Thursday, February 11, 2016

Irvine Full Service Marriott Funding



IRVINE FULL SERVICE MARRIOTT FUNDING
February 11, 2016

I am pleased to announce the funding of a $72,150,000 construction loan which I had the privilege of arranging for the development RD Olson Development's new Irvine Spectrum Full Service Marriott Hotel. This 271-room full service hotel is to be located at the corner of Irvine Center Drive and Gateway, right across the street from the Irvine Spectrum Center. Hotel amenities will include a restaurant, bar and lounge, 9,000 square feet of meeting and pre-function space, a large event lawn, expansive pool and spa, state of the art two story 2,000 square foot work-out facility, and a large roof top terrace. Opening is scheduled for 4th quarter 2017.The Construction financing was arranged through one of Westcap Corp's key bank relationships.

INCOME PROPERTY FINANCING UPDATE We just returned from the annual Mortgage Banker's Income Property Finance Conference in Orlando. The mood with all of our lenders and others we met with was very upbeat, and all have a lot of allocation for 2016. As indicated last month, early in the year is the best time to get your financing when lenders are more aggressive, looking to fill their allocations.
   Treasury yields have been moving in concert with the price of oil recently, and with the dramatic drop in oil prices, which closed to $27.06/brl this morning after getting down to $26.50/brl this morning, we have seen the 10-year Treasury go from 2.30% a month ago to 1.64% today after dipping to 1.52% this morning. The down spike in oil is causing great global concern while China's economy continues to struggle, causing a ripple effect on its raw material suppliers worldwide. Consensus with the oil experts seems to be that oil prices will remain depressed for some time to come, with a possible increase late this year. Expect mortgage rates to continue to track with the price of oil, begging the question, did the Fed increase the Fed Funds Rate too soon? The following links certainly spell out the global economic concerns in greater detail as of this morning: 

http://www.usatoday.com/story/money/markets/2016/02/11/stocks-dow-thursday/80221858/           http://cnnmon.ie/1LiKWmG
   We also came back with a couple of very interesting loan programs worth mentioning:   
   1.  More IO and Extended Amortization Life Company Programs: A couple of our correspondent life insurance companies, eager to win some of the business currently being left on the table by CMBS due to their high spreads and uncompetitive rates, are now entertaining longer interest only terms and amortization up to 35 years for commercial and up to 40 years for multifamily, and leverage up to 85% LTV on a select deal by deal basis.
   2.  Freddie Mac Small Loan Program: This $1,000,000 - $5,000,000 program is a compliment to our large balance Agency programs, and offers fixed and floating rates up to 80% LTV. The program is designed to be easy to process, low cost and quick, and is priced inside of JP Morgan Chase and is PAR to WESTCAP. This lender did $1.5 billion in 2015 and 40% of it was in California. We are direct to this lender through our Q10 alliance.


Life Company Rates:
                                 
5 Year                   10 Year                   20 Year
Multifamily                  3.25%-3.75%        3.25%-4.00%          3.90%-4.50%
Retail                            3.25%-3.90%        3.60%-4.25%          4.00%-5.00%
Office                            3.25%-3.90%        3.60%-4.25%          4.00%-5.00% 
Industrial                       3.25%-3.90%        3.60%-4.25%          4.00%-5.00%

* Many have institutes floors with the huge drop in yields seen recently, and many really are not sure what to quote right now. Ranges are consistent with LTV's, bearing in mind that we are seeing many lenders add floors. We are seeing full leverage life company spreads in the 175-200 range over the 10-year Treasury equating to rates in the high 3's to low 4's today.

CMBS Spreads: CMBS is up against some real challenges with the new banking regulations kicking in, which now require a senior level manager to personally certify the quality of the loans being made for secularization. In addition, CMBS lenders are now being required to retain 5% of each loan they make. The result is higher CMBS spreads, which are currently running in the range of 300-325 over the swap rate. Coupled with swap rates works out to rates for 10-year terms in the range of 4.75% - 5.00%+/- for a full levered CMBS loan.
 

