In the senior housing/healthcare business, there’s always something to fret about.
The Federal Reserve may call a halt to easy money before you can qualify for a long-term fixed rate loan. Or growth in the Chinese economy may slow to a crawl and cause the rest of the industrialized world to slide into an economic slump.
Another possibility is the political party you vote for doesn’t come out on top in the next election, leaving you with concerns about how government policies will impact your business over time.
“Managing with uncertainties is something every senior housing/healthcare owner or operator can look forward to. Plans must be made and issues resolved despite developments we fail to anticipate or seemingly have little or no control over,” says funding expert Hymie Barber.
Barber is Managing Director of Catalyst/Cambridge Healthcare Finance in Los Angeles. The company is the West Coast affiliate of Chicago-based Cambridge Realty Capital Companies, one of the nation’s leading senior housing healthcare lenders, with more than $4.5 billion in closed transactions.
Barber also is national originations manager for Cambridge.
“What the industry has going for it are favorable demographics. The population is aging and the dementia population is growing. There will no doubt be bumps in the road, but every indicator suggests senior housing/healthcare will remain a healthy growth business for the foreseeable future,” he said.
Barber has a degree in economics and is a CPA (inactive). He says the Catalyst/Cambridge approach to the business is plan for the worst while hoping for the best.
“It seems to be working for us,” he noted.
Barber says the company offers the senior housing/healthcare industry a full gamut of available capital programs. Under the government agency banner are HUD, Fannie Mae, SBA and USDA programs. The company also offers basic conventional programs and does basic finance work with quasi-banks and public and private REITs.
Cambridge also has a solid acquisition business that involves the company in direct property acquisitions, joint ventures and sale/leaseback transactions.
“Our business has migrated towards a strategic advisory role in which Cambridge produces a plan of action based on options and actuates the plan in measured steps over time,” he said.
