Freddie Mac Stepping Up Multifamily Loans

From today’s Wall Street Journal:

Freddie Mac plans to accelerate its program to purchase loans backed by apartment buildings, increasing the availability of financing for landlords and helping to bolster the multifamily real-estate market.

Freddie Mac, the government-backed mortgage-finance giant, will likely fund more than $16 billion in apartment-building loans this year, up from $14.8 billion in 2010, said David Brickman, head of multifamily funding for the McLean, Va., company…

The bulk of the loans will be packaged into commercial mortgage-backed securities and sold to investors, which have shown strong demand for CMBS that are issued by government-backed entities such as Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae.

Fannie Mae invested $10.5 billion in the multifamily market for the first half of this year, putting it on track to exceed the $16.9 billion in purchases for last year.

HUD Issues Bed Bug Guidance for Assisted and Insured Housing

From the August 29 AIMS Update from NAA.

HUD Issues Bed Bug Guidance for Assisted and Insured Housing

On August 19, HUD issued guidelines on preventing and controlling bed bugs in HUD-insured and HUD-assisted properties.  In addition to identifying best practices regarding integrated pest management (IPM), it also details the rights and responsibilities of HUD, owners/managers and residents with regard to bed bug treatments. The document leaves many questions unanswered and makes assumptions that may not reflect market realities.  NAA/NMHC sent a comment letter and have requested a meeting with HUD to seek clarification of the guidelines. Among the key provisions: Owners/managers may not deny residency to an applicant based on prior exposure to bed bugs. Residents cannot be charged for the cost of bed bug treatment; owners must cover those expenses. Owners are not required to reimburse residents for any additional expenses related to an infestation, such as purchasing new furniture or clothing or other cleaning services.  (This does not prevent them from seeking such reimbursements through the courts or under various state and local statutory authorities, however.) Owners are not required to relocate residents unless treatment renders the unit uninhabitable. The document provides a timetable under which owners are required, where possible, to inspect (within 3 days) and begin treatment (within 5 days). Residents are expected to cooperate with treatment plans, but the document does provide owners with remedies if they do not. The document suggests possible funding assistance for owners via replacement reserves and budget line items but says requests for rent increases should be part of an ongoing pest prevention program.

 

PTAA Reading List 8/24/11

Following are links to articles you may find of interest.  These links, and many more, can be found at PTAA’s del.icio.us page.

• Apartment Credit Screeners Improving Rental History Data Sets – Multifamily Executive Magazine (Aug 12, 2011)
• Judgment Call: Appraisals Weigh Down Housing Sales – WSJ.com (Aug 12, 2011)
• Housing Starts and Building Permits Slump in July – (Aug 16, 2011)
• Triad Home Sales Decline 16% in June -The Business Journal (Aug 18, 2011)
• Winston-Salem 10th most fun, affordable city in U.S. – The Business Journal (Aug 18, 2011)
• Should Britain Become a Nation of Renters? – The Source – WSJ (Aug 18, 2011)
• Linkage in Income, Home Prices Shifts – WSJ.com (Aug 18, 2011)
• Room for Apartment REITs to Rise – REIT.com (Aug 18, 2011)
• State’s Jobless Rate Tops 10 Percent – JournalNow.com (Aug 19, 2011)
• Spend Now, Save Later, Bond Fund Leaders Say – NYTimes.com (Aug 22, 2011)
• Winston-Salem Business Inc. Demographic Brochure – PDF – (Aug 22, 2011)
• Back to School: Residents, Investors Descend on Student Housing – Multifamily Executive Magazine (Aug 22, 2011)
• Strong Demand, Tight Supply Strengthen Case for New Apartment Development – CoStar Group (Aug 24, 2011)
• U.S. Increasingly Shuns Home Ownership to Rent – msnbc.com (Aug 24, 2011)
• REITs Stand to Gain from the GSEs’ Demise – HousingFinance.com (Aug 24, 2011)

 

 

 

 

Student Housing Ain’t What It Used to Be (Also the Importance of Good Leasing Professionals)

In the end Michael opted for the property we originally favored. It was a close call but it was a single amenity, a pet-friendly policy of all things, that made his decision for him. Had he been with us on the initial tours I’m almost certain the choice would have been far easier and the pet-friendly policy wouldn’t have even mattered.

Piedmont Triad Apartment Market News

Following are links to a few stories about some recent action in the Piedmont Triad markets. Click on the headlines to see the full articles:

• Plant 64 to benefit from hot apartment market in Winston-Salem
• Developer hopes to rehab old Reynolds plant
• Commercial development underway in eastern Winston-Salem
• Bethabara complex has new owners/managers
• Highland Oaks Apartments (Winston-Salem) sell for $10.5 million
• Student Only Apartment Complex Opens in Greensboro