Mortgage & Commercial Lending News.

At AMI Lenders, we are primarily interested in what is happening in Houston, TX, and its surroundings. However, that does not mean we ignore what happens elsewhere in the country. During the first days of March, we read an interesting text (“Remember the mall?”) in a newsletter^[1], which is mailed daily to one of us by the Los Angeles Times. In the said newsletter, author Ryan Fonseca talks about what is happening with malls in Southern California (and broadly elsewhere in the country). The article by Mr. Fonseca ties in nicely with what we posted in mid-2022 about trends in commercial real estate (link here) and, particularly, retrofitting Class B and C malls, even though some of the California cases discussed happen to be retrofitting of Class A malls. So, let’s delve further into the topic.

You will have noticed that when applying for a loan with almost any financial institution or hard money lender in the US you will be asked for the purpose of the loan. Some borrowers know why that’s important, but some others do not. Moreover, some of our loan applicants do not believe it is any of our business to know on what they will use the money! Because since all our loans are guaranteed by real estate, they think we are being too nosey.

You've likely noticed the flood of negative headlines about the real estate market. Higher mortgage lending rates, market volatility, and uncertainty are certainly having an effect. However, experienced private mortgage investors (not unlike many of AMI Lenders’ clients) know that real estate investment opportunities are still available.

Many people have no idea how much demand there is for the services of hard money lenders. However, statistics show that the United States generates more than $570 billion yearly in real estate loans and collateralized debt! More than 548,000 people around the country are employed to provide for all the demand for such loans.

In our previous entry, we presented some trends and forces affecting commercial real estate, specifically those related to office properties, retail properties, and industrial properties. This article discusses the trends and market forces affecting Multifamily properties. 

At AMI Lenders, we believe 2022 is still a good time, especially for first-time buyers, to get a mortgage and purchase a lovely house for you and your family. Interest rates are still attractive compared to previous decades, and house price increases have slowed since the recent pandemic. Finally, buying a house with a fixed-rate mortgage is still a good hedge against inflation's effects.

The US economy is facing complicated macroeconomic forces. Amid the highest inflation levels seen in the past 45 years, on June 15, 2022, the Federal Reserve raised interest rates by 75 basis points (bps) after years of holding interest rates low and steady. This decision will increase the Fed’s benchmark federal-funds rate to a range between 1.5% and 1.75%. Most economists believe the Fed intends to raise interest rates by at least 75 bps in July and 75 bps in September. These increases will lead to the highest interest rates we’ve seen in many years. Therefore, home mortgage rates have seen increases and are due to continue to rise during the second semester of 2022.

After you have gone through all the trouble of finding, purchasing, and rehabbing a property, the last step is to try to sell it fast and for a profit. Most people think, incorrectly, that very little planning goes into selling a property. Here are some recommendations to help you sell your fixed and flipped property:

Due to a lack of industry knowledge, the general public often believes myths about asset-based mortgage lenders or Hard Money Lenders. Many people have misconceptions about their loans to real investors and home buyers. In this article, we intend to tackle these myths and misconceptions.

It is never too late to get into real estate investing. Yet, as with many things in life, you must study and be diligent to be a successful real estate investor because, mind you, real estate investing is not as easy as some make it sound on TV: there are plenty of aspects that could go wrong when buying a property as an investment. In what follows, we give you some tips that might prove helpful to you whether you are a proven investor or are just considering getting into real estate investing.