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Commercial Mortgage Lending has Changed

In response to the liquidity crisis in the credit markets commercial mortgage lenders and brokers are taking a "back-to-the-basics" approach to underwriting loans. Lending standards have been tightened and all deals are being thoroughly checked out.

Commercial real estate investors, property owners and developers should understand what banks and private lending firms look at as they decide which loans to fund and which loans to decline.

Cash Flow

Cash is once again king in the commercial property sector. Lenders favor loans against income producing assets such-as apartment buildings, office buildings or retail outlets. The cash flow needs to be consistent and sustainable and backed by strong lease agreements with good tenants. Underwriters will look at past income generation and will consider future someone flow projections as-well. Ideally they will want a properties net operating income (NOI) each month to be at-least 20% higher than the mortgage payment would be if they were to make the loan. This translates into a ratio that lenders refer to as the "debt-service-coverage-ratio" (DSCR). In simple terms, the DSCR amounts to NOI divided by the debt service. A DSCR of 1.2 and above gets lenders interested.

Credit

In commercial lending it is the building that gets scrutinized first and, ultimately it is the building that qualifies for the loan. Finance companies will not, however, ignore the credit history of the borrower. Credit equates to character and lenders will, rightly, stay away from borrowers with questionable character. For obvious reasons, lenders will frown on past delinquent payments or other repayment failures. Information on the credit report will give them an idea about how effectively a borrower manages business operations. Poor credit can be a disqualifying factor unless it is somehow mitigated by other, positive factors.

Cash in the Deal

Regardless of how things were done in the recent past, a cash investment is now required from all borrowers in all projects or it will not get funded. Institutional lenders writing conventional loans will look for 20% or better. Private lenders are more flexible in their cash requirements but few-if-any will write a loan for an investor with less than 10% cash-in-the deal.

The Collateral Real Estate

In-the-end, it is the real estate and the income that the real estate produces that secures a commercial mortgage loan. The overall condition of a building and its past and projected operations will be scrutinized. Lenders will pour over financial statements, appraisals, tax assessments, maintenance records and anything else they can get their hands on. The goal of an underwriter is to determine the value of the collateral in the event of a forced sale.

If the underlying value in the collateral real estate is not there a borrower will have to show a secondary source of repayment or will be asked to cross-collateralize other real property.

Economic Trends

Before issuing a formal loan commitment and scheduling a closing, rest assured that funding sources will have to be made comfortable with economic conditions in-and-around the deal site. Both short and long term conditions will be analyzed. The local and the regional conditions will have to be favorable or improving before an approval is written.

Choose Deals Wisely

Lenders have been forced to become more risk adverse. There is no market for weak loans today. Only quality deals can be sold into the capital markets, so only quality deals are receiving funding. Ive outlined the things lenders look at as they consider making a loan. Choose deals with strong fundamentals and you will get financed. Deals weak in one area or another can still get done but will require some creativity and flexibility on the part of the investor and the lender.

Elbow injuries can be acute or chronic. The former occur in an instant (e.g. an accident) and the latter over a longer period of time, due to overuse (e.g. tendinitis). An elbow injury may be classified as mild, moderate or severe. Elbow strains (i.e. tendon injury) and sprains (i.e. ligament injury) are classified in severity from first degree to second degree and third degree (most severe with complete rupture).

The elbow is a hinge joint in which the upper arm bone (humerus) is connected to the two forearm bones (ulna and radius). I in my opinion, that this blog owner demonstrated this incredibly on the muay thai training post.The ulna is the largest forearm bone and positioned on the side of the little finger. Two main ligaments stabilise and support the elbow joint; the radial (lateral) collateral ligament and the annular ligament. The former ligament reinforces the lateral side of the elbow capsule.

Some typical elbow injuries include:

1. Fracture of one or more of the three main arm bones, in the region of the elbow, caused by a blunt impact or twisting of the elbow beyond its normal range of motion (e.g falling over in football).

