We’ve had some conversation in the comment thread on this post about what lenders should do with maturing loans. Today I will attempt to address that question in more detail, starting out with what I would do if it were my money, and moving on to some of the reasons lenders adopt different strategies.
Foreclose on properties the borrower is driving into the ground. At this point in the cycle there is no point in giving an extension or modification to a borrower who is taking actions (or inaction) which is hurting the value of the collateral. A recovery is not imminent, and if a borrower is deferring maintenance or is ineffective at leasing the property, an extension will just result in a bigger loss down the road. This situation can come about for a variety of reasons, and often the borrower is not the villain. Usually, it’s because a borrower is under severe financial pressure on other deals, or lacks the experience to deal with difficult market conditions.
Foreclose on properties when the submarket is in a downward spiral. No matter how good a borrower is at property operations, it is very, very difficult to compete when you owe $100,000 a unit on a property and the building next door has gone through a foreclosure and the owner next door only owes $50,000 a unit, because the new owner can substantially undercut your rents and still get a good return. For an example with numbers that shows how this works, see my post CRE Loans and the Death Spiral of Doom. If your property is in a submarket with multiple foreclosures in process you will probably minimize your loss by foreclosing too.
Extend loans which have experienced, solvent borrowers in relatively stable submarkets when the property can pay a reasonable interest rate. You want an experienced borrower who is not tapped out because fundamentals will probably get worse before they get better, and you want someone who can make the right decisions and kick in some cash if necessary. You don’t want to be in a downward spiral submarket for the reasons discussed in the paragraph above. To keep the borrower motivated, you need to offer an extension long enough to get through this part of the cycle (2 years minimum, 3 or 4 more likely). A reasonable interest rate is hard to define in this market, but I think the best structure is a floating rate deal around 3% over your cost of funds, which, if you’re a bank, will probably result in a rate of 4% to 5%. I would keep the structure interest only, but require 50% of any excess cash flow to go into a reserve account to cover operating deficits, capital costs, and perhaps pay down principal if the reserve account reaches a threshold level (maybe 5% of the loan amount). This structure gives you a reasonable return, gives the borrower an incentive to maximize cash flow, and gives you both a piggybank to draw from if conditions continue to deteriorate.
These are the strategies which I think would give you the best recovery on individual deals. However, not all banks and investors pursue them, for a variety of reasons.
The lender or investor wants out of the asset class. Right now banks and institutional investors pay a price in their market value and ability to attract new investors if they have heavy CRE exposure. There is a lot of value created if you can say a problem is behind you. To create this value, the lender sells notes or forecloses on deals for less than they might realize with a hold strategy.
Regulatory Direction. Many banks are under pressure to reduce their CRE exposure. An REO may create a loss, but at least the asset is gone. A modified loan, on the other hand, will be reviewed by examiners every time.
Your First Loss is Your Best Loss. Many lenders follow this strategy on all loans until it is clear a recovery is underway (more detail here).
Avoiding Second-Guessing. Many modifications don’t work out (see this post on single family modification failures; in my experience the CRE modification failure rate is even higher). If you modify the loan and end up taking the property back anyway it’s probably because conditions have continue to deteriorate and you will recover less than you would have if you had foreclosed to begin with. It’s easy to quantify that loss, and it looks like poor judgment. On the other hand, if you foreclose, no one will quantify how much you could have saved by modifying the loan.
Pooling and Servicing Agreement constraints. If the loan is a CMBS loan, the servicing of the loan is governed by a Pooling and Servicing Agreement. Generally, in a maturity default the special servicer is charged with maximizing recovery for all investors. Although this could mean doing a long term extension at a lower interest rate, given that there’s an excellent chance the investors that actually own the loan may want out of the asset class or believe in the “first loss is the best loss” strategy, a special servicer is vulnerable to second guessing. Foreclosure is a safer strategy. Thompson Hine has a good summary of CMBS modification and extension procedures here.
Dual Track Costs. Many lenders will not begin negotiation until there is an actual or imminent default. This may be a function of a Pooling and Servicing Agreement, or the lender could just be hoping the borrower will find a way to pay the loan off. Once a default happens, many lenders will start the foreclosure while negotiating an extension so no time is lost if an agreement is not reached. This adds costs, and frequently at least some payments are not made because the borrower is also not sure an agreement will be reached. As a result, to close the extension frequently a substantial amount of money needs to be paid, and borrowers sometimes decide to walk at that point.
Workload. Modifications are enormously time consuming. The deal needs to be negotiated, approved, and documented, and frequently multiple rounds occur. A complex deal can be a full time job for an asset manager for months. It is much simpler from an asset manager point of view to foreclose. If the justification for a modification looks marginal or the borrower is difficult, this factor can swing the recommendation to foreclosure.
Given all these hurdles, it’s not surprising few long term extensions are done. If an extension is offered, it’s usually short term (90 to 180 days) and predicated on progress being made towards marketing or refinancing the property.
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