Hotel Financing/Poor Lender

[Kyle Davis]

Hey BP people:

I have a situation.  I'm currently developing a hotel and have the vast majority of my "ducks in a row."  I think I still need to raise at least $200k, but that is a side issue.

My main issue is my current bank I'm using to finance the project and the loan officer I'm dealing with.  Long story short....I asked the loan officer to order the appraisal on February 19th.  It is now May 21st and the appraisal has STILL not been ordered.  This loan officer has been dropping the ball consistently, and I spoke to his boss, and he replied that I can work with a different loan officer now if I want.  But my problem is my contractor is needing a guarantee that we will be starting the project in a month, or he has to accept other projects (which is very reasonable).

If I could find another bank that would match this current bank's interest rate and personal guarantee's for the project, I would dump this bank like a bad habit, but I'm striking out on finding a bank that will match their rate. The bank I'm using is offering 4.25% interest on a 5 year ARM, amortized over 20 years. They will borrow up to 80% of the construction cost. And each partner in the deal has a personal guarantee of 125% of their cash in the project (meaning if I put in $100,000 and the deal goes south, I lose my $100,000 and the bank can come to me for an additional $125,000).

Anybody have any connections with commercial loan officers that have experience in the hotel industry?

Thanks!

[Eric Schleif]

The financing structure you described is unorthodox for hotel development lending, so I think you'd have difficulty finding a lender offer similar terms. It's also difficult to provide some good feedback based on the details in your post because there many variables with hotel construction that will impact pricing. Some quick questions to try and help... What's your total development budget? Where is the project located? Will this be a flagged hotel?Where are you in the process (eg: feasibility study, STR report, plan approvals, permits, etc)?

Good luck.