The dead are beating their lenders in recognizing the value of, and then protecting, their on-line lives – I mean assets. Does the tortoise beat the hare (again)? Even when the tortoise is dead? This perspective rings out in this: The Dead: on-line assets (accounts, sites and materials) are recognized as an important asset by… Continue Reading
Category Archives: Good Times for Lenders
Subscribe to Good Times for Lenders RSS FeedAs “Bad-Boy” Recourse Liability Spreads to Construction Lenders . . . Is the End Near for Non-Recourse Liability??
Posted in Good Times for Lenders, Guaranty Issues, Market TrendsOnce upon a time and in a very simple time, construction lenders required full payment and performance guarantees, and only permanent lenders offered non-recourse financing (with “bad-boy” liability). Now, even some construction lenders include a variation of non-recourse liability (with “bad-boy” events) in their structure. And, the list of “triggers” or events that form the… Continue Reading
Fed Policy on Renting Residential REO Points to . . . no near term recovery
Posted in Good Times for Lenders, Tough Times for LendersA recent policy statement issued by the Federal Reserve “reminds” banks and their examiners that renting residential property, after the bank obtains title, can be part of the bank’s process of returning the property to the market place. The statement acknowledges that although banks “should make good-faith efforts to dispose of OREO properties at the earliest… Continue Reading
Lease Reviews & Surveillance: “Green” Lease Provisions in “Green” Buildings
Posted in Good Times for Lenders, Technology (including Green Buildings)Back in December of ’10, I gave you a list of lease provisions that are crafted to address topics unique to “green” buildings. Here’s another version or update on the list: insurance provisions annual environmental performance report (access to space, access to the report, etc.) carbon credits (they belong to Landlord!) building operations (in compliance… Continue Reading
Lenders & Leases: Spotting a “Troubled” Tenant – the need for “forensic” leasing
Posted in Good Times for Lenders, Tough Times for Lenders, TrainingWhether you’re a loan originator, or a loan servicer, reviewing a commercial lease (or amendments) becomes more challenging in tough real estate markets simply because there are more tenants in distress – and you need to identify them. So, are there lease provisions that could indicate a distressed tenant? Below is a short list of… Continue Reading
MBA Report Shows Good Trends in Bad Numbers; BUT Judicial Foreclosure is a DRAG (I have questions)
Posted in Articles, Good Times for Lenders, Market Trends, Remedies, Tough Times for LendersRecently, the Mortgage Bankers Association published its “National Delinquency Survey” for the fourth quarter of 2011. The report covers the delinquency and foreclosures rates on first-lien mortgage loans, and includes @ 88% of all single family homes in the US. Although the survey does NOT cover commercial mortgages, the data gives us important incite on trends AND information on the… Continue Reading
Fitch Surveys Frame the Real Estate Market: Good [:)] & Bad [:(]
Posted in Good Times for Lenders, Market TrendsBased upon these recent reports by Fitch, my view of the current commercial real estate market remains – tepid – meaning, better than bad but not as good as good It is what I call tepid times. The Fitch Survey of Senior Fixed Income Investors (Fitch Credit Markets report) points to improved confidence in the US… Continue Reading
Hope for Condominium Mortgages or REO in Your Portfolio? Changes to FHA Restrictions Coming?
Posted in Good Times for Lenders, Tough Times for LendersBob Burton over at Common Interest 360 gives some “hope” for lenders and servicers dealing with loans secured by residential condo units – the FHA is being pushed to implement changes to the guidelines used by it in financing condo units owned by residents. Commercial real estate depends upon (and dies with) credit; and current FHA guidelines make… Continue Reading
New CMBS Model Should Focus on Ownership – add a Stick to the Carrot
Posted in Good Times for Lenders, Market TrendsMuch of the discussion surrounding “cures” to the CMBS model focuses on using “risk retention” as a consequence to the loan originator, which forces the commercial lender to bear the loss. That hurts. It’s a real stick. The model needs a carrot and a stick. Here’s an idea that deserves discussion: focus on the… Continue Reading
Insurance Nightmare: As Lawyers Attack Forced Placed Insurance, Lenders Accept “Hope Insurance”
Posted in Good Times for Lenders, Insurance & Environmental Risks, Tough Times for LendersA recent and well-publicized lawsuit against a lender shows our appetite for headlines even extends to insurance issues. Yes, insurance. My comment here is NOT about the merits of the lawsuit. (I’m not evening giving you a link to it.) Instead, I marvel at the headline, and our ability to not focus on another very large and very important… Continue Reading
When is Insurance Really NOT Insurance? When the “agent” really is NOT an agent
Posted in Good Times for Lenders, Insurance & Environmental Risks, TrainingThis seems to be insurance week for me. Later this week, I’ll jump into a recent court case that recently hit the headlines. Today, however, I received an e-mail warning of the POSSIBLE unauthorized issuance of property insurance polices by “an unathorized third party purporting to represent the insurers listed below and not to policies properly issued by the… Continue Reading
Enforceability of Due-on-Sale Clauses: The Case for Collective Amnesia
Posted in Good Times for Lenders, Market Trends, TrainingI’ll admit it: I’m old and getting older. This hit me earlier this week as I argued with a lawyer about the enforceability of due-on-sale clauses in commercial mortgages. The conversations boggled my mind, because the debate was “settled” in 1982 when Garn-St. Germain (citation below) was enacted – and the debate ended: due-on-sale clauses… Continue Reading
Why the Co-lender Train Wreck? Lenders Used Wrong Agreement
Posted in Good Times for Lenders, Tough Times for Lenders, Training, Workout IssuesTrain wrecks draw a crowd. Look at this old film from the 1913 California State Fair (click the text). 1913 Train Wreck Unfortunately, many co-lender structures (secured by distressed commercial real estate) look exactly like this train wreck…. Continue Reading
2012 MBA-CREF Convention (Day Two) – “Play It Again” is the Forecast
Posted in Articles, Good Times for Lenders, Market TrendsThe MBA does a great job in planning sessions, and in selecting a location where lenders and their mortgage bankers can meet. The convention takes place at the beginning of the year, so that the lenders can articulate their goals, which allows immediate feedback from the mortgage bankers; and gives the mortgage bankers direction in… Continue Reading
2012 MBA-CREF Convention Starts: Top Topics Span Good Times, Tough Times & Technology
Posted in Good Times for Lenders, Market Trends, Technology (including Green Buildings)Yesterday (Sunday) was the first day of the 2012 MBA-CREF Convention. The theme or tag-line is “Where Market Makers Meet.” The formal sessions start today, which cover content planned by the various councils comprising the MBA. Some times the “off the record” content is just as interesting as the planned presentations. (Or maybe they just… Continue Reading
Meet Me at These Meetings? MBA-CREF convention or ABA LPM’s meeting?
