Most likely, senior housing/healthcare borrowers will never be satisfied with the lender they wind up with if the methods used to find them amount to little more than a crapshoot.
“When applying for a loan, senior housing/healthcare borrowers need to consider what they hope to achieve carefully. And they should also keep in mind that the odds for a successful outcome invariably improve when the borrower is able to see things from the lender’s perspective,” Cambridge Realty Capital Companies Senior Vice President Brent Holman-Gomez believes.
“Like a good poker player, senior housing/healthcare borrowers are better off when they’re able to get inside the lender’s head to see where he/she is coming from. Accomplish this and the process becomes less of a gamble,” he suggests.
Cambridge is one of the nation’s leading senior housing/healthcare lenders. Holman-Gomez says motivated senior care lenders continually size up the borrower’s level of preparedness and interest and what their commitment to the process might be.
“A motivated lender wants to fully understand the borrower’s objectives and what, specifically, the loan is intended to accomplish. Oddly enough, this isn’t always apparent.”
Holman-Gomez points out that lenders are always hopeful that borrowers will communicate their needs and describe their specifications in a clear, concise manner using specific examples as appropriate. However, when developing written materials, there are times when less can be more.
“The expectation is that borrowers will provide meaningful exhibits, professional photos, and reliable maps. Also, the numbers presented are expected to add up,” he stressed.
“From the lender’s perspective, the most admirable traits borrowers can exhibit are responsiveness and decisiveness. A borrower’s willingness and/or ability to deliver a speedy yes or no response when a decision is needed can profoundly impact the way the relationship between borrower and lender unfolds.
“While these points may seem fundamental, a surprising number of deals unravel because potential borrowers fail to respect the process and what it takes to get a project funded,” he said.
