HUD’s Office of Residential Care Facilities has done an excellent job when it comes to streamlining the way the agency delivers popular FHA-insured HUD Section 232 loans, but senior housing/healthcare borrowers shouldn’t get the idea that the HUD approval process has become a stroll in the park.
Michael Tyler is Managing Partner for Sandy River Company, a full service consulting, advisory, development and loan origination firm. Until 2007, the business was known as Sandy River Health Systems, and owned and operated a portfolio of 11 senior care properties in the state of Maine.
Mr. Tyler says Sandy River Health Systems sold the business to Genesis Health Care seven years ago but retained ownership of the real estate, which it leases back to the healthcare giant. The Sandy River Company consulting business is able to draw upon many years of experience in all facets of the senior housing/healthcare business.
“The development and operation of healthcare and senior care facilities is both a business activity and a real estate activity. It involves a collaboration between community and industry leaders, government leaders, legal and accounting professionals, design and construction professionals, investors and lenders, and healthcare professionals and care givers who serve the needs of patients and residents,” he points out.
According to Mr. Tyler, Sandy River Company builds working relationships with professional firms throughout New England and beyond. For example, the company has developed a productive strategic relationship with Chicago-based Cambridge Realty Capital to originate and coordinate financing for Sandy River and the company’s senior care clients in New England and on the East Coast.
“Over the years we’ve done a ton of HUD financing with Cambridge and others and realize just how important it is for the HUD lender to stay atop the many rules and regulations that apply to this funding product. We’re not your typical HUD client, and Cambridge is not your typical HUD lender,” he said.
Mr. Tyler says his primary contacts at Cambridge are Andy Erkes and Tony Marino. Mr. Erkes is President of Cambridge Realty Capital Ltd. of Illinois, the Cambridge business that underwrites government funding programs. Mr. Marino is a Vice President with the company.
“With Cambridge, what you get is a very knowledgeable, hands-on team of problem-solvers that fully understands how the process is intended to work,” he said. He points out that Cambridge has specialized in providing senior housing/healthcare financing solutions for more than two decades. Borrowers especially appreciate the company’s honesty and the fact that they get quick, reliable answers to whatever their questions might be.
“Cambridge is especially good when it comes to structuring loans that present flexible options for the borrower. And the company can be relied upon to stay abreast of changing rules and regulations at HUD.
“Things come up. Over the years Cambridge has helped us adjust to changes in the program, including changes that have occurred in mid-stream while we were in the process of closing on a loan. In every imaginable situation, the company has repeatedly helped us find the best way forward,” he said.
