Most property owners are contacting their lenders to discuss potential loan forbearances and plans for payment amortization.
Negotiations have been happening on a case-by-case basis.
Some of the best practices shared by property owners are:
- Be proactive and reach out to your tenants frequently. Many tenants may feel intimidated or sometimes are unaware that landlords are willing to collaborate.
- Work with your tenants and build a case for how you are keeping them in business, how they will thrive and be able to pay rent in the months ahead. Building this story of how well you will manage the space and how you will find revenue in a tough market will be critical to lender discussions.
- Contact your lenders with facts and potential solutions. Know what you want to ask for based on your financials and conversations with your tenants.
- Some lenders are negotiating three months of payment deferral and amortizing those payments through the life of the loan or adding it at the end as a balloon payment.
- Some lenders are negotiating three months of interest-only payments with principal either amortized through the life of the loan or payable at the end.