Now's the Time to Buy & Refi Your Multifamily Deals

Lenders are beating each other up on rates to do multifamily loans for fixed-rate long-term—from Wall Street to the GSE, banks and the life companies, says Hunt Mortgage Group managing director Vic Clark (left). Interest rates should stay low for some time, and there's never been a better time to do a multifamily floating rate deal. Henry S. Miller Brokerage EVP Lew Wood (right) is a little more cautious but sees opportunity when owners who are leveraged out will have their CMBS loans coming due, meaning more product hitting the market. Vic is pictured with Bisnow multifamily event panelists Arbor Commercial Mortgage VP Anthony Tarter, Berkadia managing director/SVP Stuart Wernick, KeyBank SVP Charlie Williams and Lew.

Stuart (between Milestone COO Steve Lamberti, Streetlights Residential’s Jennifer Gillaspy and Berkadia’s Jay Gunn) sees buyers looking at older properties to upgrade. Even on those deals, there’s a tremendous amount of capital still looking for equity. Some multifamily deals are getting 85% LTV and he’s seeing mezzanine, bridge, IO and even blending some to make deals happen. 

Anthony (right, with Greysteel managing director Boyan Radic) agrees that floating rates are a good deal, with rates below fixed-rate loans. But, even the 10-year fixed-rate loans are strong options. He’s also seeing IO loans making a comeback. What’s helping the Texas multifamily market, Anthony says, are those 20-somethings who saw their parents lose their homes and money during the downturn. They don’t want to be stuck with a home; so even though the single-family market is resurging, people are still apprehensive.