It started like most other deals start as a commercial mortgage broker, but ended up being the
Toughest. Closing. EVER.
Rhenium Capital hosted a happy hour event where I met a single family rental (SFR) investor who had a great portfolio, some partners, some cash and wanted to start doing larger commercial deals.
He wasn’t experienced with CRE finance or multifamily loans and wanted to see if Rhenium could help him take down his first CRE acquisition.
Most of our clients want us to help them take down bigger, better deals.
We had several soft quotes and a term sheet from our Freddie Mac SBL wholesale lender in front of our prospect in a flash. That quote beat our prospect’s bank quote, a few other Fannie and Freddie SBL lenders and another mortgage broker.
A few emails, signatures and a $9,950 deposit via bank wire later and our prospect was now our borrower with a killer Freddie Mac SBL deal locked up and in closing.
“Not only did Rhenium Capital get me the best Freddie Mac SBL quote, they gave me the confidence to go under contract on my first multifamily acquisition.” -Rhenium’s Client
And we just ride off into closing like a cowboy into the sunset right? Ha! Get real.
The Usual Closing
Everything was going great on our new Freddie Mac SBL closing- a rarity for any deal as an indie broker.
Which is exactly why CRE investors need a commercial mortgage expert.
Few transactions go exactly as planned.
We had most of the usual obstacles squared away after going under application- the collateral was on a scattered site, in a very small market (-50k pop.), one of the borrower sponsors was not a US citizen and our borrower still needed legal counsel- the usual closing.
Toughest. Closing. EVER.
FRAUD LITIGATION
Background checks pull a very recent fraud suit filed against my borrower. Not good. My borrower had not yet been notified a suit was filed against him. There’s no shame, no blame. It could happen to any active CRE owner/investor.
WHICH IS EXACTLY WHY CRE INVESTORS NEED NON-RECOURSE LOANS!
My borrower and I huddle up and he gets working on a settlement right away. I get to work with our DUS lender on putting together a litigation summary for a waiver request on borrower litigation.
Slim chance, meet pipedream. We get shot down.
No lender would waive a potential bad boy act prior to closing. Our deal gets iced.
We had to settle fraud litigation and close or lose our client’s $110,000 PSA deposit!
All this over a case of buyer’s remorse paired with some not so great language in a not so great resi REO sale contract that gave the litigation some actual teeth.
It took a few weeks, but client reaches a settlement and we’re back on track to close.
Then the court’s online record system goes down, so no official records to lender counsel. Deal stays on ice for an extra day or so while the county’s AOL account dials back up.
Everything gets cleared and we’re back on track to close.
Or so we thought.
You won’t believe what happened next….
Toughest. Closing. EVER.
(Cont’d from LinkedIn)
Ever Close a 1031X in a Hurricane?
Closing was already extended twice and now there was a category 5 hurricane headed straight for us.
Helloooo Hurricane Irma! Welcome to SoFla! Thanks climate change! Thanks El Nino!
Rhenium Capital already had contingency plans in place to ensure business continuity, so we held fast ready to close. That and we’re highly mobile nomadic Gen-Xers.
Unfortunately a few southeastern states put an insurance moratorium in place.
Borrower could NOT get an insurance policy on his multifamily acquisition.
At this point Borrower and I just laugh. We keep it moving forward with a 3rd PSA extension- mind you I’m not the sales broker here- but a good CRE mortgage broker stays informed on the sale.
Which is the only reason I come to find the seller was closing as part of a 1031 exchange and had a drop dead date rapidly approaching.
Borrower’s $120k purchase deposit gets swept from escrow. Per the agreement. And we keep it moving forward.
Toughest. Closing. Ever.
If A Tree Falls at a Multifamily Property…
At this point we know some part of Hurricane Irma will impact the collateral and we better hope nothing happens at the property. This way when the moratorium is lifted we can get our policy and finally get this deal closed.
Guess what happened next????
A massive tree falls at our property! But this time we finally get a stroke of GOOD luck.
The tree falls AWAY from the property. No damage. No claim. Moratorium lifted in the nick of time. Insurance policy issued.
HE. COULD. GO. ALL. THE. WAY!
We move forward with closing. Again. Of course seller didn’t have title ready. The 4th and final extension was free this time.
Some small items with title get cleared up on Seller’s side and we FINALLY cross the finish line.
Toughest. Closing. Ever.
What’s the point of this epic saga???
Aside from it just being one of many epic sagas we’ve faced at Rhenium Capital and as commercial mortgage brokers it’s a great lesson in CRE, business and, well hell, life in general.
Things will always occur that are beyond our control. A lot of times things will come down to whether you can keep moving forward and whether
YOU CAN COUNT ON THE PERSON NEXT TO YOU
