The Committee on Health Care Financing, of which Sims Mortgage Funding, Inc. has been a longstanding member, held its annual meeting on June 24 and 25 in Washington, DC. The Committee is a national trade association of mortgage and investment bankers who provide financing for health care and senior housing projects using FHA’s Section 232 and 242 (hospital) mortgage insurance programs.

The Committee’s annual meeting historically has provided its members with excellent access to senior FHA officials responsible for health care financing. This year was no exception, as senior management from the Office of Insured Health Care Facilities (OIHCF) was present during the two-day event. They reported that the long-awaited Section 242 hospital refinancing program would be operational in July. Until now, the only way a hospital could access Section 242 mortgage insurance to refinance its existing indebtedness was by also using 20% of the new loan proceeds towards renovations or additions. Now, “pure” refinances of existing hospital debt are possible pursuant to this notice. The timing of this notice is excellent as many hospitals are having difficulty refinancing existing debt at competitive interest rates. Additional information on this program will be available shortly on http://www.simsmortgage.com/.

Sims is pleased to report that our client, Lenbrook, an Atlanta-based Continuing Care Retirement Community, received the 2009 Gold Award for the Best CCRC Common Area. This award was featured in the 2009 Best of 50+ Housing Awards sponsored by the National Association of Home Builders (NAHB).The Best of 50+ Housing Awards program recognizes excellence in building, design, and marketing of senior housing. The project team involved in Lenbrook’s common area design included Interior Design Associates, Inc., Spectrum Marketing, Inc. as the developer, and THW Design as architect.

In late 2005, Sims was engaged to underwrite Lenbrook’s expansion, consisting of a 24-story tower with 130 luxury apartments, a 60 bed health center, and an array of new common spaces. Additionally, Lenbrook also refinanced $20.1 million of prior debt. The entire expansion/refinancing bond issue totaled $172.75 million.

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FHA recently announced that it will be making two major changes to its Section 232 mortgage insurance program that will significantly improve application processing and loan closing times and lead to considerably more user-friendly policies and loan administration practices.