Here’s a letter from an established real estate investment firm in the city to its investors that landed in our inbox yesterday. It’s quite an interesting snapshot of where the various parts of the market stand, especially when it comes to financing. Of course, it was penned before yesterday’s failed vote.

handwritten-letter-01.jpgAlthough many of you may have experienced extreme difficulties and declines in your stock portfolios and the newspapers report daily on the dire problems with the housing market, our experience in the real estate rental business and the New York coop and condo market is not so extreme. Generally speaking our tenants continue to pay their rents and business continues in a more or less normal fashion. Although we are seeing more delinquencies than usual across our portfolio and we are carrying a greater number of residential vacancies than last year, it is fair to say so far the effects we have seen have been more consistent with a typical downturn in the economy and not more dramatic than that.

Given the current situation in the credit markets, we do anticipate having a more difficult time when seeking refinancing quotes, but we expect to be able to successfully resolve our various financing requirements. So far, our lenders have been negotiating normal mortgage extensions on appropriate market driven terms and at the moment, we do not foresee a problem in this area at least through the end of 2009…This is not to say we have not faced any problems with certain of our properties. We have found it difficult or impossible to arrange debt for new development and/or condominium conversion projects. The market is very reluctant to finance for-sale housing projects. As a result, we have put several new construction or conversion projects on hold and will continue to do so until the market returns to a more normal situation. In one case we even cancelled a deal and took a loss on our contract deposit rather than accepting inferior and expensive financing that would have strained our resources in an inappropriate manner.


What's Your Take? Leave a Comment

  1. Lechecal is correct about the way the Wall Street people live and spend. Remember, already starting a year or two ago there have been reports of those people losing or having to sell their 2nd and 3rd houses in the Hamptons because they’d bought what they could not afford.

    Something that happened on every income level in this country, not just the people in fly-over territory, during the bubble was a feeling of inadequacy if you did not spend wildly on status items and properties. Even if you could not afford it. Thus the credit crunch and mortgage crisis.