Legal fees to close commercial real estate loans can be expensive. The borrower pays for the lender’s attorney fees and the fees charged by the borrower’s attorney. Legal fees for CMBS conduit loans can be expensive since all CMBS conduit loans are non-recourse, and the loan documents are more detailed to protect the lender. ValueXpress has a solution to minimize the legal fees for CMBS conduit loans.
How? ValueXpress has a relationship with a CMBS attorney that represents ValueXpress borrowers upon request. This attorney has closed over 50 CMBS conduit loans on behalf of ValueXpress borrowers throughout the United States on every asset type. Since he has streamlined the CMBS closing process, the fee charged to ValueXpress borrowers is half the amount charged by other CMBS closing attorneys. In addition, the efficiency results in lower lender legal charges and quicker loan closings.
Borrowers do not have to use our recommended attorney, but we strongly suggest they do. Recently, we closed a deal in which the borrower’s existing attorney offered to close the transaction for a lower fee than our recommended attorney. The borrower thought he was getting a bargain. However, the attorney had no experience with CMBS closings. He needed guidance from the CMBS lender’s counsel, which increased billed hours, and he consistently missed the loan closing deadline due to inefficiency. As a result, the loan closed a month late and the lender’s legal charges were 25% higher than usual, resulting in total legal costs that more than wiped out any savings for the borrower. All the parties involved in the transaction, including the borrower, were aggravated, and the borrower realized he had made a big mistake.
For your next CMBS conduit loan with low-cost borrower legal representation, contact Michael Sneden (msneden@valuexpress.com), Dennis Suh (dsuh@valuexpress.com) or Gary Unkel (gunkel@valuexpress.com).