Real Estate Finance

The commercial real estate finance sector is constantly evolving. Investor, owner, and lender success is often driven by recognizing and adjusting to market changes. Seyfarth’s Real Estate Finance lawyers work closely with our clients to help them achieve their goals in this dynamic and competitive environment.

HOW WE HELP

Our attorneys draw on a foundation of experience and knowledge of evolving lending and capital markets, shifting industry trends, and complex lending principles to deliver business-driven legal counsel that carries deals across the finish line. With experienced professionals from coast to coast, our team collaborates with our companion practice groups in order to achieve timely, practical, and comprehensive results. Accordingly, when necessary or appropriate to close transactions, we look to our colleagues in various areas, including tax, construction, leasing, fund formation, institutional investment, securities, environmental, bankruptcy, litigation, labor & employment, and ERISA.

Attorneys on our team focus on rapidly evolving areas, including infrastructure investment and construction, data centers and health care, as well as cannabis, cybersecurity, blockchain technology, and opportunity zone funds (for example, addressing how opportunity zone transactions impact loan structure and documentation). Our lawyers and our companion practice group members also meet regularly to share best practices and discuss industry related legal matters and recent developments, such as CFIUS, HVCRE, SOFR, PACE, Corporate Transparency Act, and state-specific trends that impact our clients’ lending positions.

A testament to our high regard in the marketplace, Seyfarth’s Real Estate Finance attorneys work with many of the nation’s leading lenders, including three of the top five mortgage originators among insurance companies and the top three largest commercial loan servicers.

OUR SERVICES

Our attorneys handle a wide variety of transactions and have experience across the full spectrum of real estate finance, including:

• Permanent, bridge, and construction financings
• Capital market loans, including CMBS and CLO financings
• Portfolio loans, including multistate, property, lender, and borrower facilities
• Health care finance
• Mezzanine and A/B tiered structures
• Leasehold and leased fee mortgage financing
• Delaware Statutory Trusts (DSTs)
• Preferred equity structures
• Repurchase and loan-on-loan financings
• Loan acquisitions and sales
• Sale/leaseback arrangements
• Letter-of-credit-enhanced transactions
• Participations and other syndicated arrangements
• Loan administration and servicing, loan assumptions and modifications
• Default, workout, foreclosure, deed-in-lieu, and bankruptcy matters

THE SEYFARTH EXPERIENCE

Our Real Estate Finance team understands that an efficient, streamlined loan process helps clients achieve their goals regarding profitability and borrower satisfaction.

Tailored Solutions to Add Value to Lending Programs and Real Estate Portfolios. We have a track record of using technology, process improvement, and innovative staffing to create tailored solutions for our real estate finance clients that reduce deal cycle times, improve processes, and reduce costs. Our technology provides 24/7 access to matter tracking—including checklists, critical dates/deadlines, and a document library.

Real Estate Due Diligence Hub. Our team includes attorneys, paralegals, and support staff—known as the Hub—who handle the often extensive, cost-sensitive due diligence work common in commercial real estate transactions, including, depending on the transaction, title, survey, and lease reviews. The Hub allows us to deliver customized, efficient, high-quality work product, while allowing for cost predictability.

Upon request, we also help our lending clients through the process of revising form loan documents or, in some cases, creating loan forms for new or updated lending platforms.