WHY WESTCAP?  WESTCAP is a founding member of Q10 Capital, which was formed in 1988, and is a network of 18 of the largest independent mortgage banking companies in the country with a combined servicing portfolio in excess of $15 Billion. With a proprietary database sharing quotes, lender and equity intelligence we are constantly in a position to insure that we deliver the best sources at any given time for our clients.
WESTCAP serves as a correspondent to 15  life insurance companies, for which we service over $1.5 billion, and other sources of capital in order to meet all of our client's financing needs. Most of these correspondent relationships date back over 25 years, including Sun Life of Canada for which we have been the exclusive correspondent in Southern California for almost 30 years. We are handling assignments ranging from $1,000,000 to $400,000,000, and represent all sizes of borrowers including some of the largest developers in Southern California.

Call for rates on all income property types including hospitality, self-storage, student and senior housing. In addition to our life companies, we have a long list of outstanding long-term relationships with active construction and bridge lenders, CMBS and equity for all product types. We even have a couple of bank sources which offer no prepayment penalty and a few who offer non-recourse. With a few exceptions our permanent lending sources are PAR to us.
Steve BridgesExecutive Vice President
WESTCAP CORP
9960 Irvine Center Drive
Irvine, CA 92618
Office: (949) 387-9061  Cell: (949) 235-1540
sbridges@westcapcorp.com
         
https://www.linkedin.com/in/SteveBridges2                  
www.westcapcorp.com
CA RE Broker: 00465840








Monday, January 4, 2016

NEW YEARS INCOME PROPERTY MORTGAGE MARKET UPDATE 2016


NEW YEARS MARKET UPDATE
JANUARY 4, 2016

   The FED has finally raised the Fed Funds Rate while other central banks around the world are continuing to provide accommodations to bolster their sagging economies resulting in a strong Dollar, currently standing at $1.080 vs. the Euro compared to $1.22 this time last year. Most notable, China' s bubble appears on the verge of bursting as their manufacturing and exports have slowed dramatically, putting a big hurt on global providers of natural resources. China's deteriorating economic situation along with ISIS concerns and the deteriorating situation in the Middle East is once again leading global investors to the US as the continued safe haven. This came through loud and clear as the dollar strengthened further and global investors flocked to the US Treasuries Monday morning on the additional negative news regarding the above concerns. This news saw the 10-Year Treasury yield drop from 2.30% to 2.22% Monday morning. Frankly, I am surprised the FED did not wait until Spring to start raising rates given the aforementioned issues. Oil has dipped below $35/brl (currently at $37.04) down from $70 this time last year as Saudi Arabia continues to keep output high, looking to bankrupt Russia , which is escalating its attacks along with France on Syria, testing the true allegiances of Turkey and Saudi Arabia. Meanwhile, US oil reserves stand at the highest level in history, while Global tensions are at a pitch level as the World unites against ISIS, hoping the US will step up and play a more serious roll.
 
   The 10-year Treasury moved up 8 bps on the Fed Funds increase to 2.30% last month now at 2.22%.  All of this considered, the FED still appears determined to continue with additional increases in the Fed Funds Rate throughout this year.  So, with lenders looking to make their new allocations for the year sooner than later, it would appear obvious that this would be the time to take advantage of their timing and proceed with any financing needs, if you are in a position to do so.

MORTGAGE MARKET UPDATE
   2015 was a great year for us at WESTCAP, and 2016 is already positioned to start with a bang. Life companies and CMBS lenders are geared up for bigger allocations this year. As in the past, early in the year tends to be the best time to expect more favorable treatment, as underwriting typically becomes more conservative later in the year as allocations start to be achieved. We are seeing construction lenders becoming more conservative as additional restrictive Dodd Frank regulations kick in requiring higher reserves of the banks and more conservative underwriting.

CURRENT COMMERCIAL REAL ESTATE FIXED LIFE COMPANY RATES
                              5 Year                  10 Year                   20 Year
Multifamily   3.31%-4.01%        3.62%-$4.32%        4.19%-4.94%
Retail             3.51%-4.21%        3.82%-4.52%          4.39%-5.14%
Office            3.56%-4.26%        3.87%-4.57%          4.44%-5.19%
Industrial       3.41%-4.11%        3.72%-4.42%          4.29%-5.04%

   WESTCAP is a founding member of Q10 Capital, which was formed in 1988, and is a network of 18 of the largest independent mortgage banking companies in the country with a combined servicing portfolio in excess of $15 Billion. With a proprietary database sharing quotes, lender and equity intelligence we are constantly in a position to insure that we deliver the best sources at any given time for our clients.
  
