[Note from the editor: Originally published on Thomvest’s Blog]
Today we’re releasing an updated version of our commercial real estate technology market map. The full list of companies is available here, and a high-resolution version of the map can be accessed here. This market map includes more than 220 technology companies operating across every aspect of commercial real estate, and range from seed stage businesses to public companies. If you’d like to suggest a company to be added to this market map, please submit them using this form.
Broadly defined, commercial real estate (CRE) includes any property owned to produce income. In total, more than 100 billion square feet of space in the United States is devoted to commercial use. Because commercial property is acquired for investment purposes, it differs from its residential counterpart in several important ways:
Commercial real estate is a diverse asset class that can take on many forms: office buildings, retail stores, malls, apartment complexes, homes, hotels and more.
Every property is analyzed for its ability to generate income. In most cases, there is a leasing component to commercial property ownership (which is the main revenue-generating activity), whereas in residential real estate properties are often owner-occupied.
Commercial properties are actively managed by teams responsible for leasing, routine maintenance, improvements and amenities to ensure that the building is suitable for occupants.
As the map above indicates, there are hundreds of technology companies across every aspect of the commercial real estate lifecycle, from property search and financing, to leasing and ongoing management. You’ll notice that several companies are included in more than one section — this is due to the fact that many of these businesses have expanded their product areas to capture multiple phases of the CRE lifecycle. For example, VTS recently launched a listings marketplace offering to compliment its suite of leasing and asset management tools. As such, we’ve included VTS in both the “Find Property” and “Manage Property” sections.
Assessing the Impact of COVID-19 on Commercial Real Estate
It’s no secret that the pandemic has dramatically altered our ability to utilize commercial real estate. The pandemic has impacted every CRE segment (office, hospitality, retail, etc.) and every phase of the asset ownership lifecycle (leasing, financing, utilization, etc.). The pandemic will likely continue to influence occupiers and end users of real estate in unprecedented and unique ways, which will have implications for the entire CRE industry.
This is particularly true in the office segment, as the abrupt change in the way we work has required mass remote working. Interestingly, as companies have transitioned from office work to remote work, many employees are reporting no meaningful impact on productivity. Even as lockdowns are slowly eased, as many as 75% of employees prefer to work from home out of caution or convenience. This has caused many in the industry to ask: Is the office as we know it dead?
Given these lingering existential questions, we’re witnessing the reimagining of office environments designed to anticipate what the “next normal” will look like. Tenants and landlords are working hard to determine an approach for re-entering the office, and the impact of remote work on future space needs. While there are many questions we’ve yet to answer, we anticipate the office category evolving in several important ways, and expect technology companies to play a central role in that evolution:
Emphasis on Safety:As new case volume persists, businesses have been cautious to re-open offices. In an August survey of 15 employers that collectively employ about 2.6 million people, 57% said they had decided to postpone their back-to-work plans because of recent increases case volume, according to the Wall Street Journal. Employers are also developing safety measures to facilitate a smooth re-opening, including redesigned workspaces and temperature checks. We expect additional safety standards to be developed, including staggered employee schedules, space plans to promote social distancing, safe hygiene practices, cleaning protocols, and guidance on using elevators. Technology is a key component of ensuring that both tenants and landlords abide by these emerging safety protocols.
Flexible Work Arrangements:The pandemic catalyzed a massive work-from-home experiment. In many cases, employees actually prefer remote work as it provides flexibility, reduces (or eliminates) commute times and enhances productivity. More than 75 percent indicate they would like to continue to work remotely at least occasionally, while more than half — 54 percent — would like this to be their primary way of working, according to IBM. The forced shift to operating remotely has led to nearly 40 percent of employees indicating they feel strongly that their employer should provide opt-in remote work options when returning to normal operations.
Flexible Space Needs: As offices reopen after COVID-19 shutdowns, we will likely see a mix of new use cases. Some companies will require more office space to further space out employees and reduce potential transmission, while others will move to permanent work-from-home arrangements or a hybrid of home, co-working, and office spaces to minimize commutes and maximize social distance. This will create more demand for flexible office space, including co-working space offered by companies like WeWork and Industrious. According to JLL, 67 percent of corporate real estate decision-makers are increasing workplace mobility programs and are incorporating flex space as a central element of their agile work strategies. JLL “expects 30 percent of all office space globally to be flexible in some form by 2030” (up from about 3% today).
In every industry, technology is an important enabler of not only process efficiency, but also of customer satisfaction and growth, and real estate is no exception (particularly during this pandemic). We’ve already seen technology companies step up to offer useful solutions for landlords and tenants. For instance, companies like Envoy are offering safety-focused tools including employee registration, touchless sign-in, wellness checks and capacity management to employers preparing to re-open their offices. We also expect accelerated adoption of digital solutions related to property and building management, leasing and transaction management. Working on furthering the adoption of technology in real estate? We’d love to talk.
