Author: ipgocorp

LONGVIEW, TX – Civitas Senior Living announced the acquisition of two senior living communities in East Texas. Abby Development, based in Dallas, TX, owned and developed the communities in 2015-2016.

Arabella of Longview is located at 1133 E. Hawkins Pkwy. The building includes 132 independent living apartments, 20 independent living cottages, 50 assisted living apartments, and 32 memory care apartments.

Arabella of Athens is located at 413 Gibson Road. The building includes 12 independent living cottages, 34 assisted living apartments, and 21 memory care apartments.  The combined transaction adds 314 units to the Civitas Portfolio of 20+ properties located in Texas.

Both communities will be managed by Civitas under the leadership of Wayne and Misti Powell. Together, this management team has more than 30 years of experience operating senior living communities in Texas.

Wayne Powell, president of Civitas, says, “April has been a great month for the growth of Civitas Senior Living – adding these two East Texas Arabella properties to the earlier purchase of Arabella of Kilgore expands our East Texas footprint allowing us to focus on regional market expansion.  Each of these properties have a strong Independent Living component that mirrors current Independent Living expansions at other existing Civitas Properties.”

LUBBOCK, TX – Preferred Apartment Communities announced that it closed on a loan investment of up to approximately $9.4 million.  This investment is in connection with Haven Campus Communities’ plans to develop a 556-bed, 140-unit student housing community located near Texas Tech University in Lubbock, Texas. 

This is the second phase to an existing student housing project that is completing its first lease-up.  The second phase will be managed by Preferred Campus Management, the same company managing the current lease-up in the first phase.  Additionally, with this investment, PAC received an option to purchase the student housing community following stabilization at a discounted price to market. 

“We are excited to continue the growth of investments in student housing assets near world-class universities,” said Paul Cullen, Chief Marketing Officer of PAC.

Preferred Apartment Communities was formed primarily to acquire and operate multifamily properties in select targeted markets throughout the United States.  As part of its business strategy, it enters into forward purchase contracts or purchase options for to-be-built multifamily communities and makes mezzanine loans, provide deposit arrangements, or provide performance assurances, as may be necessary or appropriate, in connection with the development of multifamily communities and other properties. 

(RECAP: HUD published a Notice in the April 15, 2016, Federal Register identifying Federal buildings and other real property HUD has reviewed for suitability for use to assist the homeless. The list includes buildings and properties in 31 states, including Virginia, where buildings are available in Blackstone, Fairfax, Ft. Belvior, Ft. Lee, Ft. Story, Hampton, Montgomery, Radford, Richmond and Sandston. Properties listed as suitable/available will be available exclusively for homeless use for a period of 60 days from the date of this Notice. Where property is described as for “off-site use only,” recipients of the property will be required to relocate the building to their own site at their own expense.)

As the year winds down,  we ate still there working for you and  I wanted all of you to know that the SBA Guarantee fee and the 90% guarantee have been extended to March 4^th 2011, or until the money runs out.  The Federal government just extended the deadline as well as gave additional funding to extend the 12/31/2010 deadline.  We wish you a very happy, healthy & prosperous New Years.

Draw your own conclusions, but act quickly.  Adele and I are here to pre-qualify any deals that you are currently working on.

As reported on the SBA website.

On September 27, 2010, President Obama signed the Small Business Jobs Act of 2010 (the “Small Business Jobs Act”). This legislation provided an additional $505 million to the Small Business Administration to support as much as $14 billion in lending to small businesses. These funds are available to provide fee relief for new 7(a) and 504 loans under Sections 501 and 502 of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (the “Recovery Act”). In addition, this legislation extends the authority for SBA to provide a higher guaranty on eligible 7(a) loans to December 31, 2010. On December 22, 2010 the agency released SBA Information Notice 5000-1190 to announce the further extension of this authority through March 4, 2011, as part of HR 3082, the Continuing Appropriations Act, 2011, and to provide related information.

