The multifamily lending world is changing. Both Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac have made some significant adjustments to their lending requirements so now is a good time for borrowers to reassess the best financing source for their multifamily investment. I recently wrote a blog on Active Rain summarizing Freddie and Fannie’s changes, which explains the new underwriting activities and due diligence ... Read More »
The Phase I Environmental Site Assessment (or ESA), considered by many in the real estate and finance industries as the most essential form of environmental due diligence, can vary in complexity and challenge when conducted in a city with a storied industrial history known as the automotive capital of the world. The development of Detroit in the early 20th century was shaped in part by the design... Read More »
The satisfactory completion of real estate transactions relies on the satisfactory completion of due diligence. The broad definition of due diligence includes a number of non-physical issues, such as leases and contracts, property title issues, taxes and assessments, approvals and entitlements, historic and open space provisions and personal property. The physical issues related to a property are ... Read More »
This year’s bi-annual summer Environmental Bankers Association (EBA) meeting was held in San Francisco earlier this week. As expected, we covered many interesting topics of particular concern to the environmental professional and lending communities. Lawyer-Speak The kick off panel for the EBA San Francisco conference consisted of four lawyers covering trends in banking, business and real estate t... Read More »
Property Condition Assessment Reports (PCAs) provide a return on investment (ROI) that many equity investors might overlook. PCAs yield ROI in three ways: protect buyers from bad purchases; provide buyers with information for price negotiations with sellers; and find opportunities to improve building value post-purchase. As noted in the article; “Not all PCAs are the same. The property condition ... Read More »
Seismic Risk Assessments are an assessment that can be “forgotten” when the lender/buyer is not themselves in a seismic risk zone. Property that is in a high risk seismic zone should be evaluated for loss during “the big one.” Seismic Probable Maximum Loss Reports are engineering reports that evaluate the expected amount of loss that a building is expected to sustain during an earthquake event. Of... Read More »
Partner Engineering and Science, Inc. is pleased to launch our spring webinar series. This series offers new and updated webinars that discuss commercial real estate trends, standards updates and changes as they affect the commercial real estate industry. Registration for all webinars is at no cost to industry professionals. Webinar Topics Include: The Essentials of Seismic Risk Assessments Why sh... Read More »
The benefits of green building and energy efficiency are real and increasingly want to be realized by commercial real estate investors and tenants alike. Partner Engineering and Science, Inc.’s green retrofit of their new company headquarters in Los Angeles provided Partner with firsthand experience in realizing those benefits. By undertaking this project Partner is now able to provide invaluabl... Read More »
Engineering due diligence is an important part of the property transaction process. Like environmental due diligence, there are a variety of engineering due diligence products to assist in evaluating an asset. Engineering due diligence can provide a wealth of knowledge about the physical condition of a property. During a Property Condition Assessment, the building systems are evaluated for short a... Read More »
Commercial Real Estate Due Diligence Underwriters, analysts, and loan officers who want to deepen their knowledge of Commercial Real Estate Due Diligence are well served to learn a little about each type of third party report that is needed to underwrite a commercial real estate transaction. Five of the most commonly required commercial real estate due diligence reports are Phase I Environmenta... Read More »
