Office Buildings

Unlike fixed-use commercial property, office buildings are the most flexible and variable asset class of the lot. Capacity runs from around 500 square feet to multi-level high rises offering hundreds of thousands — and the range of opportunities in between is effectively endless.

Because the asset type lets both experienced and first-time investors participate, office represents a significant proportion of our lending activity. We approach it with a clean slate.

An equal lending opportunity

Whether you are a first-time property investor or an experienced operator, we can put together a loan package that fits. The size of your existing business does not determine the quality of advice you get from us.

A different dimension of service

Turned away because a credit score was a few points under a cutoff? Income from a source a bank considers out of the ordinary? We do not stereotype borrowers, and our acceptance rates reflect that. A file that does not fit one lender's template very often fits another's precisely.

What office underwriting turns on

Office is more sensitive to tenancy than most asset classes, and that is where lenders concentrate:

• Weighted average lease term. How long until the income you are borrowing against starts expiring. Short remaining terms mean conservative underwriting, whatever the current occupancy says.
• Tenant concentration. One tenant at 60% of the building is a very different risk from twelve tenants at 5% each, even at identical NOI.
• Tenant credit. A national covenant supports better terms than several small local businesses on the same rent roll.
• Re-tenanting cost. Office space rarely re-lets without tenant improvements and leasing commissions. Lenders reserve for it, and so should your model.

Multi-tenant or single-tenant

Single-tenant buildings are simpler to run and produce clean income, but the risk is binary — occupied or empty, with nothing between. Multi-tenant buildings cost more to manage and never fall to zero. Lenders generally prefer the second, and price accordingly.

Have a conversation before you plan around it

If an office building investment is on your radar, it pays to talk to us before further planning or research. There is no obligation, and a fifteen-minute conversation about what will actually finance can save weeks spent on a building that will not.