Thompson-Dewitt Financial
From the Underwriting Desk
Weekly notes on what is crossing the credit desk — pricing, structure, and the deals we passed on. Written for the brokers and sponsors who need to know where the box actually sits.
LatestMarket data5 min read
Spreads Are Tightening. Our Underwriting Isn't.
Lenders are competing hard on price right now and giving up almost nothing on leverage. Here is what the second-quarter data means for the file sitting on your desk.
Archive
-
Broker desk
The Broker Package That Gets a Term Sheet in 72 Hours
The fastest package is not the prettiest package. It is the one where an underwriter can locate the revenue, the cash need, the sponsor support, and the missing risk without a second call.
Read note 5 min
-
Market data
Construction Budgets Assembled Before 2024 Keep Coming Back Unfundable
We are seeing the same construction budget twice: first as a 2023 estimate, then as a 2026 financing request. The gap is not an interest-rate issue. It is a completion-risk issue.
Read note 5 min
-
Declines
Three Hotel Deals We Passed On This Month
We passed on three hotel files in July. None failed because the sponsor lacked a story. Each failed because the cash needed before stabilization had already been spoken for.
Read note 5 min
-
Broker desk
Conditions Precedent: The Items That Decide Whether You Close
The term sheet starts the process. The closing checklist decides the date, and a missing ownership document can hold a hotel loan as effectively as a missing appraisal.
Read note 5 min
-
Market data
The Fed Held Again. The Dot Plot Didn't.
The June decision left the policy rate where it was. The projections and market pricing removed the case for building a hotel bridge loan around rate relief.
Read note 5 min
-
Mechanics
Debt Yield Sets Your Proceeds. Not LTV.
If a hotel’s cash flow supports $32.5M and 65% of appraised value asks for $35.75M, the smaller number is the loan amount. The value does not make the gap disappear.
Read note 5 min
-
Mechanics
What a Due Diligence Deposit Actually Pays For
The diligence deposit is not a lender fee. It is the working balance that lets the facts arrive before the loan documents do, and a complete work program is usually cheaper than a late surprise.
Read note 6 min
-
Market data
30% of Hotel Mortgage Balances Mature This Year. Here's the Gap Math.
The maturity problem is not just a higher coupon. It is a lower loan amount at the same time that the existing lender wants to be repaid. The difference has to come from equity, subordinate capital, time, or a sale.
Read note 5 min
-
Mechanics
The Interest Reserve Is Where Hotel Construction Deals Die
Completion is not stabilization. On hotel construction, the interest reserve has to carry the loan through the operating ramp, or the first weak quarter becomes a new equity requirement.
Read note 5 min
-
Series opener
Our Lending Box, and Why We're Publishing It
Capital can look abundant while proceeds stay tight. This is the box we are using on hospitality bridge and construction files, including the assumptions that will make us pass.
Read note 5 min
Have a hotel file that needs proceeds a bank will not reach?
Send the package. We will tell you the same week whether we can do it, and if we cannot, we will tell you why.