In SBA Information Notice 5000-1188 (effective date December 9, 2010), SBA announced deadlines for submitting Small Business Jobs Act loan applications of December 15, 2010 (for loans submitted under non-delegated authority) and December 31, 2010 (for loans submitted under delegated authority). These deadlines were set assuming that SBA’s authority to make Small Business Jobs Act loans would expire, as scheduled, on December 31, 2010.

Since that announcement, SBA has seen an unprecedented increase in loan applications and approvals. During the week of December 12, SBA approved almost $1.5 billion in Small Business Jobs Act loans—the highest weekly volume since the agency began tracking weekly loan data, representing more loans approved in a single week than in an average month under the previously implemented Jobs Act loan enhancements.

As a result, the Transition Phase Indicator is now Yellow indicating the shrinking availability of funds and that the loan queue will be operational when funding runs out . Soon after the current funds are exhausted, the Transition Phase Indicator will be switched to Red indicating that no new applications are being accepted in the Loan Queues and loans already in the Loan Queues will be funded (as evidenced by receipt of an SBA loan number) as funds become available through cancellations of previously approved Small Business Jobs Act loans as long as authority remains to do so. The queue will change to Red when no new applications are being accepted under the Small Business Jobs Act.

The information on this web page and the links it contains will provide you with the information you will need to make an informed decision as to whether you want your loan application to remain in the SBA Loan Queue awaiting the possibility of funds becoming available as a result funding or you want to withdraw your application and re-submit it as a non- Small Business Jobs Act loan with all applicable fees and lower guaranty levels.

NASHVILLE, TN – Security Properties purchased Opus 29 and Note 16, a 139 unit and an 86 unit Class A multifamily property, located in Nashville TN for $34.4 million and $19.33 million, respectively.

Opus 29 and Note 16 are located in the urban core of Nashville in the West End and Music Row neighborhoods, respectively. Opus 29 is adjacent to Centennial Park and just Northwest of Vanderbilt Stadium, while Note 16 is located in the Music Row area just East of Vanderbilt University’s Peabody Esplanade and Vanderbilt University Medical Center, and two blocks North of Belmont University. 

Job growth in the submarket is projected to be strong, particularly in the Education and Healthcare Sectors.  Education job drivers include Vanderbilt University, which has over 12,000 students and over 4,000 faculty, Belmont with over 7,400 students, and Tennessee State University with over 9,000 students.  Healthcare is also booming in Nashville, with over 300 healthcare companies  having operations in Nashville including Centennial Medical Center with over 640 beds and Vanderbilt University Medical Center (nearly 20,000 employees).

Security Properties believes in the Nashville market.  According to Barrett Sigmund, Sr. Director at Security Properties in Seattle, WA the acquisition was made because “Nashville is an 18 hour city with strong appeal to millennials and a diverse economy dominated by Education and Healthcare, two industries that have historically been recession resistant.  As we get later in the current real estate cycle, we strive to deploy equity in increasingly strong locations.  These deals, which were acquired on an off-market basis, have been capitalized using 10 year, fixed rate debt at 60% LTV.  Nashville is a market, not unlike Seattle that has some short term supply concerns, but with high quality of life, favorable cost of living, strong projected population growth and strong job drivers, these markets should outperform the broader real estate market over the long term.”

Security Properties has purchased the assets off-market in a 50/50 joint venture with Loma Linda University.  This represents the 4th and 5th acquisitions between the two groups.

According to the NFIB ( National Federation of Small Business) small business is not spending many dollars on the areas that will bolster the economic recovery.  ”Spending seems to be primarily in maintenance mode – if it breaks, replace it,” said Bill Dunkelberg,  NFIB’s chief economist.

As reported in the Christian Scientist Monitor The NFIB Index of Small Business Optimism rose slightly in November.  However, the index is still at a recession-level reading. Any improvement that we have seen in this index this year is the weakest of all “recovery” periods since 1973, the start of the NFIB surveys.

While some are calling this a weak recovery, I see no evidence that any appreciable recovery is taking place. The NFIB survey bears me out on this.

