FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:

MasterPlan Capital Sharpens Focus in 2012

Commercial real estate investment banking firm, MasterPlan Capital, has disclosed its 2012 business strategy. In a written statement to clients, employees and investors the firm noted that it will concentrate its efforts on credit tenant lease finance, private bridge lending and commercial mortgage lending against income producing commercial real estate. MasterPlan will deemphasize it’s participation in joint ventures and other forms of equity finance and will not consider land or development loans except for triple net leased projects or for existing clients of the firm.

Regarding credit tenant lease (CTL) loans for triple net leased (NNN), single tenant assets the statement read, in part:

“CTL finance has been one of the healthiest sectors of commercial real estate finance and promises to remain to be strong well into the future. Net lease investors have realized that locking in today’s low rates for the long term is a smart business move. CTL offers them a fixed rate, fully amortized, non-recourse commercial mortgage with terms (coterminous with the lease) to 30 years. MasterPlan Capital can provide these income investors with the absolute lowest rates in the industry and can offer them a very high degree of certainty of execution. In-short, no CTL banker is more competitive in pricing or dependable in closing deals.”

The firm also commented on private bridge lending:

“As the economy slowly improves more competitors are entering the short-term, bridge loan space. We intend to compete aggressively for the best deals without subjecting our investors to undue risk. That-is-to-say, in certain instances we might lower our lending rates but won’t increase our loan-to-value (LTV) ratios, won’t offer non-recourse bridge loans and won’t do deals for the sake of doing deals.”

The statement noted that the firm intends to continue originating commercial mortgage loans against income producing commercial real estate:

“Income producing commercial real estate mortgage loans such-as loans against multi-family assets, leased up office properties and light industrial buildings will continue to be a bread-and-butter, activity for the firm.”

The firm went on to explain why it is moving away from joint ventures, equity finance and land and development loans:

“Other forms of structured finance such as joint ventures and equity finance offer the potential for high returns to our company but are very taxing on the time and workload of our people and our third party service providers. We have determined that our valuable time is better spent on our core businesses. As-for lending against land and for construction and development, we will continue making these types of loans against unimproved real estate that is net leased to a single investment grade tenant and for existing clients of our firm but otherwise will no longer be accepting applications for land loans.”

About MasterPlan Capital LLC:

MasterPlan Capital is dynamic, privately held commercial real estate investment banking firm offering credit tenant lease (CTL) loans, commercial mortgage loans and asset management services to commercial real estate investors and owners in the lower 48 states. Clients and prospective borrowers can apply for financing at the firms web site (http://www.masterplancapital.com)  or by calling 1-800-727-5140.

But securing a construction loan for any commercial real estate has been exceedingly difficult over the last four years.

The President of MasterPlan Capital LLC, Glenn Fydenkevez, has written an interesting and informative article outlining two ways CTL loans can be used for ground-up construction financing.

Click Our Logo to Apply for A Credit Tenant Lease (CTL) Loan

The two methods are, A CTL loan coupled with a Stand-by Letter of Credit, and a Forward Commitment for a CTL loan. If you develop NNN real estate or are considering undertaking a net leased, single tenant building project, this piece will be worth your time.

READ THE ARTICLE HERE or you may contact us with any questions you may have on CTL or other aspects of commercial real estate finance.

Loan:                 First Position Commercial Mortgage
Recourse:          Nonrecourse
Type:                  Fixed Rate, Full/Self Amortizing
Rate:                   Interpolated US Treasury Rate + Margin
Minimum:         $3MM (prefer $15MM+)
LTV:                    To 100% (subject to DSCR)
DSCR:                  1x-1.05x 
Term:                   Co-Terminus with Lease
Assumable:         Yes
Time to Close:      45-60 Days
Funding:                Private Placement Bonds

—Click Here to Apply for a CTL Loan—Click Here to See How MasterPlan does Business—Click Here to Learn More About the CTL Loan Process—

Sponsors with 3 or more Walgreens locations ($15MM+) who are willing to cross collateralize the properties will find current interest rates extremely attractive.

The firm notes that Walgreens financing remains tentative, due to over saturation of Walgreens debt in investors portfolios, but is available as-of right now.

Property owners, builders and investors can apply for a CTL loan on line or can call 800-727-5140 xtn # 1 for a phone consultation.

Why is it that CTL finance is able to thrive while almost all other forms of lending continue to struggle? There are several factors that contribute to the resiliency of CTL.

First is the fact that CTL loans are only made against real estate that is net leased (triple net [NNN], double net [NN] or bondable) on a long term basis to a single very stable, very strong corporate tenant. To qualify for a CTL loan a building or plot of land must be net leased to what is known as an “investment grade” or “credit” tenant. A credit tenant is one that enjoys a credit rating of BBB+ or better from the rating agency Standard & Poors and/or Ba1 or better from Moody’s. Because CTL loans only deal with strong tenants there is less risk to lenders and, subsequently, deals are easier to close.

