Features

Maintaining Loan Covenants: A Path to Favorable Credit Profiles for Borrowers

by Taylor Williams September 15, 2023

By David Kanarfogel, Partner, Kanarfogel & Srolovitz LLP In anticipation of a potential credit crisis in commercial real estate finance, borrowers are well-counseled to be aware of various measures that lenders are taking to mitigate any surge in defaults, including an increased willingness to create loan workout options and offer complex credit solutions. In this article, attention will be given to another component of commercial credit that can trigger unexpected problems but that also affords opportunities to borrowers to positively differentiate themselves in a constrained credit environment: loan covenants. Commercial loan covenants are contractual provisions that borrowers agree to comply with as a condition of obtaining a loan. These covenants aim to protect lenders’ interests and ensure that borrowers maintain certain financial and operational standards throughout the loan term. Breaching a commercial loan covenant can have serious consequences for borrowers. When a covenant is breached, it typically triggers a default event under the loan agreement. The lender may have the right to accelerate repayment of the loan, demand immediate payment of outstanding principal and interest or take legal action to enforce the terms of the agreement. Breaching a covenant may also result in a loss of trust and confidence from …

September 15, 2023

Higher Rent Means Greater Expectations from Student Housing Residents

by Katie Sloan September 13, 2023

Inflation may be a handy — and valid — excuse for escalated costs, but that doesn’t mean students will simply sigh, sign on the dotted line and move on with a lighter bank account when faced with today’s escalating rents. “There is no doubt that higher rental rates have significantly increased the expectations from our current and prospective residents,” says Jason Fort, executive vice president of Asset Living. Yardi’s National Student Housing report, released in the third quarter of 2023, noted June marked the fifth consecutive month of annual rent growth over 7 percent at the 200 universities it tracks. June logged a 7.2 percent growth. “Given that 2022 held the previous rent record for student housing, obtaining more than 7 percent growth off of previous record-high numbers is exceptional,” the report states. “The average rent per bed at Yardi 200 universities was $846 at quarter-end, a new all-time high.” “We have never seen leasing strength close to what we are currently experiencing,” says Tadros ‘Teddy’ Abdelmalek, national director of business development at Campus Life & Style. “Our industry normally provides steady rent growth of 2 percent to 4 percent per year with occupancies in the low 90s percentile-wise. For the …

September 13, 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

Conference Coverage Features Georgia Multifamily Seniors Housing Southeast

InterFace Panel: Seniors Housing Developers Must Get Creative in Sourcing Financing, Changing Up Product Mix

by Kristin Harlow September 7, 2023

ATLANTA — Charlie Jennings, chief development officer with Vero Beach, Fla.-based Harbor Retirement Associates, said he would challenge the “Stay alive until ‘25” mantra that some real estate professionals are touting amid today’s economic uncertainty. The phrase is a play on the late billionaire investor Sam Zell’s remarks amid the downturn in 1991 when he coined the mantra “Stay alive until ’95.” “I do not agree with that at all; that insinuates that we’re just going to sit on our hands as an industry and wait for somebody else to turn the lights back on,” said Jennings. “Our industry will continue to grow, push forward and be innovative, and build relationships outside the normal REIT and private equity model that we’ve all grown accustomed to.” Jennings’ remarks came during the development outlook panel at the 10th annual InterFace Seniors Housing Southeast, a conference hosted by France Media’s InterFace Conference Group and Seniors Housing Business on Wednesday, Aug. 16 at the Westin Buckhead in Atlanta. Todd Hudgins, senior vice president of senior living for Madison, Wisconsin-based ERDMAN, moderated the panel. Jennings went on to say that while it is tough to get a deal done right now, eventually it will get …

September 7, 2023

Features Loans

How to Navigate Complex Regulatory Changes, Lender Offerings Amid Speculated Commercial Loan Defaults

by Taylor Williams September 5, 2023

By David Kanarfogel, Esq., of Kanarfogel & Srolovitz LLP The commercial real estate industry is approaching a critical crossroad as concerns intensify regarding a potential wave of loan defaults. The implications of such defaults and the legal mandates and guidelines that may emerge in response are of critical importance for commercial borrowers. This is because lenders could introduce new types of credit offerings and provide examples of loan workout activities that can help commercial owners and developers effectively navigate these interesting times. To comprehend the potential impact of loan defaults, it is crucial to grasp the current landscape of commercial lending. Over the past few years, lending in the industry has experienced a surge, resulting in a substantial number of loans approaching maturity. However, economic uncertainties and market volatility brought about by the pandemic, historic inflation and the fickle interest rate outlook have heightened concerns about borrowers’ ability to fulfill their loan obligations — and about what the next steps will be for both lenders and borrowers. Added to that are slowed growth or even reductions in property valuations, which complicates the underwriting for such loans, and with that the prospects for refinance, sale or other credit options that borrowers …