Employment improvement in small businesses continues to be anemic. The average gain in employment for November was 0.01 workers per firm. Up from 0.0 in October. Small businesses aggressively shed jobs for the first two years of the recession. Those businesses that have survived are operating at lean staffing levels right now.

Those businesses that have survived are beginning to invest in the future. While capital spending has been very low for the past two years, November saw some improvement. About half of all firms reported capital outlays over the past six months. However, spending is not on those things we would expect during a recovery. Most of the expenditures was on things that need to be replaced to maintain operations. Of those who spent money on capital items, 35 percent spent on new equipment, 19 percent acquired vehicles (up three points), and 12 percent improved or expanded facilities. Only 4% acquired new buildings or land for expansion, which is what will signal new growth in the economy.

So what does this mean to you and me.  Borrowing is going to become very specific to the existing needs of a business, not their future needs.  Which can be a good thing, providing of course that their present financials are strong enough to meet the the stringent underwriting requirements of today’s financial institutions.  Many of our clients are looking for marketing dollars to be able to “beef up” for future potential projects, which would mean that the lenders would be looking at projections,  which many lenders are not doing as of yet.  So borrowing to improve one’s current situation to replace machinery that is obsolete, or needs repair may be an easier loan for a bank to finance.

So continue to watch the economic borrowing pattersn of America to determine where we REALLY stand or sit in this case as to the current recovery.  For more information on SBA Loans or commercial Lending contact us.

NEW YORK, NY – As rent growth in New York City continues to outpace income growth, many residents will have to devote more of their income to rent in the coming year.  New York City renters are expected to spend nearly two-thirds (65.2 percent) of their income on rent in 2016, up from 59.7 percent in 2015, according to StreetEasy’s new annual report, the State of New York City Rent Affordability.

New Yorkers in four of the five boroughs can expect to face a higher rent burden in 2016 than last year. Brooklyn continues to be the least affordable borough, where renters can expect to spend 65.4 percent of their income on rent, followed by the Bronx (54.1 percent). However, Queens renters are expected to see the greatest increase in the typical rent burden among all boroughs. Between 2015 and 2016, the amount of income Queens renters are projected to spend on rent will increas from 43.5 percent to 51.6 percent. Manhattan follows shortly behind Queens with a median rent-to-income ratio of 49.1 percent in 2016. Staten Island is the only borough in the city to be considered affordable for renters, with a median rent-to-income ratios of 27.9 percent in 2016.

Renters in East Brooklyn, Upper Manhattan and the South Bronx are spending more of their incomes on rent compared with renters in other neighborhoods. In Manhattanville, for example, the median rent-to-income ratio is forecasted to reach 119.5 percent in 2016, meaning the median rent is far greater than the typical household’s total annual income. Chinatown, Little Italy, Mott Haven and North New York all have median rent-to-income ratios greater than 100 percent.

“With a rental vacancy rate below 3.5 percent, the supply of rental housing across the city is extremely low, which places upward pressure on prices and even more competition among renters. There’s policy momentum in place here, but addressing the supply side is only half the battle. No other factor is more fundamental to the city’s growing rent burden than lagging income growth,” says StreetEasy data scientist Alan Lightfeldt. “Until income growth catches up with rent growth, the rent affordability problem will loom large on New York households.”

Conversely, Manhattan is the only borough where renters will see a smaller rent burden this year, primarily because Manhattan’s forecasted income growth (1.0 percent) exceeds the forecasted growth in median rent price (0.2 percent). As a result, the median rent-to-income ratio in Manhattan is projected to decline slightly from 49.5 percent in 2015 to 49.1 percent in 2016.

The complete StreetEasy State of New York City Rent Affordability Report with additional analysis, neighborhood data and graphics can be viewed at StreetEasy.com

We’ve all heard the propaganda – the economy.  What ever went wrong this year everyone blamed the economy including myself and my friends.  But does that explain why so many approved deals went sour.  I just don’t know.  I thought this was a problem that only we were having, but as I talked to more and more people in our industry the same story kept on repeating itself.  From Real Estate Brokers to Business Brokers to Lenders and to our competition the Financial/Mortgage broker.

