By Michael Stoler 3/27 1:00pm

Mortgage Observer

indepth

Many Lenders Offering Low Rates for Multifamily

It seems like the perfect storm: investors are paying record prices to acquire residential rental apartments in metropolitan areas. And at the same time, financial institutions—especially regional and local commercial and savings banks—are offering the lowest rates for long-term financing for this asset class. Ramping up the competition, Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac, insurance companies, CMBS and conduits are all offering borrowers low rates, with terms we have not experienced in decades. Read More

By Alessia Pirolo 2:00pm

Mortgage Observer

Jeffery Hayward.

Fannie Mae Multifamily Head, Agency Vet Jeffery Hayward

When on the road, Jeffery Hayward often carries a personally customized guide, with the addresses of all the multifamily buildings that Fannie Mae has financed in the area. Then the head of the government-sponsored enterprise’s Multifamily Mortgage Business drives from building to building.

“I want to see what we are financing,” Mr. Hayward told The Mortgage Observer recently, during a series of meetings in his Washington, D.C. office. “I have actually walked a lot of the properties that we financed—I know what they look like, I have seen the tenants.” Read More

By Sam Chandan 3/13 10:00am

the lead indicator

chandan silo for web

Can the Apartment Market Manage Without Fannie and Freddie?

The debate over housing finance reform has taken place largely behind closed doors, with public discourse limited to speculation. Since the collapse of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac into effective insolvency in September 2008, the public has been shielded from serious discussion about their future. At least for the time being, weakness in the housing market has encouraged the status quo; policymakers have sidestepped the question of the government’s long-term role in shepherding homeownership outcomes. Read More

By Sam Chandan 12/05/12 2:00pm

Mortgage Observer

Challenges at the Federal Housing Administration Were Forseen

With few exceptions, news on the housing front has been overwhelmingly positive in recent months. In spite of weak employment trends, historically low mortgage rates and the plodding but inexorable rebalancing of supply and demand have combined to lift sales volumes, prices and perceptions of a housing recovery.

But a rising tide does not relegate housing to a lower rung on the policy ladder. As conditions improve, policymakers will be obliged to address the long-term role of government in promoting specific housing outcomes. Since the government embarked on the conservatorship of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac more than four years ago, the immediate goal of resuscitating the housing market has taken precedence over the larger question of how policy goals have supported—and undermined—the sustainability of the sector. Read More

By Alessia Pirolo 10/12/12 11:00am

Mortgage Beat

3636 16th Street NW.

Berkeley Point Arranges $74.7 Million Fannie Mae Loan on Woodner Apartments in D.C.

Berkeley Point Capital LLC has arranged the refinancing of the 1,072-unit Woodner Apartments in Upper Northwest Washington, D.C. The owner of the property, the Woodner Company, obtained a $74.7 million Fannie Mae loan.

“The loan proceeds will be used to pay off six existing coterminous loans that are due in June 2013 and to provide additional funds for upgrades to the property’s Art Deco-styled common areas,” a spokeswoman for Berkeley Point confirmed to The Mortgage Observer. Read More

By Carl Gaines 7/10/12 8:30am

Mortgage Beat

250 North 9th

Brooklyn’s The Driggs Gets $50 Million Fannie Mae Loan

Berkadia Commercial Mortgage has originated a $49.95 million permanent Fannie Mae loan for a Williamsburg multifamily building. The financing, for North Driggs Holdings, comes on the heels of an interim construction loan, also from Berkadia’s New York office, that allowed for the completion and leasing of the property, The Driggs, at 205 North 9th Street.

That original loan was through the firm’s bridge lending program. This most recent loan closed June 14, 2012 and is for a period of ten years, at a rate of 3.62 percent.

Berkadia senior vice president Stewart Campbell and vice president Thomas Toland worked on both transactions. Read More

By Sam Chandan 6/28/12 2:00pm

Mortgage Observer

Sam Chandan.

