Articles
Are You Obtaining the Right Level of Pre-Lending Environmental Due Diligence?
Robert Szustakowski, The Lotis Engineering Group, PC Virtually every commercial lender has their own policy regarding environmental due diligence. While there are some basic guidelines provided by the SBA, the FDIC, the OCC, etc., each lender is to determine the...
The Plan and Cost Review/Inspection Process For Construction Loans
Robert Szustakowski, The Lotis Engineering Group, PC Construction loans are significantly different from other real estate loans. On a typical commercial real estate loan, the bank relies on the appraisal and an appropriate loan-to-value calculation. While an...
Should I Be Requesting Environmental Audits?
Robert Szustakowski, The Lotis Engineering Group, PC There is suddenly increased interest in the environmental audit process. There is at least one national bank that is now requiring audits for some energy-related borrowers, the Office of the Comptroller of the...
You Need to Regularly Inspect Your Commercial Portfolio
Robert Szustakowski, The Lotis Engineering Group, PC In August, 2013, the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) issued their most recent Comptroller’s Handbook for Commercial Real Estate (CRE). Much attention has been paid to the changes made by the OCC...
Review of Regulatory Requirements for Lender Environmental Risk Policies
Robert Szustakowski, The Lotis Engineering Group, PC Recently at the request of a bank client, I summarized guidance documents published by various banking regulators, that is, the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC), the Federal Reserve, the Federal...
Environmental Risks to A Bank’s Facilities Department
Robert Szustakowski, The Lotis Engineering Group, PC I’ve been bouncing around consulting and within bank environmental departments for about 30 years now. And I have found very few banks consider environmental risks associated with their Facilities Department. I find...
The Inter-Relationship Between The Environmental and Appraisal Reports
Robert Szustakowski, The Lotis Engineering Group, PC First and foremost, I am NOT an appraiser. I have worked in appraisal departments, for the Chief Appraiser, at different banks and have worked closely with many bank appraisers. In my role, it was important that I...
A Quick Look at the Results of Lead-in-Water Testing At NYS Public Schools
Robert Szustakowski, The Lotis Engineering Group, PC In August 2016, Governor Cuomo signed legislation that required all public schools to test EVERY water outlet in their schools for lead. The New York State Department of Health (NYSDOH) soon followed with emergency...
You Won’t Buy a $250M House Without a Home Inspection. But You Lend $1MM on a Warehouse Without a PCA?
Robert Szustakowski, The Lotis Engineering Group, PC This is one that I’ve been scratching my head over for years. No one buys a house without a home inspection. We don’t want to get a surprise of bad electric or a leaky roof AFTER we’ve made that big purchase. And...
Oh No! The Consultant Suggested a Phase II!
Robert Szustakowski, The Lotis Engineering Group, PC You ordered the Phase I (or Transaction Screen) and you are merrily moving toward closing. You have the appraisal in-hand, you have a good LTV, you have all of the final approvals and your lawyer is working on...
Environmental Issues for Banks Acting as Trustees
Robert Szustakowski, The Lotis Engineering Group, PC Due to the nature of their business, banks create “walls” between their Trust Department and most other areas of the bank. Even departments that can help the Trust Departments in their day-to-day work, like...