Summer is in full swing and I’m enjoying it! I had a little vacation time with family recently in the Midwest (can you say HOT AND MUGGY?) and now I’m back in the saddle. I’m finding rates low thanks to recent moves in the Treasury market and some lenders tentatively coming back into the market. On our own account, we’ve seen LTV’s expand, rates remain low, underwriters actually return calls, and a few more property types become “acceptable.” We’re still not seeing much in hospitality, although some of our partner lenders are making some loans there.

“In the depth of winter, I finally learned that within me there lay an invincible summer.”
- Albert Camus

It certainly is harder to focus on work in the summer, isn’t it? I mean even if you are a die-hard ski bum, you just can’t beat warm weather, barbeque, and shorts. We may as well enjoy it, fall and winter are just around the corner! So please keep us in mind if your clients are considering any financing moves in their portfolios.

“The summer night is like a perfection of thought.”
- Wallace Stevens

Commercial Tip

Watch the CMBS Market. If you’ve been watching the financial news at all you may have seen that there is some activity in the commercial mortgage backed securities (CMBS) markets. This is good overall for our industry, but you do have to read between the lines. The properties going into these pools for the moment are the best of the best and the issues are quite limited compared to the early part of the decade. While I won’t tell you to get excited, do keep a look out for more of these issues because they provide badly needed liquidity in our industry. (Also remember that these loans carry with them significant restrictions on refinancing so that if they do come back, always check the terms of these loans carefully before accepting them at face value.)