2. Elbow strain occurs when any of the elbow ligaments are stretched or torn (e.g. the medial collateral ligament in a throwing sport such as javelin).

3. Elbow dislocation is defined as a condition in which the upper arm bone is forced into the wrong position relative to the forearm bones (e.g. an outstretched arm struck in a contact sport and it may also be accompanied by fractures, artery and nerve damage).

4. Tennis elbow (lateral epicondylitis) is the most common overuse injury and is caused by irritation of the muscle tendons attached to the upper arm bone at the lateral epicondylitis (a bony protrusion).

5. Golfers elbow (medial epicondylitis) is similar to tennis elbow but inflammation occurs on the inside (medial side) of the elbow due to overuse of the muscles (and bone insertion points) used to bend the wrist downwards (e.g. in lifting or grasping) or direct blunt impact.

6. Elbow bursitis (olecranon bursitis) is caused by inflammation of the largest fluid filled sack (that reduces friction between bones and soft tissues) located above the tip of the elbow (the olecranon process). Typical causes include leaning on the elbow too much or direct impact.

Immediate treatment normally includes RICER (Rest, Ice, Compression, Elevation and immediate Referral to an injury specialist) for the first three days. Prompt medical care is essential for all injuries where elbow misalignment or fracture occurs to ensure that elbow recovery occurs with the bones and ligaments set in the correct position.

This should be followed by at least three weeks of rehabilitation with a physio or specialist personal trainer to restore the function of the elbow (e.g. normal range of motion, strength, power, endurance and proprioception) and speed up recovery in gentle work out routines. For a complete recovery, the final stage involves up to 3 months of conditioning with more strenuous work out routines to strengthen the arms and elbows to reduce the risk of future injuries.

Regaining the full motion of the elbow with simple bending, straightening exercises and gentle rotations is the first priority. This may be followed isometric exercises (e.g. statically pushing the hands against a wall with the elbows bent), rubber tube, free weight and finally full body weight exercises. A progressive set of work out routines may include for example:

1. Sitting down on a chair with good upright back posture, place your arms by your side hanging down. Then twist and lift your lower arms up until your elbow has a 90 degree bend and your hands are palms up. This is the starting position. Holding your elbows still, simply twist your forearms until your palms are facing down, twist them back so that your palms are facing up again to facing up and then repeat as many times as possible. The main goal is to increase the range of motion with each twist but you will also begin to give the muscles a work out as well.

2. Remaining in the seated position start by letting your arms drop down straight by your side. Then simultaneously rotate your arms upwards from the shoulders (in front of you) and try to bend your elbow as far as possible so that your hands are in contact with your shoulders. This is mainly a stretching exercise in which the key factor is taking your time to relax into the final stretched position with your elbows above your shoulders. Hold for 30 seconds and repeat if desired.

3. Again from the seated position you can use a similar exercise to the last one except this time, instead of lifting the elbows in front you, first bring the hands to the shoulders and then lift the elbows upwards but to each side. As before hold for 30 seconds and repeat if desired.

4. The next exercise involves both a stretch and an isometric exercise. Stand upright in a doorway and then raise your upper arms out to your sides until they are horizontal. At the same time keep your elbows bent at 90 degrees and resting against each side of the door jambs. Slowly lunge one leg forward and bend your back knee so that you can feel both a stretch in your arms/chest/shoulders and a force in your elbows.

5. Once you begin to regain the full range of motion of the elbow you can start to use rubber tubes for strength exercises. These will allow you to load your elbows in any direction (unlike gravity dependent dumbbells) and in a very controlled manner. As with other types of injury rehabilitation it is best to mix up locally focused exercises (e.g. for just the arms) with compound exercises (i.e. involve more of the body, such as the shoulders and chest as well). This ensures that both the injury site and all the related muscle systems are strengthened together.

In this case use a bench with a seat back at 45 degrees to do chest presses with a tube attached to the bench. With both hands starting at the nipple line height simply slowly push your hands away from you until your arms are almost straight, return slowly and repeat at least fifteen times. The strength rating of the tube should be high enough so that you can only just manage fifteen reps with good form.

