Healthy Banks - Viable Commercial Mortgages

Despite all of the news regarding failing banks, and a secondary market that has collapsed, there still is viable commercial mortgages and healthy banks that continue to lend on commercial real estate. And, for the lenders and banks that are still in good positions, they are offering some pretty interesting loan programs and some of the lowest rates seen in a long time.

One of the keys here for borrowers to realize is that not all banks have shut their doors. You just need to find the healthy sources. And some of the most aggressively lending institutions aren't banks, but rather hedge funds, insurance companies and foreign banks (among others). These sources are not as tied to the US commercial secondary market, like a lot of the typical local and regional banks are.

We have many borrowers come to us, after being turned down by a few of their local banks , with their attitude of what is wrong with my loan request and or "are any banks still in business?" Again, the answer is finding the sources that are still lending.

One of the most important components of whether or not a bank and or other types of lender is in a real position to fund your commercial mortgage is if they have the ability to "portfolio" your loan request.

You may want to ask your bank what they are planning on doing with your loan. I.e. sell it or hold onto it. If they are going to sell it off immediately, that could be the first sign of issues to come. We have heard of some banks doing a full under write, than not funding the loan until they have the loan actual pre sold, which in this market, at a minimum will cause delays and worse case will result in an unfunded loan request.

There are healthy banks still out there and there are banks that continue to lend - you just need to find them or work with someone that already knows how they are.