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|Likes: 1Published by Kymn HarpPart 2 of a 4 part series on Commercial Real Estate Loan ModificationPart 2 of a 4 part series on Commercial Real Estate Loan ModificationMore info:Published by: Kymn Harp on Dec 07, 2010Copyright:Attribution Non-commercialAvailability:Read on Scribd mobile: iPhone, iPad and Android.download as PDF, TXT or read online from ScribdFlag for inappropriate content|Add to collectionSee moreSee lesshttp://www.scribd.com/doc/44857707/Loan-Workouts-Part-2-Note-to-Borrowers-Rsp12/07/2010pdftextoriginal ROBBINS, SALOMON & PATT, LTD.ROBBINS, SALOMON & PATT, LTD.ROBBINS, SALOMON & PATT, LTD. Attorneys at Law Attorneys at Law Attorneys at Law COMMERCIAL REAL ESTATECOMMERCIAL REAL ESTATECOMMERCIAL REAL ESTATE
R|S|P From the Desk of:
(312) 456-0378rkharp@rsplaw.com
25 East Washington St.Suite 1000Chicago, IL 60602T. (312) 782-9000F.(312) 782-6690
2222 Chestnut Ave.Suite 101Glenview IL 60026T. (847) 729-7300F. (847) 729-7390
Thirty years ago, a classmate of mine went to work for a law firm specializing in
mortgage foreclosures. His pet name for defaulted borrowers was “mooches”. His philosophywas that defaulted borrowers were basically crooks. They had taken his client’s money andwouldn’t pay it back. The distinction between unwillingness to repay and inability to repaydidn’t matter to him. Changes in circumstances didn’t matter to him. To his mind (what little
of it there was) it was as clear as night and day: the mooches were no better than thieves. Hewas out for blood. To him, it was personal.Unfortunately, we still sometimes deal with lenders and attorneys like my former classmate. They would rather punish a defaulted borrower than work to maximize their recovery. For them, a loan workout is a sign of weakness. With them, a voluntary loan work out may be difficult. We can try to work with these lenders and their attorneys to show themhow the lender may be better off taking a less adversarial approach but, like it or not, lenders
– like defaulted borrowers
– don’t always make rational choices. Fortunately, however, theyusually do. Sophisticated lenders with sophisticated lender’s counsel understand that in aloan default scenario the primary objective is to maximize the lender’s recovery, and
recognize that the path to maximum recovery may not be as obvious as it might seem.If you are a borrower reading this, perhaps your business or commercial developmentis in financial distress, or you want to prepare yourself in case matters gets worse.I understand. These are tough economic times. Unless you have faced a severe financialcrisis before, there is little reason to know much about this topic.You are not alone. Although you may have never before experienced financialdistress at a level which has caused you to default on an important real estate or business loan,structural changes in our economy and other financial stresses outside the control of borrowers do take their toll. It does not make you a bad person or necessarily suggest youhave exercised poor business judgment. Sometimes a good business decision under one set of circumstances becomes a disaster when conditions change. Unfortunately, your business or commercial investment is where the pain of adverse change is felt. Bitter consequences may become unavoidable. To paraphrase a cliché, in times of economic trouble, your business or real estate development is where the rubber meets the road.
Speaking of rubber, that’s a perfect example. I represented a client recently that
manufactured rubber and plastic toys for large retailers. The way that business works is thatmanufacturers contract in January or February to deliver their rubber and plastic toys toretailers between August and November, in time for the Christmas shopping season. Thewholesale price per unit is agreed upon at the time the contract is executed. The toys are then
manufactured between March and October. It’s a pretty good system. The product is
pre-sold before being manufactured. The risk of being stuck with an inventory of unsold toysis minimal. For many years this system worked perfectly.As you may have guessed, the unexpected and drastic rise in petroleum prices
created a problem. In case you don’t know, rubber and plastic are petroleum based products.
© 2008, R. Kymn Harp
PART II — NOTE TO BORROWERS | Page 1
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The cost of manufacturing rubber and plastic products has always fluctuated to some extent based upon theworld market price for crude oil. The customary market risk of small price fluctuations was factored into thedelivery price. What was not factored in was the sudden dramatic rise in crude oil prices we have experienced
over the recent past. As a consequence, what began as a built in profit turned into a built in loss. It’s notsurprising that this client fell on hard economic times and defaulted on its loans. Did that mean the client’s
managers were bad people? Does it even mean they used poor business judgment? Beyond these questions is
the important one: How do we best deal with the client’s defaulted real estate and business loans?
As another example, consider the client who for generations has been in the wholesale bakery
business. It’s a huge business. The client’s bakery goods are sold in grocery stores and convenience stores
throughout the United States.Financial difficulties arose, but not from an economic recession or rising costs of raw materials. This
client’s problems arose from a book; a diet book of all things:
. You mayrecall it was the rage a few years back. The fundamental premise of the Atkins diet is that carbohydrates are bad and will make you fat. Never mind that good nutrition and loosing weight involve more than just cuttingcarbohydrates, that was the premises of the Atkins diet and consumers bought into it big time.A consequence of the Atkins diet was that consumers greatly reduced their intake of bakery products,a key source of carbohydrates. Bakery sales dropped precipitously. Bakers with high fixed costs sufferedunprecedented losses. Does this make bakery owners poor business people? Did this foreshadow the end of the bakery industry? We don’t hear much about the Atkins diet anymore. It was a temporary consumer phenomenon. The bakery industry is on the rebound.