   Call for rates on hospitality, self-storage, student and senior housing. Our CMBS sources continue to be very busy with rates running slightly higher than that of our life companies. In addition, we have a long list of relationships with active construction and bridge lenders for all product types. We even have a couple of bank sources which offer no prepayment penalty and a few who offer non-recourse. With a few exceptions our permanent lending sources are PAR to us.

   WESTCAP serves as a correspondent to 15  life insurance companies for, which we service over $1.5 billion, and other sources of capital in order to meet all of our client's financing needs. Most of these correspondent relationships date back over 25 years, including Sun Life of Canada for which we have been the exclusive correspondent in Southern California for almost 30 years. We are handling assignments ranging from $1,000,000 to $400,000,000, and represent all sizes of borrowers including some of the largest developers in Southern California.


Steve Bridges
Executive Vice President
WESTCAP CORP
9960 Irvine Center Drive
Irvine, CA 92618
Office: (949) 387-9061  Cell: (949) 235-1540
      
sbridges@westcapcorp.com                  https://www.linkedin.com/in/SteveBridges2                 
                                   www.westcapcorp.com
                                 CA RE Broker: 00465840




Wednesday, December 16, 2015

FED INTEREST RATE UPDATE 12/16/15

FED INCREASED THE FED FUNDS RATE TODAY
Federal Reserve Chair Janet Yellen successfully corralled the cats, achieving a unanimous vote by the Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) to lift the fed funds rate by one quarter point to a range between 0.25% to 0.50%. The unanimous vote came with a compromise. The FOMC reinstated a form of forward guidance, stating that the Federal Reserve will be watching for “actual as well as expected progress toward its inflation goal.” The statement also underscored that future rate hikes will be glacial. The Fed lowered the trajectory for interest rates in 2017 and 2018 slightly, but held to a trajectory of four rate increases in 2016, more than we or the market expected. Note: The Fed has consistently underestimated inflation.


The more interesting issue is how the Fed expects to raise rates; it’s complicated. The levers that the Fed has to use are new and untested in the magnitude that will be necessary to raise rates. Distortions in the yield curve are likely. Traders at the trading desk of the New York Fed will be working to mitigate any distortions that arise, while we enjoy our holidays. Trading to begin raising rates begins tomorrow, so stay tuned. This is another reason for gradualism; financial markets will need time to adjust.
Bottom Line: Seven years to the day after interest rates fell to zero, we are finally leaving that mark. The question is whether we can stay off it. Yellen will do all she can to make sure the Fed doesn’t repeat the mistakes of other central banks. The Yellen Fed will move gradually and wait for overall economic activity show some signs of actual heat before doing anything aggressive on rates. We could use a warmer economy; with any luck, we may get it. Today’s rate hike is affirmation we are at least out of the deep freeze.


MORTGAGE MARKET UPDATE This has been a great year for us at WESTCAP, and 2016 is already positioned to start with a bang. We are currently seeing a lot of life companies focused on closing out the year and gearing up for bigger allocations next year. As in the past, early in the year tends to be the best time to expect more favorable treatment, as underwriting can become more conservative later in the year as allocations start to be achieved. We are also seeing construction lenders becoming more conservative as additional Dodd Frank regulation are added requiring higher reserves of the banks and more conservative underwriting. That said, the FED increase is believed to have been backed in to the market and we expect little increase in the long-term fixed interest rates as a result.


CURRENT COMMERCIAL REAL ESTATE FIXED LIFE COMPANY RATES
                                5 Year                   10 Year                   20 Year
Multifamily 3.34%-4.04%        3.69%-$4.39%        4.26%-5.01%
Retail           3.54%-4.24%        3.89%-4.59%          4.47%-5.25%
Office          3.59%-4.29%        3.94%-4.64%          4.51%-5.26% 
Industrial     3.44%-4.14%        3.79%-4.49%          4.36%-5.11%


Call for rates on hospitality, self-storage, student and senior housing. Our CMBS sources continue to be very busy with rates running slightly higher than that of our life companies. In addition, we have a long list of relationships with active construction and bridge lenders for all product types. We even have a couple of bank sources which offer no prepayment penalty and a few who offer non-recourse. With a few exceptions our permanent lending sources are PAR to us.


