The half-day event will begin at 8:30 a.m. with Sam Chandon, chief economist with New York City-based REIS Inc. who will provide insight on how to understand and work with today's capital markets. The remainder of the conference will consist of a roundtable of industry experts, moderated by Arbor senior vice president of production management Joseph Donovan. The event will conclude at 11 a.m.
"We've put together a pretty impressive panel of folks who have been in the business in one way or the other," comments Lynn Viccaro, assistant vice president of marketing for Uniondale, NY-based Arbor. "The idea is to bring all of these points of view together so participants can make their own decisions about financing."
Along with Arbor FHA chief underwriter Wendy Stamnas, the roundtable will feature local experts Bernard Malone, founder and former president of Malone Mortgage Co.; Michael Brandenberger , owner of D4 Development Services; Brian O'Boyle, founder and managing broker of Apartment Realty Advisors' Dallas office and Diane Butler, senior vice president, general manager, Land America Valuation Corp.
Donovan tells GlobeSt.com that Arbor put together the conference because of existing confusion in the commercial real estate market about what liquidity might still be available. "Now that some stability has come back to the market, it's a good time to talk about what's working now, and what will continue to work from the financing side," he says.
Additionally, the conference will allow participants to get a glimpse behind the lending curtain. "We're trying to tell borrowers what we, as lenders, are dealing with in a climate in which credit has become more difficult to obtain," Donovan says.
Viccaro acknowledges this event could be rolled out into other markets, depending on feedback and response to this inaugural one. So far, enrollment has exceeded expectations. "We were planning on this being a small, intimate event, and now we have more than 100 people registered," Viccaro says.
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