September 5, 2023

Features Property Type Seniors Housing Southeast

Mind the Gap(s): InterFace Panelists Highlight Divides in the Senior Living Industry and How to Bridge Them

by Hayden Spiess August 31, 2023

ATLANTA — The demand metrics of seniors housing are extremely compelling, given the demographics of Americans aging into the product type. But that demand is not necessarily translating directly to occupancy at senior living properties. This disparity between leads and move-ins is just one of the gaps that the panelists highlighted throughout the “Power Panel” at France Media’s InterFace Seniors Housing Southeast conference that touched on marketing, generational differences and family expectations. Hosted Aug. 16 at the Westin Buckhead in Atlanta, the panel offered insight into the state of the industry, as seen through the eyes of C-Suite executives. Participants included Iyvonne Byers, CFO of Priority Life Care; Judd Harper, president of The Arbor Co.; Doug Schiffer, president and chief operating officer of Allegro Senior Living; Shelley Esden, president and CEO of Sonata Senior Living; and Terry Rogers, president and CEO of Westminster Communities of Florida. John Lariccia, CEO of WelcomeHome Software, served as the moderator. Follow the lead Esden said that the “big discrepancy between the rise in the number of leads and the rise in move-ins” can be partly accounted for by the prevalence of digital marketing and automation, particularly in the post-COVID landscape. For this reason, she …

August 31, 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

Features Nevada Retail Western Western Feature Archive

Owners Need Creativity, Adaptation and Capital to Keep Malls Alive in 2023

by John Nelson August 25, 2023

By Dan Spiegel of Coldwell Banker Commercial As we enter an age where online shopping dominates the retail landscape, a recurring discussion in commercial real estate is what part malls play in this new world, if any part at all. More and more malls are “dying out,” which creates a difficult challenge for property owners as conventional indoor malls are no longer a commodity due to constantly evolving shopping trends. My team and I work with retail property owners and buyers at Coldwell Banker Commercial to address these difficulties and help build a new future for successful mall properties. Thankfully, there are a few key strategies property owners can implement to save their shopping centers from becoming obsolete. One of these strategies includes renovating a mall to create new stores and experiences, repositioning the space as a social destination for recreation. Another involves transforming shopping centers into mixed-use spaces, adding apartments and multifamily units to increase foot traffic and provide people with access to shopping, housing and other essential services. Older Properties, New Market The Reno Public Market in Reno, Nev., is a great case study that demonstrates one of the ways in which property owners can adapt to current …

August 25, 2023

Multifamily Markets Navigate Challenges Alex Virtue

Acquisitions Build-to-Rent Content Partner Features Loans Midwest Multifamily Northeast Single-Family Rental Southeast Texas Walker & Dunlop Western

Multifamily Owners Navigate Challenges, Opportunities Arising from Capital Markets

by Sarah Daniels August 24, 2023

When Zelman & Associates’ 2023 Virtual Housing Summit opens in September, Alex Virtue will take the stage as a newly appointed managing director who has been charged with expanding the firm’s investment banking coverage of multifamily and other commercial real estate property sectors. Virtue joined the institutional research advisory and investment firm in May with over two decades of experience in mergers and acquisition transactions and capital raising across real estate sectors in both the public and private capital markets. His resume includes senior positions with Merrill Lynch, Eastdil Secured/Wells Fargo Securities, CBRE Capital Advisors and Xebec, an industrial developer and asset manager. Zelman & Associates, founded in 2007, was acquired by Bethesda, Md.-based commercial real estate finance and advisory firm Walker & Dunlop in 2021. “My focus at Zelman and Walker & Dunlop is broadening the firm’s reach on entity-level transactions in multifamily and related housing sectors such as single-family rentals, built-for-rent, student housing, affordable housing and manufactured housing communities, as well as other commercial real estate sectors,” says Virtue “I would characterize my concentration as bringing traditional banking investment expertise, knowledge and services across the Walker & Dunlop platform and working with my colleagues to bring these advisory …

August 24, 2023

Conference Coverage Features Georgia Seniors Housing Southeast Southeast Feature Archive

Seniors Housing Transaction Activity Will Not Return to Normal Levels This Year, Says InterFace Panel

by John Nelson August 22, 2023

ATLANTA — One of the central questions of the investment panel at InterFace Seniors Housing Southeast was: Will transaction activity return in the fourth quarter? When Brooks Blackmon, panel moderator and executive managing director of Blueprint Healthcare Real Estate Advisors, asked the question, there was a quick response from the panel — “no.” “Return to what?” asked Kelly Sheehy senior managing director of Artemis Real Estate Partners. “Higher than today? Yes. Compared to 2019? No, it’s going to take time.” InterFace Seniors Housing Southeast is an annual conference hosted by France Media’s InterFace Conference Group, Seniors Housing Business and Southeast Real Estate Business. The event was held on Wednesday, Aug. 16 at the Westin Buckhead Atlanta hotel. Blackmon moderated the discussion. The panelists agreed that the fly in the ointment that has stifled investment sales the past few quarters has been the rapid runup in interest rates. The 10-year Treasury yield was at 4.3 percent at the time of this writing, which is the highest level since 2007. The secured overnight financing rate (SOFR) and federal funds rate, two short-term benchmark interest rates, have risen by more than 500 basis points in roughly 16 months. “Until debt markets improve, you’re …

August 22, 2023

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