Commercial Real Estate Tips and Resources

                    Commercial real estate professionals learned about EB-5 financing, a free data resource for REALTORS®, securing credit and more at the CommercialForum/CCIM Roundtables Networking event on Thursday, Feb. 12. Each table featured a topic providing helpful information for commercial real estate professionals. Below are some key takeaways: Securing Credit after the Crisis • 54 percent of business loan applications received approval for some type of financing. (Joint Small Business Credit Survey Report) • Loans were typically for working capital/line of credit (46 percent), SBA (23 percent) and commercial mortgage (18 percent). EB-5 (U.S. Immigrant Investor Program) Financing • EB-5 is a way for developers to get financing for projects. • All EB-5 investors must invest in a new commercial enterprise – New is defined as established after Nov. 29, 1990. • Investors are required to create at least 10 full-time jobs for U.S. workers within two years. • In general, the minimum qualifying investment in the United States is $1 million. REALTORS® Property Resource • Commercial brokers can benefit from this free resource by accessing demographic and spending habit information. • RPR licenses public records property data from the Applied Analytics division of Black Knight Financial Services (BKFS), a provider of mortgage processing services, settlement services and mortgage performance analytics. This includes public records sources across the country to aggregate one of the industry’s most robust, accurate and current data resources. • This data can help validate site selection. Land Use & Zoning • The Chicago City Council makes final decisions on zoning map amendments, reviewing whether the proposal is consistent with plans for the area and compatible with the neighborhood’s character. • Special uses require case-by-case review, going before the city’s zoning administrator to review each proposed special use application and forwarded a recommendation to the city’s zoning board of appeals. See more about CommercialForum and upcoming networking events.