WESTCAP serves as a correspondent to 15  life insurance companies for, which we service over $1.5 billion, and other sources of capital in order to meet all of our client's financing needs. Most of these correspondent relationships date back over 25 years, including Sun Life of Canada for which we have been the exclusive correspondent in Southern California for almost 30 years. We are handling assignments ranging from $1,000,000 to $400,000,000, and represent all sizes of borrowers including some of the largest developers in Southern California.



WISHING YOU A HAPPY HOLIDAY SEASON

Steve Bridges
Executive Vice President
WESTCAP CORP
9960 Irvine Center Drive
Irvine, CA 92618
Office: (949) 387-9061  Cell: (949) 235-1540
sbridges@westcapcorp.com
                    https://www.linkedin.com/in/SteveBridges2                  
www.westcapcorp.com
CA RE Broker: 00465840



Thursday, September 17, 2015





  MARKET UPDATE
September
 17, 2015

FOMC Hedges Downside Risks



The Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) delayed liftoff today in response to concerns about growth abroad (read: China) and the likelihood that inflation will move lower before it moves higher. The central tendency of members in the meeting revealed their actual concerns (which provide the rationale for their decisions) that growth and inflation could both be weaker than they had previously forecast. Moreover, the ranks of doves increased, with two additional participants moving away from the Federal Reserve’s deep-seated hope to raise rates in 2015. Now there are four instead of two participants looking to delay liftoff until 2016 or later.
Also notable is that one participant actually called for short-term rates to move negative. That is an extremely aggressive stance. I am guessing it is the work of President Narayana Kocherlakota of the Minneapolis Fed. He has been outspoken about his concern that inflation is too low and could move lower. Kocherlakota will be leaving his post at the end of the year. (I.E., it is easier to be provocative when you are walking out the door and are not going to have to deal with backlash within the Fed system for much longer.)


As expected, President Jeffrey Lacker of the Richmond Fed dissented. He had been outspoken about his preference for a September rate hike in recent weeks and all but promised to dissent if the Fed opted to delay.


It is extremely important to understand the context in which this decision was made. The Fed staff opened the meeting with their outlook for the U.S. economy and the downside risks that the economy faces. Those scenarios likely showed that the economy could slow below its potential next year and that unemployment could rise. That is in addition to further downward, near-term pressure on inflation. Fed Chair Janet Yellen no doubt used those downside scenarios to argue that it was better to wait than to move and have to reverse course later. Too many central banks have moved too soon, only to lose what little ability they had left to support the economy.


Separately, there is a concern that liftoff itself will add to market volatility with unintended consequences for broader financial market conditions. This further underscores the need to be cautious when uncertainty in global financial markets is already elevated. (Read my September newsletter on this.)


Bottom Line: We are expecting the consumer to remain resilient and wages to pick up in the fourth quarter. There will not be enough data or certainty to justify liftoff in October. This leaves the option open for liftoff in December. That said, the ground beneath us is still shifting; the Fed will shift with it. The probability that the Fed waits until 2016 just went a little higher. I have to admit: I am sympathetic given the breadth of downside risks we are now facing. Data-dependency on the Fed’s part includes how shifts in today’s data influence the Fed’s forecast for the U.S. economy. Weak growth abroad, a strong dollar and recent market turbulence have clouded that outlook in recent months.




WESTCAP offers the ability to obtain loan sizes ranging from $1,000,000 to $200,000,000 nationwide.

WESTCAP provides fixed and floating rate debt programs for a variety of loan terms and purposes including long term permanent loans, short term permanent loans, construction loans, mezzanine loans (including construction mezzanine loans), bridge/rehab loans, as well as joint venture equity placement for all types of income properties including:

 
Retail,  Office,  Medical Office,  Industrial,  Self Storage
  Multifamily,  Senior Housing,  Student Housing,  Hospitality

  
WESTCAP serves as a correspondent to 15  life insurance companies and other sources of capital in order to meet all of our client's financing needs. Most of these correspondent relationships date back over 25 years, including Sun Life of Canada for which we have been the exclusive correspondent in Southern California for almost 30 years.

