Capital Region home sales down in February

Capital Region home sales were down 6% in February, when compared to the year before. According to figures from the Greater Baton Rouge Association of Realtors Multiple Listing Service, there were 415 homes sold in the Capital Region, compared with 443 in February 2009. Ascension Parish once again saw its sales increase, going from 91 MLS transactions in February 2009 to 94 last month. The average sale price in Ascension was down, however, from $213,461 to $192,596. East Baton Rouge Parish saw its home sales fall by nearly 15%, from 241 to 206. The average sale price was virtually unchanged, from $212,603 in February 2009 to $211,956 last month. Livingston Parish average sale prices increased, from $149,930 in 2009 to $157,000. But the number of homes sold in the parish dropped to 77, from 86 in February 2009. Sales and average prices were up in the other category, which includes MLS sales in parishes such as West Baton Rouge, Iberville and the Felicianas. There were 38 homes sold, at an average price of $166,807, compared with 25 sales and an average price of $154,562 in February 2009. Through the first two months of the year, the number of home sales was down 6% in the Capital Region, to 790, while the average sale price was down 2%, to $189,253. —Timothy Boone

Fenstermaker moves office into City Plaza

C.H. Fenstermaker & Associates is set to move its downtown offices across Fourth Street. The Lafayette engineering firm, which had been in the Cyntreniks Plaza building, right above CC's Community Coffee House, hopes to move into the City Plaza in the next two weeks. "We're just jumping over the City Club," says Greg Palmer, manager of the Baton Rouge office and vice president of business development for Fenstermaker. The firm will take up 5,000 square feet on the sixth floor of City Plaza, in a space that had been occupied by Phelps Dunbar. Palmer says Fenstermaker needs more room because of increased engineering and planning work locally. The firm currently has 11 employees and plans to hire two more. Fenstermaker is the third new tenant in City Plaza within the past few months. PBK Architects is also on the sixth floor, while Lee Herrington moved his law practice to the eighth floor. —Timothy Boone

B.R. delinquency rate still below state, U.S. averages

The percentage of Capital Region homeowners who are more than three months behind on their mortgage continues to rank below the Louisiana and U.S. average rates. In January, the local delinquency rate was 6.12%, according to First American CoreLogic. That's an increase over the January 2009 rate of 4.36%. But the increase was well below what was experienced nationally, when the percentage of homeowners falling behind on their mortgage was 8.66%, up from 5.53% in January 2009. In Louisiana, the delinquency rate escalated nearly 2 percentage points over the year, from 4.86% in January 2009 to 6.84% in January.

Poll: Few homeowners underwater

Ninety-six percent of people who responded to a Real Estate Weekly poll say they do not owe more on their home than it is currently worth. Four percent of people who participated in the survey say they are currently underwater: that is, owing more than the value of their home. More than 150 people participated in the survey. According to a recent report, 24% of all residential properties in the U.S. were underwater at the end of 2009.

This week's question: In your experience, have people encountered difficulty in getting jumbo mortgages over the past year?

Brian Andrews: Reporting your global cash flow

At this time of year, we are all being contacted by our bankers and asked for updated financial information. An additional piece of information is being required now, and forever more, and it is causing a bit of confusion on all fronts.

Bankers are asking real estate developers for a comprehensive “Global Cash Flow” statement to detail all cash flow and related debt service by individual project. This information was specifically addressed at my recent seminar with state and federal bank examiners, and I can definitely attest to the seriousness of this requirement. The banks are not padding their files; they really need this information. So even if your banker has never asked for this information in the past, please know that it is a current requirement and will be a part of standard reporting going forward.

Based on the comments made at my seminar, I see three basic purposes of this cash flow statement:

—The bankers want to see how the projects they finance are doing in terms of cash flow coverage. Every banker wants a comfortable margin by which cash flow covers debt service, and this statement is where she or he will find that information presented.

—They want to see how projects financed by other institutions are doing. Bankers no longer have tunnel vision about such matters and really do need to know about your others deals.

—They want to see the totals of all project cash flows and debt service for a global picture. It may be acceptable for some projects to be thin on coverage, or even have negative cash flow, if excess cash flow from other projects makes up the difference. This is where lenders can turn to have that issue addressed.

Unfortunately, the need for the information has outpaced the format for the statement. At present, there is no standard format for the global cash statement, and banks are trying their best to work with customers on complying with the requirement. The best advice to be given at this point is to list each project individually, detail net operating income and related principal and interest payments, calculate the excess cash flow and coverage ratios, and include lots of comments explaining the situation.

Groups such as the Louisiana Bankers Association are aware of the lack of a standard format and are working to come up with something to help bankers and borrowers with the requirement. For this reporting round, we will have to just do our best and tell the story as best as we can.

(Brian Andrews is a certified mortgage banker specializing in the financing of commercial real estate. His business is Andrews Commercial Mortgage and he can be reached at brian.andrews@acmla.com.)

Real estate recap: Bluffs clubhouse draws $1.2 million bid at auction ... Tenants named for LSU-area shopping center ... Central schools pay $2.45 million for land

High bidder not disclosed: An auction of The Bluffs clubhouse Friday drew a high bid of $1.2 million. David Gilmore of Sperry Van Ness/Gilmore Auction of Kenner, which handled the sale, would not disclose the name of the winning bidder. The 19,786-square-foot clubhouse near St. Francisville has been in limbo since March 2009, when former owner Jim Tanner shut down the golf course. First American Bank of Vacherie foreclosed on the clubhouse and will decide whether or not to accept the high bid. Gilmore says he will meet with First American officials this week.

College Row set to open by fall: A new 30,000-square-foot shopping center is slated to open in the fall at the site of the old University Shopping Center, just outside the North Gates of LSU. College Row at Northgate will feature tenants such as CVS, PJ's Coffee, Menchie’s Frozen Yogurt, Shanghai Tokyo Restaurant and Pita Pit. Officials with Philadelphia-based Campus Apartments, which is developing College Row, say the center is about 70% leased. While there had once been plans to build a mixed-use development with retail and student apartments on the site, Campus Apartments is now going ahead with a pharmacy and restaurants.

Sites for upper elementary, middle school: Central Community School officials have purchased two tracts of land off Sullivan Road for $2.45 million. The sites, which total 84 acres, are between Hooper and Joor roads, says Brian Kidwell, director of business for the school system. Design work for the new upper elementary and middle school has already started; Kidwell says the plan is to have the facilities open by the start of the 2011-12 school year.

Editor's note: Tom Cook is off this week. His column will return in Real Estate Weekly next week.