6. Once your strength begins to return you can use more load in the form of dumbbells. Start with a single dumbbell and a one arm bent over row. To do this lunge forward with one leg, bend your straight back forward at 45 degrees and with one arm on your hip (the arm that is on the same side as the leading leg) lift the dumbbell in your other hand slowly towards your side. Lower it slowly to starting position and repeat fifteen times. Swap the dumbbell to your other hand and swap the leading leg so that you can do the same number of reps on the other side.

7. Another simple exercise is to sit or stand up and do bicep arm curls using one or two dumbbells. Try to keep your elbows stationary by your side and just move your lower arm up and towards your shoulder. If you use two dumbbells it is best to alternate the arm curl on each side.

8. The final example exercise is the press up. This is a great all round exercise for many purposes and you can easily change the intensity from press ups in a kneeling position (easiest) to press ups with a straightened body on tip toes and many more difficult variations (e.g. hands touching, one foot in contact with the ground). For the purpose of elbow recovery it is better to start from the kneeling position and progressively make the exercise more difficult if desired! Try to find a position of the arms that does not put excessive strain on the elbows and feels more natural. This will vary slightly between individuals.

Just as Sir Isaac Newtons laws of mechanics state that for every action there is an equal and opposite reaction, so for every judo movement there is a counter-technique. Naturally a badly timed or mechanically incorrect attempt at a throw is much easier to counter than a razor-sharp, finely tuned tokui-waza.

Some throws are manifestly more difficult to counter than others, at least by using counter-throws. In some cases, such as drop seoi-nage or tomoe-nage, ne-waza is the best option. Judo, though, is a dynamic environment and evolves at a very rapid rate. At international level, where video is widely used to study rivals techniques, competitors and their coaches are constantly trying to develop specific answers to specific problems. Awareness is the key to effective counters, the trick is to feel what the opponent intends to do before he does it and have a trained response ready.

However good you may become at countering an opponent it is important not to become a lurker, the type of judo player who makes no positive moves and just awaits his opponents attacks. The best players frequently convert techniques which originally developed as counter-attacks into direct attacks in their own right. I in my opinion, that this writer explained this amazingly on this health & fitness camp weblog.Uranage, sukui-nage (or te-guruma as it is sometime called) and tani-otoshi are all classic examples of adaptation. Players develop a technique as a counter, their opponents become aware of the danger and stop using throws which expose them to the counter, so it is then up to the counter thrower to create an opportunity to apply the skill and the best route left open is often to go for a direct attack.

Traditionally there were felt to be three types of timing where counters were concerned: sen no sen, tainosen and go no sen. The first timing, sen no sen, is a pre-emptive strike. Tori feels ukes balance shifting as he is just about to try a technique and attacks first, not waiting for the actual attack to materialize.

The second timing, taino sen, is a counter to an attack already underway; for example uke places his foot in toris stomach to do tomoe-nage, however, tori does not wait for uke to sit down and try to throw, but rather grabs his ankle and throws him to the floor with tani-otoshi.

Go no sen, the third timing, involves actually riding or blocking the attack and then countering, such as when tori steps over a tai-otoshiand throws uke with uchimata. The techniques involved are not especially important, the main thing is to be able to distinguish the different timings and use them when appropriate.

THE MODERN GO-KYO

The go kyo comprises five sets of eight techniques, a total of forty throws in all. These forty throws are also categorized as belonging to one of five different types:

o Hand throws te-waza (tai-otoshi, seoi-nage)

o Foot throws ashi-waza (de ashi-harai, okuri-ashi-harai)

o Hip throws koshi-waza (harai-goshi, tsuri-komi-goshi)

o Rear sacrifice throws ma-sutemi waza (tomoe-nage, sumi-gaeshi, hikikomi-gaeshi)

o Side sacrifice throws yoko-sutemi waza (yoko wakare, yoko-guruma)

These categories are sometimes confusing for the beginner as each and every throw actually uses more or less the whole body; you have to move your feet to do them all and must grip your opponent to throw him, so you use your hands in all of them.

