Sara Havlena

Havlena is the editor-in-chief of Crittenden Real Estate magazine and The Crittenden Report: Real Estate Financing, Retail Tenants Report and the Multifamily Report and their respective websites. She has been an editor with Crittenden since 2007 and worked on a variety of real estate publications during her time at the company covering a wide range of topics from restaurant expansion to real estate developers. She has been the lead reporter and editor of Crittenden’s flagship publication, The Crittenden Report, since 2011. She has a degree in Print Journalism from Cal State Fullerton, and resides in Orange County, Calif.

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  • in Deal of the Week, Premium

    Deal of the Week: The Doris in Miami

    The Doris is a 30,000-s.f. boutique office building in the Wynwood neighborhood of Miami. The fact that this was a speculative office project with no pre-leasing kept many lenders at bay. Construction costs and the cost of capital were also some hurdles. However, Amerant Bank was confident in the location, design and the borrower. The fact that this is a new build office building that boasts fully built-out suites — which will be move-in ready — made this deal unique.   More

  • in Latest Finance Trends, Premium

    Capital will flow back into SFR/BTR projects in 2025

    Borrowers will see an increase of capital in the single-family rental (SFR) and build-to-rent (BTR) space this year. Construction financing will be available for strong BTR projects backed by top-tier sponsors. Lenders feel this is a solid asset class and rents are expected to grow in most markets. This is also a highly attractive housing solution for many tenants versus traditional multifamily communities. Look for more demand for refinances as many sponsors decide to hold properties as rates go higher and asset values are down. More

  • in Latest Finance Trends, Latest Multifamily Trends, Premium

    Multifamily borrowers will see increased activity this year

    The multifamily market will be strong in 2025 with an overall pickup of available capital. There will be high demand from renters as there is a big gap between the cost of owning and renting, as well as a housing shortage in many areas. Watch for the agencies to continue to take a big chunk of the market share, especially as a lot of banks remain on the sidelines. Lenders like that multifamily properties seem to be holding their values and occupancy has been strong. More

  • in Deal of the Week, Premium

    Deal of the Week: Norterra West II in Phoenix

    Norterra West II is a 144,800-s.f. Class A office property built in 2020 that includes a parking ratio just under six spaces per 1,000 feet of rentable space. The hurdles were the building recapitalization with multiple parties in different continents coupled with lease increases and extensions all required to meet a deadline to defease a CMBS loan on a specific date. More

  • in Latest Finance Trends, Premium

    Bridge lending is starting to loosen for 2025

    Count on plenty of available bridge capital throughout the year, given market uncertainty. Bridge lenders are increasing their allocations for 2025, which will lead to more competition and looser underwriting standards. Many out-of-the-box deals, assets coming out of construction or loans needing higher leverage will have to seek bridge financing. With the gap narrowing between SOFR-based and Treasury-based lending, keep an eye out for more “bridge light” lenders to take on more risk than they usually would. Expect life companies to be more active in bridge lending this year, as well as some CMBS lenders entering the game. More

  • in Latest Finance Trends, Premium

    Equity investors are hoping to get capital out the door

    JV and pref equity investing should slowly begin to pick up this year as investors need to start moving dry powder. Since the initial rate hikes in March 2022, common equity investments from institutional groups abruptly halted, accumulating a stockpile of dry powder. Many equity investors waited for distressed opportunities and paused their JV platform to start issuing pref equity to achieve high rates of return with debt-like structures. Distressed opportunities have been fewer than the market expected, and those groups will need to deploy to non-distressed product. More

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