Click Our Logo to Apply for A Credit Tenant Lease (CTL) Loan

Another factor that contributes to the strength of the CTL market is the fact that virtually all CTL loans are non-recourse. The borrowers finances will be checked out to see if they have enough money to pay any required closing costs but borrowers are not underwritten and won’t be on the hook if a loan defaults. Because lenders are not overly concerned with the financial strength of the borrower there are less things that can crop up and derail the lending process. Basically, if the lease and the tenant pass muster a loan will close.

CTL is a very straight forward process. Experienced CTL bankers know what will work and what will not. Because the private placement bonds that fund CTL loans are sold to insurance companies, pension funds, trusts and commercial banks, there are very strict criteria for qualification with no wiggle room or discretion allowed. Most CTL lenders will be able to tell you if a deal is doable after just one reading of the lease and they only accept deals they know they can get funded. If a CTL banker issues a letter of intent or term sheet for a deal, you can count on financing with a very high degree of confidence.
The standardized nature of CTL loans means that borrowers can get a definitive yes or no very quickly, and if the answer is yes they can count on funding.

Finally, the last reason for the relative health of the CTL market is that CTL lending and net lease investing is not necessarily correlated with traditional lending or regular real estate investing.

CTL lending is, in reality, a specialized form of commercial real estate investment banking. Investment bankers that make CTL loans fund deals by creating securities and selling them to investors, not by loaning capital or selling mortgages to Fannie Mae or Freddie Mac the way banks do.

Net lease investing (especially single tenant, NNN lease) is not the same as traditional real estate investing. In-fact net lease investing is actually a sophisticated form of fixed income investing. Traditional real estate investing typically involves running and managing a property or otherwise adding value to a transaction (such as refurbishing). Most net lease investors don’t have any landlord responsibilities or any physical or emotional connection to the real estate at all; most have never even visited the buildings they own. They buy and hold for the monthly income that a lease produces; they look at their real estate the same way other income investors look at bonds.

All this is to say that net lease investing and the CTL finance that goes along with it is a niche market and is much less affected by liquidity problems at banks or the ups and downs of the traditional real estate markets. This non-correlation allowed the CTL finance sector to continue to grow and thrive while the rest of the world experienced a severe shortage of capital.

There is no liquidity crunch in CTL finance. Investors with property that is net (NNN, NN or bondable) leased on a long term basis to a single, investment grade tenant will find that they have a dependable source of capital available to buy, refinance or build their real estate projects.

Read More Articles on Commercial Real Estate Finance -  Click Here - And Here

Consumer confidence is down? Could it have anything to do with the fact that the economy is heading into a double dip recession?

Non Recourse – The sponsor / borrower is not underwritten and will not be on the hook if a loans defaults. If the tenant and the lease pass muster, the loan will close.

Click Our Logo to Apply for A Credit Tenant Lease (CTL) Loan

Speed – CTL loans have been known to close in 45 days from start to finish (60 days is typical). Conventional commercial mortgages can take 90-180 days to fund and close.

High Leverage – CTL bankers place no restrictions on loan-to-value (LTV) or loan-to-cost (LTC). If the debt service is covered (1-1.05x debt-service-coverage-ratio [DSCR]) by the rent CTL lenders will lend up to 100% LTV or LTC. CTL, without question, offers the highest loan balances in the commercial mortgage industry.

Fixed Rate – Rates on CTL loans are generally fixed for the entire life of the deal.

Self Amortizing – CTL mortgages are fully amortized with a term that is co-terminus with the lease. Borrowers won’t have to worry about coming up with large balloon payments or refinancing every 3, 5, 7 or 10 years.

Straight Forward Process – If the tenant is investment grade (BBB+ or better by S&P or Ba1 or better by Moody’s, or the equivalent), the property is stand-alone, single tenant and the deal carries a long term, net lease, CTL offers a very, very high degree of financing certainty.

Liquidity – There is no shortage of liquidity in the CTL sector of the commercial mortgage lending industry. Billions of dollars are available right now to finance single tenant, net leased, credit tenant real estate and bankers are actually eager to lend.

The housing tax credit:

• Did not effect the overall number of houses sold.
• Went mostly to healthy markets. And,
• Revised to the mean when it expired.

Great, another $22B down the rat hole. Read Tax Prof’s post about the study here.

To further exasperate and prolong the problem, banks did not unload nearly enough of their problem loans or problem real estate. Why should they when they can stay solvent by borrowing money for free?

QE1 and QE2, while adding substantially to our national debt, did not solve our problems, it only allowed us to tread water and search the horizon for a rescue boat that we now must realize is not coming.

So what now? Do we print more money and buy the US Bonds that no one else will, or do we let the markets price our debt and go bankrupt?

Globe Street expresses the frustration that CRE execs feel in this recent post.