EDITOR’S NOTE: Multifamily Conference Offers Advice on How to Circumvent the Credit Crunch

By Keat Foong, Executive Editor Construction financing is still attainable, if you know where to look. Learn about obtaining and negotiating for debt financing—including construction, acquisition and refinancing—in today’s difficult environment at the upcoming Multi-Housing World Leadership Summit 2009. The conference, which is produced in conjunction with Multi-Housing News  magazine by Nielsen Business Media as part of the Nielsen Co., will be held from Sept. 29-Oct. 1 in San Diego. One panel in the Finance and Investment Track is called “Show Me the Money: How to Find, Negotiate and Secure Construction, Acquisition, Rehab and Permanent Financing.”The panel will be led by David Hendrickson, managing director of Real Estate Investment Banking at Jones Lang LaSalle, a global financial and professional services firm specializing in real estate. In the multifamily arena, the company has been active providing both investment sales brokerage and multifamily financing advisory services. Hendrickson also chairs the Finance and Investment Track at the Leadership Summit. In particular, the panel will provide guidance on identifying the active debt financing sources today; the pros and cons of the different sources of financing; and how to approach capital sources, including Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac and FHA-insured financiers, for the best deals.Also, have your questions answered. Panelists will include an executive from Freddie Mac, Mitchell Kiffe, vice president of production and sales, Multifamily Division at Freddie Mac. Also on the panel are Andrew MacIver, senior vice president at JP Morgan Chase and Jack Bauer, vice president at Prudential. Other sessions in Multi-Housing World Leadership Summit’s Finance and Investment Track includes: “When Will It Be Time to Buy Multifamily—and Is it Too Late to Sell?”; “Taking the ‘Stress’ Out of Distressed—Distressed Multifamily 101 for Buyers and Sellers”; and “Thriving Despite the Capital Shortages: Forecast and Advice for Multifamily Debt and Equity Financing.” Multi-Housing World Leadership Summit also includes general sessions about the economy and multifamily markets, and other educational tracks specializing in the multifamily sector, on Operations, Architecture and Design, Technology and Marketing. Hope to see you in San Diego in September.