive Despite Economic Challenges

by Sarah Daniels August 29, 2023

The multifamily sector is under general disruption from a variety of factors, such as falling valuations, financing difficulties, questions about forward net operating income, shifts in regulations and more. Chris Town, who works in commercial sales and leasing at NAI Latter & Blum in Baton Rouge, La., is an expert in single-family rental (SFR) and built-to-rent (BTR) investment sales. Town says that there are challenges, but a solid future ahead for the sector. The overarching challenges take the form of the Federal Reserve interest rate hikes. “It’s the major factor behind the immediate slowdown of home construction and home buying,” Town explains. “Another factor, of course, is land. These are true whether you’re talking true multifamily or the submarkets of BTR and SFR.” A combination of factors has created a tug-of-war among incentives. High interest rates, with home prices at or near historical highs, mean millions of people need places to live. Many of these potential homeowners have families and want the ameliorations and amenities of a detached single-family housing. “Depending on the metric and organization’s research used, you could say the country is five to six million units short on single-family homes,” Town says. The Larger Economy’s Impact on …

August 29, 2023

Newer Posts

Older Posts