We are always available to discuss potential financing and or equity requirements, or to  provide a written quote to help convince a seller that you, or your client, are the most qualified buyer.  We will also handle any size transaction, as we are interested in establishing long-term relationships as early as possible.





Steve Bridges
Executive Vice President
WESTCAP CORP
9960 Irvine Center Drive
Irvine, CA 92618
Office: (949) 387-9061  Cell: (949) 235-1540
sbridges@westcapcorp.com





www.westcapcorp.com
CA RE Broker: 00465840











Thursday, June 18, 2015

Westcap June 2015 Update




 


 
 
MARKET UPDATE
 
The 10yr UST was recently as low as 1.87% on April 17th  and then reached as high as 2.50%  yesterday June 10th representing a 63bp increase. For fixed rate borrowers who have not felt a sense of urgency to lock into fixed  rate loans, now is  probably a good time for them to at least get organized in order to be able to go under application quickly and lock rate.   
 
The Fed announced today (June 17) that the economy is strong enough to handle a rate hike this year subject to continued improvement in real unemployment.
 
Excerpt from the following article (see link) says it well: The ease with which policymakers backed down from a June rate hike speaks to their concerns about the fragility of the economy. They are unwilling to risk undermining the expansion they so carefully helped to nurture, nor do they see pressing reason from inflation data to do so. http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2015-06-16/janet-yellen-s-prediction-last-month-is-already-being-vindicated
 
Their biggest concern continues to be U6 "the real unemployment rate" which stands at 10.8%  http://www.cnbc.com/id/ and includes "total unemployed, plus all marginally attached workers plus total employed part time for economic reasons, as a percent of all civilian labor force plus all marginally attached workers."
 
Then again, we just experienced two consecutive months of the most home starts in the US since 2007, and homebuilding is a key to job recovery.  http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2015-06-16/builders-started-most-u-s-homes-in-past-two-months-since-2007
This is the kind of news which, combined with possible rises in oil prices when oil inventories finally subside, creates inflation concerns with the FED and will soon cause rates to rise.
 
We have just seen how fast the 10-year Treasury can rise on the perception of the FED increasing rates. Don't get caught waiting for rates to drop.
_______________________________________________________________
 
INTEREST ONLY
We are seeing some interest only depending on leverage with our life companies and up to 10 years interest only with up to 65% LTV CMBS loans.
 
FORWARD COMMITMENTS
If you have a loan maturing over the next 12 months and want to lock up a fixed rate today, several of our life companies are providing forward commitments.
_______________________________________________________________
 
CLOSED LOANS
 
$24,500,000 Life Company Permanent Loan on anchored shopping center
San Diego, CA
 
$20,500,000 Life Company Permanent Loan for a 170,000 SF Office Building
Chandler, AZ
 
$4,225,000 unanchored retail center CMBS permanent loan
10-years interest only at 65% LTV
Las Vegas, NV
 
VARIOUS APPLICATIONS ISSUED & LOANS IN CLOSING
 
   $37,500,000 196-unit multifamily construction loan
   $13,500,000 medical office building life company permanent
   $10,000,000 95,000 SF office building life company permanent 
   $10,000,000 99,000 SF office building bridge loan
   $6,000,000 120,000 SF multi-tenant industrial life permanent 
   $5,518,000 34,000 SF strip retail life company forward
   $4,800,000 75,000 SF multi-tenant office life permanent
   $4,000,000 173,000 SF industrial life company permanent
   $3,800,000   15,000 SF office over retail life company forward
   $3,360,000   16,362 SF retail CMBS permanent
   $1,500,000   36,400 SF industrial life company permanent
 
______________________________________________________________
 
WESTCAP offers the ability to obtain loan sizes ranging from
$1,000,000 to $250,000,000 nationwide.
 
WESTCAP provides fixed and floating rate debt programs for a variety of loan terms and purposes including long term permanent loans, short term permanent loans, construction loans, mezzanine loans (including construction mezzanine loans), bridge/rehab loans, as well as joint venture equity placement for all types of income properties including:
 
  • Multifamily

  • Student Housing

  • Hospitality

  • Office

  • Industrial

  • Medical Office

  • Retail

  • Self-Storage

  • Senior Housing

 
WESTCAP serves as a correspondent to 17  life insurance companies and other sources of capital in order to meet all of our client's financing needs. Most of these correspondent relationships date back over 25 years, including Sun Life of Canada for which we have been the exclusive correspondent in Southern California for almost 30 years.
 