The logic of these apparently arbitrary categories only really makes itself apparent after years of practice, and for the beginner it is best to consider them as hints as to what part of a given technique requires particular emphasis and study. If tai-otoshi is classed as a hand technique, even though you throw your opponent over an outstretched leg, it is because the essential key to an effective tai-otoshi lies in the correct use of the arms and hands. Likewise harai-goshi is classed as a hip throw because the key to doing it well is in the action of the hips.

Krav Maga is designed to provide the most effective response for an individual across the whole range of situations in which ones safety is in danger. Here is a brief discussion on four key areas that Ive picked up on in the time I have been training in krav maga. These are not exhaustive of the principles behind krav maga but do give a good overview of some important considerations that go into training:

1) Attack vulnerable areas of the body. Consider that when someone attacks you and you are able to fight back, any action that you take can be said to have an opportunity cost, that is the cost of the action you didnt take weighed up against the one you did. Given that when your life is in danger your aim is to survive it makes sense to ensure that your efforts in defending yourself are focused on inflicting as much damage on your attacker as possible so that they are neutralised and no longer a threat to you. As such krav maga encourages attacking the most vulnerable areas of the body. I found that this weblog showed this amazingly on this Thailand Muay Camp thailand web post.The groin strike for instance is a staple of many techniques as are eye gouges, kicks to the knees and all manner of strikes to the face targeting the nose, ears, temples and so on. When making combative moves such as punches, kicks, elbows etc the emphasis is not placed on set patterns or routines but on a continuous flurry of vicious and sustained attacks at the bodys weakest points to quickly overwhelm the opponent.

2) Go from defending to attacking ASAP. Again consider a situation where your life is threatened by an attacker. The ideal way to escape such a situation is to avoid as detailed below, or to escape from it quickly. Krav maga teaches numerous blocks and ways of coping with all the kinds of physical attack one can encounter. However the system teaches that we should block and attack simultaneously if possible, and if that is not possible then to counter attack as soon as possible and then make our escape. Why is this the case? Well to put it bluntly unless you are Neo you cant stand and block a continuous flurry of attacks without getting hurt. Many knife attacks in particular involve not one, but numerous attacks in quick succession. As such counter attacking represents your best bet of blocking the attackers thought processes and allowing you to escape or neutralise him.

3) Three hundred percent defense. There are numerous methods of blocking any physical attack to your person. In krav maga you are trained to deal with attacks using three simultaneous strategies if possible. The first would be the hand or foot defense, which would involve blocking or deflecting a strike or maybe plucking or otherwise breaking a choke or similar attack. The second is the body defense and this simply involves turning or moving your body to remove it from where the attacker is attacking to. So for instance against a straight punch to your head you move your head and upper body to the side. The third principle is moving off the line of attack and simply involves moving round your opponent so that the line of attack, that is the direction in which he is or can attack you is no longer going through you. This is important for numerous reasons. As stated above an attack will rarely make one discrete attack, there are likely to be several planned. Blocking or deflecting the initial attack and then swiftly moving to the attackers side and rear is a good way to avoid further danger and place your self in a prime position to neutralise the attacker, flee and also scan for further attacks in the blind spot that you previously had as he attacked you.

4) Situational awareness/scanning. A typical fight in a movie often involves two people facing each other and essentially slugging it out as if they were characters in Street Fighter. Numerous blows are thrown, blocked, taken and so on until a victor emerges. Being attacked in real life is rarely this simple. Attacks are made without warning, from all different angles and by single or multiple opponents. As such its very important to be continually aware of your surroundings and to be able to recognise danger signs and react instinctively. Krav maga teaches situation awareness with various kinds of drill and training. All students are also taught when attacked to move off the line of attack so that you can see into what was your blind spot and then to scan for further attackers, methods of escape, common objects to use as makeshift weapons etc. The importance of this cannot be stressed enough!