European Recession, the American Fiscal Cliff and Commercial Mortgage Lending

Europe stayed its most immediate existential threat when parties committed to the Hellenic bailout carried Greece’s mid-June election, the second in as many months. New Democracy eked out a slim plurality of votes for the Parliament of the Hellenes and, with the expected support of the smaller PASOK party, will hold to the austerity measures agreed in exchange for 240 billion euro (approximately $300 billion) in financial support since May 2010. Read More

By Daniel Geiger 6/27/12 2:00pm

Mortgage Observer

Smaller banks are moving in on the NYC market.

Outside Looking In: Strength of Manhattan Real Estate Market Draws New Lenders to Big Apple

Garrett Thelander, an executive at Massey Knakal who leads the company’s capital services group, was fielding offers for a financing deal he was recently arranging when he noticed many of the banks lining up to compete weren’t ones he was used to working with.

“There were a lot of players from out of town that you usually don’t see here that were competing and they were competing hard,” he said, describing it as a roughly $8 million deal for a commercial building that was owned by the building’s occupant.

People’s United, a Connecticut-based bank, wound up making the loan. Read More

By Carl Gaines 11:02am

Mortgage Observer

Rick Lyon.

Capital One Grows, Minus Pains

Capital One Bank has grown steadily since it was founded by current chairman, CEO and president Richard Fairbank in 1993. Along the way it grew from a mono-line credit card company funded through the capital markets into a more diversified entity with commercial and consumer banking. It managed to make Visigoths funny and capitalize on Alec Baldwin’s Words With Friends meltdown, while simultaneously deepening its reach into lines of business like commercial real estate.

The bank as a whole had $294.5 billion in loans outstanding and $216.5 billion in deposits as of March 31, 2012, according to its first quarter 2012 results. The commercial and multifamily real estate portion of this increased when comparing year-end results recently as well—rising to $15.4 billion for the period ended Dec. 31, 2011 from $13.4 billion the previous year. Read More

By Carl Gaines 6/06/12 10:16am

The Lobby

bod_mayopoulous

Mayopoulos Named Head of Fannie Mae

Fannie Mae announced Tuesday that Timothy Mayopoulos, the company’s current EVP, chief administration officer and general counsel, has been named president and CEO and appointed to the board. He joined Fannie Mae in 2009 from Bank of America, where he had served as EVP and general counsel. Read More

By Daniel Edward Rosen 5/31/12 7:19pm

Crime & Punishment

Small exhibit, big-time fraud

A Morning at Cy Vance’s Office: Mortgage Fraud and Etan Patz

“This scheme is plotted on the chart to my left –the smallest demonstrative exhibit that I’ve ever seen used in the DA’s office,” said Manhattan District Attorney Cy Vance Jr.

The exhibit Mr. Vance was referring to during a press conference in the 8th floor Library at One Hogan Place earlier today was indeed small, just barely large enough to be read from a generous distance.

The scheme, however –in which Abacus Federal Savings Bank, a bank with predominantly Chinese clientele, allegedly helped its customers submit fraudulent mortgage applications that resulted in approximately a billion dollars worth of mortgages issued out by Fannie Mae– was infinitely larger in size, scope and relevance.

Nineteen individuals, all former employees and managers of Abacus Federal Savings Bank, were indicted as a result of the scam. Seven of those people already entered guilty pleas, while the remainder of them were set to face arraignment –and Judge Renee White– in state court in Manhattan throughout the day.  Read More

By Sam Chandan 5/03/12 2:30pm

Lead Indicator

Blitt - Chandan

They Rent Houses, Don’t They?

Apartment investors dismiss the notion that houses for rent will compete for their tenants. They should think twice. Institutions ranging from the largest investment banks to the smallest private equity investors are lining up behind policymakers who see things differently. The financing structures necessary to support the new market are under development, even though the implications for housing are ambiguous and the realtors have voiced objections. Read More

By Robert Knakal 5/02/12 2:35pm

concrete thoughts

Blitt - Bob Knakal

When Politics, Economics and Real Estate Meet

If you are a frequent reader of Concrete Thoughts, you know that I often attempt to connect the dots between economics, politics and real estate. And since the so-called Great Recession began, the relationships among the three have never been more pronounced.

The health of our commercial real estate market can be greatly influenced by policy changes that legislators enact. The implications for our market on the political climate can be significant and, in 2012 and 2013, two elections could have profound ramifications for us. Read More