We lost in prospective approved deals more than we made for the entire year, and I know that we were not alone in this phenomenon.  But WHY?

I blame not the economy but the talking “heads” – pundits about the economy.  They have provided many people a false sense of security that we are over this economic wave, and that only better times (which translate to better deals) are ahead.  Nothing  in my mind can be further than the truth.  We are still in this economic sea of turmoil.  Lenders are not opening up the spicket so to say and lending everyone who needs capital money yet.  There is a false sense of security as to the lending community,  so please if you have an approved loan – TAKE IT, as there may not be a loan waiting for you in the months to come with better terms.  Lenders are still being very restrictive on their lending criteria.

So if you are not the cream of the crop, and you are fortunate to get a real Letter of Commitment – then pull the trigger and go for it.  I believe in the long run you will be very pleased that you did, as long as you made a smart buying opinion.

With the end of the year comes the likelihood that the SBA Guarantee Fee will not be waived any longer.  We are all waiting for the latest information on what will occur at the end of the year.  Will we be back to 75% Loan Guarantees and full SBA Guarantee Fees or will we stay the same are now.  90% Guarantee and No SBA Fees.

2010 did see one major change,  The SBA 7A loan which was capped at 2,000,0000 (two million dollars) has been raised to 5,000,0000 (five million dollars).

Lastly be aware that now for the first time SBA Loans can be applied to Self Storage Loans as well as Mobile Home Park loans.  What that means is that a qualified buyer can now buy a self storage facility anywhere in the US for as little as 15% down or in some instance may be even as little as 10% down.

With the cost of real estate still plummeting this is a great way to get an increased ROI or IRR by purchasing a cash flowing property with 10%  to 15%  down you are almost guaranteed a positive cash flow from day one.  At the least it is a GREAT DEAL.

NEW YORK, NY – Mortgage rates increased modestly this week, with the benchmark 30-year fixed mortgage rate ticking up to 3.75 percent, according to Bankrate.com’s weekly national survey. The 30-year fixed mortgage has an average of 0.19 discount and origination points.

The larger jumbo 30-year fixed stepped lower to 3.67 percent, and the average 15-year fixed mortgage nosed up to the 3 percent mark. Adjustable mortgage rates were higher as well, albeit modestly, with the 5-year ARM increasing to 3.13 percent while the 7-year ARM crept higher to 3.37 percent.   

Mortgage rates reversed last week’s move, posting the first increase since mid-March. But the movement was pretty tame as not much changed in the previous week – we saw more mixed news on the economy against the backdrop of economic weakness and accommodative central banks overseas. Still, mortgage rates are at levels that prior to this month would have been the lowest since 2013, so nobody’s mortgage refinancing is in jeopardy and nobody is being priced out of the market based on mortgage rates.  With the Federal Open Market Committee meeting next week, don’t expect big mortgage rate moves beforehand as markets await the Fed’s thoughts on interest rates and the economy.

At the current average 30-year fixed mortgage rate of 3.75 percent, the monthly payment for a $200,000 loan is $926.23. 

SURVEY RESULTS

30-year fixed: 3.75% — up from 3.72% last week (avg. points: 0.19)

15-year fixed: 3.00% — up from 2.99% last week (avg. points: 0.16)

5/1 ARM: 3.13% — up from 3.11% last week (avg. points: 0.20)

Bankrate’s national weekly mortgage survey is conducted each Wednesday from data provided by the top 10 banks and thrifts in 10 top markets.

For a full analysis of this week’s move in mortgage rates, go to www.bankrate.com

The survey is complemented by Bankrate’s weekly Rate Trend Index, in which a panel of mortgage experts predicts which way the rates are headed over the next seven days. The majority of panelists – 69 percent – predict that mortgage rates will remain more or less unchanged in the coming week. The remaining 31 percent of participants expect further increases in mortgage rates. Interestingly, none of this week’s respondents forecast a decline in mortgage rates over the next seven days.