I’m not relating these examples because misery loves company. My purpose is to give you a frame of reference as you prepare for discussions with your lender. And discuss, you must.One of the most fundamental mistakes borrowers make is failure to communicate with their lender.The strategy many borrowers seem to follow is one of beat the clock. The premise seems to be that somehow,someway, their financial distress will be resolved before their lender notices they are falling behind. Theobvious question is, how? What will be different tomorrow than it is today? Do you really think your financial problem will fix itself in the next thirty days? How, exactly, is that to occur? Unless you have an ironcladfinancial solution that is virtually certain to occur (like, for instance, your two year jumbo CD is maturing nextweek at which time you will liquidate the CD and pay off the loan or, at least, inject sufficient funds toovercome your financial woes), communication is essential. Even when you have an ironclad solution,communication is a good idea.I understand you may be embarrassed. For a business person accustomed to success, facing a loandefault is a humbling experience. It can be a hard conversation to have. The alternative, however, can beworse. Failure to communicate raises suspicion and doubt.If you have an ironclad solution, acknowledge to your lender that you have a temporary cash flow problem and explain how you are going to fix it. For this to work, however, you must carry through andactually fix your problem. Acknowledging a problem then fixing it tends to build lender confidence in a borrower. Trust is a valuable resource. Acknowledging a problem and suggesting a solution that does notcome to pass has the opposite effect.If you do not have an ironclad solution you are certain will come to pass in the immediate future, your best course is to take an alternative approach. That approach is the “loan workout”.
In a loan workout, you acknowledge you have a financial problem, then seek the lender’s indulgence
as you strive to fix the problem over time. The amount of time a lender may be willing to work with you will
PART II — NOTE TO BORROWERS | Page 2www.rsplaw.com
depend on two things: (1) the lender’s confidence that your solution will really work; and (2) belief by your lender that it will not be worse off by waiting to foreclose.Each of these is important, but the second is likely most important. The lender is interested inmaximizing its recovery. It does not want to lose money any more than you do. If there is a substantial risk thatyour lender will recover less if it delays enforcement, your lender will not likely wait.
Your lender’s level of confidence that the solution will really work likewise depends on two factors:(i) your lender’s confidence in the solution; and (ii) your lender’s confidence in you and your ability to
If you can’t convince your lender that the solution you propose is viable, your loan workout effortswill go no where. Likewise, if you can’t demonstrate to your lender that it will likely recover more if it works
with you than if it pursues default remedies, forbearance from your lender is unlikely. Finally, if your lender does not trust your ability and commitment to carry out the solution, the lender will not likely wait to startenforcement proceedings.
Understand that from the lender’s perspective, the loan default is really not about you. It is about the
lender. What is the best course of action for the lender?You may think this is unfair. You may believe that because you have been a loyal and profitable cus-tomer to the lender over time, the lender should bend over backwards to help you even if its risk of loss is
rising. The hard news is: its not going to happen. It doesn’t work that way. The only reason a lender may even
consider the fact that you have been a loyal and profitable customer is if the lender believes there is still more
profit to be made from you in the future. Commercial lending is a business. Lenders don’t stay in business by
voluntarily losing money.Likewise, from your perspective, the loan default and loan workout are really not about the lender. Asa defaulting borrower, finding a solution for a loan default is about what is in your best interests. If you have
no financial exposure and little or nothing to gain by working through the loan default, it’s a good bet youwon’t. On the other hand, if you have substantial equity invested or you have personally guaranteed the loanto your lender, you will likely work to do what is necessary to pay off the lender, but not for the lender’s sake,
for your own sake.The reason a loan workout is even plausible is because, in many situations, what is good for the borrower is also good for the lender – at least to some degree. Since a secured lender will get its money beforeyou get your equity, actions that protect your equity are typically beneficial to the lender. Beware, however,that the converse is not necessarily true. Since a secured lender will be paid before you receive your equityand before you are relieved from liability under your guaranty, a lender may well choose to sacrifice your interests to protect its own.What does this mean to you? It means you have to structure a solution that protects your lender soyour lender will give you time to save yourself. It also means you have to watch your backside while pursuinga financial solution.To do this, you need to evaluate and understand all of your legal options. Determine any defenses youmay have to enforcement of the loan or enforcement of your personal guaranty; any viable claims you mayhave against your lender that may lead to lender liability; the benefits and burdens of filing for bankruptcy
protection and how that will likely affect your lender; and you must calculate the lender’s recovery risk if you
stop operating and the lender is forced to foreclose on its collateral rather than being able sell the collateral as part of a going concern. Be prepared to use all the tools and remedies at your disposal to motivate the lender to proceed in a manner that protects your interests while reasonably protecting its own.
PART II — NOTE TO BORROWERS | Page 3www.rsplaw.com
Asset Protection -Lessons Learned . . .
Added to My Library Click again to add to a collection Removed from your Library Assignments of Rents - Harp - Rsp
Added to My Library Click again to add to a collection Removed from your Library March of the Mindless
Added to My Library Click again to add to a collection Removed from your Library Loan Workouts Part 3.1 - Call to Action (Summer 2012 UPDATE)
Added to My Library Click again to add to a collection Removed from your Library Uncommon View - Rsp
Added to My Library Click again to add to a collection Removed from your Library Pop Quiz!
Added to My Library Click again to add to a collection Removed from your Library The Time to Decide - Rsp
Added to My Library Click again to add to a collection Removed from your Library Due Diligence Checklists for Commercial Real Estate
Added to My Library Click again to add to a collection Removed from your Library Loan Workouts - Part 1 - Note to Lenders- Rsp
Added to My Library Click again to add to a collection Removed from your Library Loan Workouts Part 4 - Sage Advice
Added to My Library Click again to add to a collection Removed from your Library Loan Workouts Part 3 - Call to Action