We are always available to discuss potential financing and or equity requirements, or to  provide a written quote to help convince a seller that you, or your client, are the most qualified buyer.  We will also handle any size transaction, as we are interested in establishing long-term relationships as early as possible.
______________________________________________________________
 
Steve Bridges
Executive Vice President
WESTCAP CORP
9960 Irvine Center Drive
Irvine, CA 92618
Office: (949) 387-9061  Cell: (949) 235-1540
 
CA RE Broker: 00465840
 
 
 



Thursday, March 19, 2015

WESTCAP MARKET UPDATE & FED OPEN MARKET COMMITTE SUMMARY



The FED announcement today was very interesting, even more so were the reactions in stocks and bonds. Moments before the announcement broke, the DOW was down 94 points, the 10-yeat Treasury was down 8 bps at 1.98%, and oil was $43.46/brl. Within moments of the breaking headline that the FED had removed the word "patients" from their intent to raise rates, the DOW was up 116 and the 10-year moved up to 2.04%. Janet Yellen then spoke and explained the FED's action and position, calming market concerns of a June rate increase. The DOW closed up 227 and the 10-year at 1.95%, down 11 bps for the day. The following is the text of the FED announcement: 

I listened to Janet Yellen's press conference, during which she indicated that "patients" did not mean that the FED was going to raise rates in June. She indicated that the Fed is seeing "more slack in GDP than they have previously seen", it will be "appropriate" to raise the Fed Funds Rate target when the committee has seen improvement in labor market (they are targeting 4.9% - 5.1% unemployment in 2016 v. 5.5% presently), and when it is confident inflation will move toward the committee's 2% target (.2% in January and has been inside the FED target for 33 straight months).

I find it interesting that Yellen did not refer to the real unemployment rate (U6), which she has indicated concern about up to this point, although she did indicated that there are multiple indicators they look at in the unemployment numbers. That has to remain a concern as U6 presently stand at 11%. I believe that although she did not refer to U6 directly, that this will continue to be a main driver which will likely see the FED hold off on raising the FFR until late 2015. We'll see.
_______________________________________________________________________

FORWARD COMMITMENTS

Within the past month, we have locked rate on several forward commitments, including two as low as 3.75% fixed for 10 years and amortized over 30. If you have a refinance coming up within the next 12 months I would be glad to talk to you about our life company "forward programs".

INTEREST ONLY


We are also seeing some of our life companies provide 1 to even up to 10 years interest only payments on 10-year fixed rate loans, which is completely dependent upon leverage.
_______________________________________________________________________


WESTCAP offers the ability to obtain loan sizes ranging from $1,000,000 to $250,000,000 nationwide.

WESTCAP provides fixed and floating rate debt programs for a variety of loan terms and purposes including long term permanent loans, short term permanent loans, construction loans, mezzanine loans (including construction mezzanine loans), bridge/rehab loans, as well as joint venture equity placement for all types of income properties including:

Multifamily
Senior Housing 
Hospitality
Industrial
Office
Medical Office
Retail
Self-Storage
Student Housing
 
 
WESTCAP serves as a correspondent to 17  life insurance companies and other sources of capital in order to meet all of our client's financing needs. Most of these correspondent relationships date back over 25 years, including Sun Life of Canada for which we have been the exclusive correspondent in Southern California for almost 30 years.
_______________________________________________________________________

______________________________________________________________________

I am always available to discuss potential financing and or equity requirements, or to  provide a written quote to help convince a seller that you, or your client, are the most qualified buyer.  I will also handle any size transaction, as we are interested in establishing long-term relationships as early as possible.
______________________________________________________________________


Steve Bridges
Executive Vice President
WESTCAP CORP
9960 Irvine Center Drive
Irvine, CA 92618
Office: (949) 387-9061  Cell: (949) 235-1540
sbridges@westcapcorp.com
www.westcapcorp.com

CA RE Broker: 00465840