Since its founding in 1985, Situs has evaluated commercial real estate for many of the world’s leading investment banks, insurance companies, real estate investment trusts (REITs), opportunity funds, private equity groups, pension funds and law firms. With the inception of the commercial mortgage-backed securities (CMBS) industry in 1992, Situs has played a major role in analyzing assets and supporting the lending platforms of a significant number of the industry’s major originators and securitizers. In 2006, Situs consulted on over 10,000 properties valued at more than $56 billion USD. Our real estate professionals have experience in all property types and on transactions ranging from single assets to large, dispersed portfolios in all 50 U.S. states and in over 25 countries worldwide.

Our comprehensive range of due diligence and commercial mortgage underwriting consulting services includes site inspections and market studies, financial modeling, third party reviews, lease abstracting, financial testing, asset summary reports, securitization support, credit facility surveillance and business process improvement.

Situs works closely with our clients to customize solutions that effectively meet all of their real estate transaction needs. We are dedicated to meeting deadlines and delivering the highest quality work possible. We are responsive, flexible, and creative, constantly seeking efficiencies and developing innovative ways to satisfy our clients’ needs.

Contact:

Due Diligence & Commercial Mortgage Underwriting

Situs supports our clients’ due diligence and loan underwriting requirements for all types of commercial real estate transactions and diverse financing structures. These financing structures include fixed-and floating-rate portfolio loans, highly structured securitized transactions, B-Piece underwriting, commercial mortgage-backed securities (CMBS) loan assumptions, and mezzanine/preferred equity investments. Our experienced real estate capital markets professionals consult with clients on all facets of the underwriting process and tailor solutions to meet their unique needs. For global commercial real estate lenders, Situs delivers a full range of loan underwriting support and process management, including initial loan sizing support, credit memorandum and asset summary preparation, borrower and sponsor reviews, transaction analysis, lease testing and abstracting, estoppel reviews, market and demographic research, sell-out modeling and evaluations of repositioning strategies.

CMBS and CDO Securitization Support

Situs delivers in-depth property analysis, due diligence, and re-underwriting to leading global issuers of commercial mortgage-backed securities (CMBS) and collateralized debt obligations (CDOs) for mezzanine and whole loan transactions.  We support the entire documentation process and transaction management, including asset summary reporting, data tape management, property and portfolio analytics, and data stratifications. We manage the documents throughout the transaction process through the Situs D.O.R., our digital online repository, which facilitates secure and immediate distribution to all involved parties.

Back to the Top

Credit Facility Surveillance

Situs conducts credit compliance audits and surveillance activities on complex credit facilities and repurchase agreements provided by hedge funds, opportunity funds, investment banks, and other alternative lending sources. Based on each client’s reporting requirements, our surveillance experts conduct monthly or quarterly monitoring, compliance reviews, and financial analysis of the pledged collateral.

Back to the Top

Business Process Improvement

With our extensive knowledge of real estate property, markets, and the deal process, Situs has created a “best practices” approach to providing third-party commercial real estate due diligence, loan underwriting, closing, and securitization support. We have designed customized procedures, services, staffing, training, and technology solutions that improve our clients’ ability to compete in today’s fast-paced, high-volume capital markets environment. Our “best of class” operational models enable our clients to focus more of their attention on the changing conditions in the global real estate market and less of their time managing operations.

Situs is proud of our strong, long-standing partnerships with many of the world’s leading investment banks, who rely on us for insight into real estate business process.

Back to the Top

Asset Summary Report

Situs prepares the Asset Summary Report, a critical component of real estate financing transactions. Our experienced real estate professionals and technical writers ensure that the report is comprehensive, insightful, and concisely written. It is based on a thorough and objective analysis of the strengths and weaknesses of the property and market, all third party reports, historical performance and projections, financing structure details, borrower history, and legal issues. We carefully identify investment risks, as well as potential mitigants to those risks.

Back to the Top

Cash Flow Modeling

Situs supports our clients’ transactions and asset management processes by delivering, reviewing, and auditing cash flow models in Argus®, DynaLease®, and Microsoft Excel®. We also customize cash flow models using source documentation such as historical operating statements and budgets, leases, lease abstracts, rent rolls, and market assumptions. Situs provides sensitivity analyses, presentation formatting in our client’s proprietary templates and models, as well as the development of presentation rent rolls, rollover analyses, and more.

Back to the Top

Lease Abstracting

Lease abstracting is a critical component of the Situs due diligence process. Our professionally trained legal team develops accurate, concise abstracts of tenant leases for our clients, who are generally lenders, buyers, borrowers, and sellers. We work with each to tailor our abstracts to their preferred formats.

Situs abstractors provide an “Issues List” that identifies any factors that could have a material impact on the future cash flow generated under a lease, such as tenant termination rights, unusual abatement scenarios, free rent periods, rent roll or document discrepancies, and upcoming tenant improvement allowances. The Issues List provides an efficient tool for clients to identify, understand and resolve issues without having to refer back to the abstract itself.

Situs offers an effective, secure way to manage clients’ lease documents using the Situs D.O.R. (Digital Online Repository). Leases, amendments, assignments, and other critical documents can be immediately accessed by authorized users anytime via the Internet, saving clients time and money.

Situs' lease abstracting services are offered as an integral component of our real estate consulting services or as an independent service to clients.

Back to the Top

Third Party Reviews

Our understanding of all components of real estate transactions enables Situs to add value to our clients’ transactions through our quality control review of third party reports, including appraisals, environmental site assessments (ESAs), and property condition assessments (PCAs). Situs also manages the complete third party report process for all types of transactions, from requests for proposals (RFPs) and bidder evaluations to timeline management, report procurement, and process monitoring.

Back to the Top

Site Inspections & Market Studies

Situs inspects properties, wherever they may be, and evaluates their general physical and economic conditions and relative positions in the local and regional marketplaces. From a single asset to a portfolio of hundreds of widely dispersed properties, we have an extensive staff of experts to conduct thorough inspections and market studies in a timely manner. Situs has completed property and portfolio assignments in all 50 U.S. states and in over 25 countries spanning four continents.

For buyers, borrowers, and lenders on multifamily properties, Situs offers a specialized inspection service known as the Situs “S.W.A.T.” The “Survey, Walk through, Audit and Test” process is designed to help clients quickly evaluate properties under contract or loan application. Our experienced S.W.A.T. team provides a door-by-door assessment of the general quality and condition of each unit’s interior. They also examine the buildings, grounds and common facilities, audit tenant leases, identify rent roll discrepancies, and check for unpaid insurance and property taxes.

In the last 18 months, Situs has conducted apartment assignments covering over 30,000 units throughout the United States and Europe. Our clients rely on us to provide objective, valuable, and timely information, so they will have a better understanding of the property without delaying the closing.

Back to the Top

Loan Assumptions

Situs supports all activities involving loan assumptions, including mezzanine debt, preferred equity and other complex transactions. As a leading provider of due diligence and loan underwriting services, we understand the importance of completing the assumptions process in a timely and accurate fashion. We also have established relationships with ratings agencies, property owners and servicers that allow us to expedite the loan assumption process.

Our reports are detailed and formatted according to client specifications, and we remain in constant dialogue throughout the assumption process. This helps ensure there are no surprises when the final report is delivered. Our complete line of assumption services includes:

• Underwriting Analysis
• Client-Specified Credit Narrative
• Analysis of Current & Proposed Borrower/Guarantor
• Property Description and Market Analysis
• Current & Historical Operating Statement Review
• Servicing & Loan Document Review
• Rollover Analysis