Boston Real Estate Investors Association

How COVID-19 Is Impacting Real Estate Financing

The real estate investment market is changing every day, especially during COVID-19 times.

Maybe, you’re looking to refinance a multifamily property, but like many, are unsure of what to do or how to do things.

Eventually, lender activity will kick up, and before you know it, we’ll start to see more movement again. But, for now, we have to reevaluate our real estate investments.

For real estate, it is all about what you owe. Does your property cash flow? Do you need to wait for traditional financing? Here’s how COVID-19 is impacting the current investment market.

Lenders Are On The Fence

Lenders are on the fence right now when it comes to financing. We are all trying to piece together how to get through current economic conditions. If you understand how lenders originate loans in the first place, this idea might be easier to understand.

So, we need to be able to talk the same talk and walk the same walk as lenders. Yes, lenders are financing properties today, but their acceptance rate is different. As investors, we don’t want to be unprepared. Now’s the time to get yourself prepared! As you know, lenders get overwhelmed, and things like processing times extend and can wreak havoc.

Government Rules & Regulations

Currently, the SBA is dealing with a lot of transaction flow, incrementally a hundred times more than what they have ever processed in a year. Lobbying groups are attempting to get the next big break of capital for those who pay property managers to run sites.

In the smaller real estate world, it’s challenging to get any kind of money as an investment property owner. For any developer or multifamily investors, there has been and most likely will continue to be talk around the next lift of capital.

It’s Time To Refinance

Having property or business assets allows us to maybe cover payments for a bit and build in an interest reserve for a few months. You’ll have finance experts who will chat with you about what assets they think will stay strong through COVID-19 as we begin to phase out.

If you do have a property or business asset to refinance, it can help you out substantially. As an investment property owner, we can intake as much information as we want and try to guess what the outcome will be in a month. If you’re an investor who thinks that your finances will be in a better place, you’ll need to act today.

Obtaining New Property During COVID-19

Are you looking to purchase a property during COVID-19? Maybe you already have a transaction lined up, but then things like LTV change at the bank level.

You should be able to finance, but it all comes down to what you qualify for. It’s typical that real estate investors apply for things like a line of credit for something like fixing the siding on a building or repaving the parking lot.

Did you know that technology can help ease the stress of all of this? Especially the pre-qualification process. A good technology to start with, especially when it comes to commercial property investing, is the finance software, Leverage (https://leveragecalc.com). If you’re afraid you won’t get financed, Leverage is a great way to sanity-check a transaction before speaking with a lender.

The COVID-19 pandemic has had a major impact on the commercial real estate industry, but that doesn’t mean that financing or refinancing any type of real estate property should stop.

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