Pamela van Os
Senior Vice President, Agency Production at Greystone
Where in the capital stack are you most comfortable playing today, and where are you finding the best lending opportunities?
Greystone is and has been comfortable taking risks. One of our most important initiatives today is finding gap equity for our clients. Making sound lending decisions while identifying opportunities is where Greystone can offer options to our clients during this time of market volatility, and is our top strategic initiative. For our agency lending platform, the best opportunities now are workforce and affordable housing as this yields the best pricing. We are also focused on maturing debt and finding solutions for clients, which include alternative lending products and preferred equity.
What’s your best piece of advice for borrowers seeking financing during turbulent times?
Borrowers are looking for short-term debt and shorter yield maintenance periods. Many believe that in five years or less we will be back in a lower interest rate environment. Lending solutions that offer flexible/shorter-term prepayment, floating-rate debt or collateral substitutions should be considered during volatile times. A concern with floating-rate debt now is the rising interest rate cap costs. The offset for these options is lower proceeds and higher interest rates; however, they provide borrowers the ability to refinance in a few years if rates do come down.
When will we reach the bottom of the market, and when will we see a thawing in the debt markets?
We likely are not at the end of the Fed rate hikes, and we continue to expect further increases in the Fed fund rate. The Fed may look to pause on rate increases by Q2 2023 and look to the economy to slow with inflation to decline over the course of 2023. With inflation at 8.2 percent and a target of 2 percent, there is still quite a way to go. However, there will come a point, with a combination of additional rate increases on the short end, with economic data showing a slowing economy and lower inflation, that 10-year rates will top out and move lower.
Lighting Round: Would you rather…
Run a marathon or swim in the Gowanus Canal?
Run a marathon.
Be a contestant on “American Idol” or be a contestant on “Survivor”?
“Survivor” for sure.
Work remote 100 percent of the time or work in an office 100 percent of the time?
Office 100 percent.
Sit in L.A. traffic for two hours or sit in a stalled NYC subway car for 30 minutes?
L.A. traffic.
Fight 100 duck-size horses or one horse-size duck?
One horse-size duck.
Work in a Michelin-starred kitchen or work in a McDonald’s?
Michelin-starred kitchen!
