The situation for the affordable and market-rate lending environment remains very fluid during the nation’s coronavirus outbreak, and it’s changing hour by hour, not even day by day, says Don King, executive vice president and head of the Multifamily Finance Groupat Walker & Dunlop.
“A lot of sponsors are anxious to take advantage of the low interest rates so we have seen an uptick in calls, interest, and potential activity,” says Philip Melton, executive vice president and national director of affordable and Federal Housing Administration lending at Bellwether Enterprise. “At the same time, we have concerns.”
One of the big roadblocks for lenders is on the ground, with shelter-in-place orders, lockdowns, and social distancing affecting physical inspections and third-party vendors doing on-site work.
“Right now we are struggling with how to prudently lend when we can’t get in to inspect units,” King says. “How do you prudently assess risk?”
He adds that it’s a problem his firm is trying to solve. At a property inspection earlier this week, an engineer used Facetime to connect with the underwriter to go through a unit.
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