Posted in Good Times for Lenders, Technology (including Green Buildings)If you’d like to step out of this web stuff and actually meet, I’ll be at both of these events in the next few days: the mid-year meeting of the Law Practice Management Section of the American Bar Ass’n (I’m the liaison to this section from the group of lawyers in the ABA who focus… Continue Reading
New Name, New Look, Same Financial Community
Posted in Good Times for LendersWelcome to the newly redesigned Lenders 360 blog, formerly known as Tough Times for Lenders. Financial analysts and banking news headlines all point to better times, maybe even “good times,” for commercial lending markets. For the first time since 2008, employment figures are promising and major banks are well capitalized. Although challenges remain, economists generally… Continue Reading
Special Purpose Vehicle (SPE): Comment in Recent US Supreme Court Case Encourages Bankruptcy Risk
Posted in Good Times for Lenders, Market Trends, Single Purpose Entity, Workout IssuesRecently, Professor Joshua P. Fershee posted a very interesting observation on the Business Law Prof Blog. Professor Fershee comments on a legal concept called the "single enterprise" theory, and on references to this concept by the US Supreme Court in a decision published by it this past summer (Goodyear Dunlop Tires Operations, S.A. v…. Continue Reading
Thanksgiving Reflections: ACC Meeting brings 21 Good “Ideas” – but 1 is GREAT!
Posted in Good Times for Lenders, Technology (including Green Buildings), Tough Times for Lenders, TrainingThanksgiving week is a good time to take a breath, relax and reflect – which is what I offer up here: It also brings to end the industry meeting circuit for 2011. Fred Krebs has a nice posting on the Association of Corporate Counsel blog. As his takeaway from the ’11 annual meeting of ACC, his… Continue Reading
Leases, Lenders & Letters of Credit: Lenders Taking New Approaches With Tenant Letters of Credit (lessons learned)
Posted in Good Times for Lenders, Tough Times for Lenders, Training, Workout IssuesWe know commercial real estate is all about the rents – and the credit of the tenant, which some times is enhanced by the tenant giving the landlord a letter of credit. David Staas and Michael Thomas recently clued me in on several lessons learned by commercial mortgage lenders, on the topic of letters of… Continue Reading
Lessons Learned: Future Loan Documents Should Cover These Topics (part ___)
Posted in Good Times for Lenders, Training, Workout IssuesGame #6 of the World Series (my Rangers v the now World Champion St. Louis Cardinals) gives the Rangers some painful pointers on "where" to improve for 2012: find someone, anyone, who can get a third strike – for the last out in an inning, for a win of the game, for a World Series… Continue Reading
CMBS 2.0: What Is It Looking Like? Cash Management & New Recourse Events
Posted in Good Times for Lenders, Market TrendsAndrews & Kurth has a nice "high level" piece on the CMBS market – covering challenges and changes in CMBS since the market crash. And periodically (perhaps too frequently!), I’ve offered up my broader insights on these same subjects (search TT4L using the terms "CMBS" or "2.0"). However, it is important to get very, very… Continue Reading
Free Webinar on Environmental Risks & Mitigation Measure: Oct 11 (noon CST)
Posted in Good Times for Lenders, Insurance & Environmental Risks, Tough Times for LendersLatent (and even flaming) environmental risks play an important role in the monitoring of problem commercial real estate loans, in the decision to foreclosure and in the sale of foreclosed properties. For many servicers and lenders, these risks are not fully understood – perhaps simply because in the "good economy" (prior to 2008), lenders relied… Continue Reading
CMBS Update: Rating Agency Reform & Another Wells Letter
Posted in Good Times for Lenders, Market TrendsFor those of us looking for a healthy return of the CMBS market as a needed source of liquidity to the commercial real estate market, here are several recent events of interest: Yesterday, the Wall Street Journal reported that Standard & Poors (S&P) received notice from the Securities & Exchange Commission (SEC) that it is… Continue Reading