Tough Lending Environment No Barrier for Six Mid-Atlantic Assisted Living Facilities

BALTIMORE, Nov. 5 /PRNewswire/ -- Six assisted living facilities in Virginia and Maryland were able to refinance over $80 million of existing debt through the Federal Housing Administration mortgage insurance program thanks to Baltimore-based Capital Funding Group (CFG), a leading healthcare commercial lender based in Baltimore.

"We all know how difficult is it to borrow money right now, but with help from our friends at CFG, we got it done," said Kelly Mason, Morningside Group CEO. "With the challenges we face in healthcare, facilities like ours need to stay focused on patient care and the needs of residents, not worry about loans, interest rates and complicated financial matters; we're grateful to have CFG taking care of us."

The six properties are in Laurel, Hanover, Ellicott City, Waldorf and Parkville, Maryland and in Leesburg, Virginia. Morningside communities are among the finest in the Mid- Atlantic region and are well-known for providing superior care and customer service.

The FHA Section 232 program allows institutions like CFG to make loans to assisted living, other long-term care facilities and even hospitals with better loan terms and lower interest rates than are otherwise available. Interest rates on the new Morningside loans were between 4.75% and 4.78%, with loan amounts ranging from $6.2 million to over
$22 million.

The six loans represent the largest portfolio financing for assisted living facilities since HUD adopted LEAN processing. The new LEAN process employs standardized procedures for application review and reduces duplicative and unnecessary process steps.

The result has been a substantial reduction in processing times and greater clarity for borrowers.

"The FHA program is great; it enables us to lend money to folks who do great work in their communities and who wouldn't be able to do that without some access to capital," said CFG President Jack Dwyer. "Helping folks like Morningside is what we're about and LEAN helps us do it a lot more efficiently - our clients see the positive results."

CFG is a leader in healthcare finance nationwide and has completed more than $1 billion in FHA-insured mortgages for facilities nationwide.