Airbnb last week acquired a platform called Urbandoor that offers extended stays for corporate clients.
Founded in 2015, Urbandoor differentiates itself not just through its focus on business travelers, but also by the fact it deals directly with multifamily building owners instead of renters. The company goes directly to big real estate firms like Greystar, and has convinced them that extended stay rentals are the way forward.
Airbnb has two goals with this acquisition. First, it wants to boost the supply of properties available on its Airbnb for Work business, which is expanding at a rapid clip. This segment now accounts for 15% of all bookings on Airbnb, and has seen its revenue grow threefold from 2015 to 2016, and again from 2016 to 2017. More than 500,000 companies now use its services to plan business travel for their employees.
And so Airbnb’s problem is one of supply, rather than demand. The company’s corporate clients are looking for more luxurious properties with amenities such as security, pools and fitness centers, especially when it comes to extended stays. These kinds of things aren’t all that common with regular Airbnb rentals.
Urbandoor can certainly help with the supply, as it has rooms in apartment communities in more than 1,500 cities in 60 countries.
Airbnb’s second goal is more complex. Despite its success, the company still faces problems working with some landlords and property owners. By working with multifamily building owners in the long stay business, it may also be able to convince these people to think about setting aside some of their apartments for short stays as well.
“We started Urbandoor because we wanted to connect traveling and relocating professionals with the right apartment every time, anywhere,” said Urbandoor’s cofounder Erik Eccles in a statement. “Joining the Airbnb family will help us make good on our goals and expand our work with multifamily and corporate housing partners to bring even more great places to stay to Airbnb travelers.”
Urbandoor’s entire workforce will move to Airbnb as part of the deal.
Mike Wheatley is the senior editor at Realty Biz News. Got a real estate related news article you wish to share, contact Mike at [email protected]
Shopping malls in the U.S. are looking to add more entertainment venues and restaurants as part of an effort to reinvent themselves as “theater districts” focused on socializing and shopping.
To do so, many shopping malls have, or are in the process of converting vacant stores on their premises into indoor entertainment destinations, with activities including arcade games, go-karts, rides and brand experiences such as Legoland and the Crayola Experience, Curbed.com reported.
“Today,
it’s about real-life socialization,” said
Randy
White, the
CEO
of White Hutchinson Leisure & Learning Group. “Potential
shoppers can have all the digital entertainment experiences at home.”
Shopping
malls need to do something or they risk going out of business. That’s
because consumers’ habits have changed, and more and more people
are choosing to stay at home and do their shopping online. Between
2000 and 2017, out-of-home spending on entertainment fell by 3% in
the U.S., according to Department of Labor data.
“The
amount Americans spend to go out is actually going down because
they’re staying home more,” Nick Egelanian, president of
SiteWorks, a retail consultant firm, told Curbed.com.
And
so malls are resorting to creating new experiences to try and entice
people to visit them. The new American Dream Mall in New Jersey for
example, has an indoor ice rink and ski slope. Meanwhile the Tuttle
Crossing Mall in Columbus, Ohio, has converted a former Macy’s
store into an indoor entertainment zone called Scene75, complete with
children’s rides and go-karts.
But
it remains to be seen if entertainment alone will be enough to rescue
America’s malls.
““The
A or B-plus level malls will survive,” White told Curbed.com. “The
rest will turn into Amazon distribution centers or other uses. We’ve
always had too many square feet of retail, and now it’s insane.”
Another
question that remains unanswered is if people who come to malls for
the entertainment will actually spend more on shopping.
It’s
a risk no doubt, but in any case developers are increasingly betting
on the idea of a family-oriented entertainment as a new kind of
anchor for shopping malls.
“Malls
may not be retail playgrounds anymore; maybe these new businesses can
help redefine malls and their role as common social spaces,”
Curbed.com reported.
Mike Wheatley is the senior editor at Realty Biz News. Got a real estate related news article you wish to share, contact Mike at [email protected]
Experts say the COVID-19 pandemic is forcing employers to reconsider their office layouts, and the open-office style layout may well get the chop.
“While many organizations prepared for employee safety in other ways, the workplace was not designed to mitigate the spread of disease,” Steelcase, a furniture maker, wrote in a newly published brochure called “The Post-COVID Workplace.”
The open office layout has grown more popular over the last couple of decades as it enables firms to squeeze more workers into their workspaces, but with social distancing protocols now the norm, some businesses are said to be reconsidering the lack of walls.
“I think office space is going to change, [and] we will go back to putting shields between people,” Carol Bartz, CEO of Autodesk, told MarketWatch. “I think people are going to want protection.”
As such, it could be that the office cubicle is going to make a comeback. An article in Wired.com recently said: “The cubicle is making a comeback. One of the most important innovations (to reduce transmission) may turn out to be cardboard or plastic dividers that turn open-plan offices into something more reminiscent of the 1980s.”
But not everyone believes a cubicle wall will be enough to prevent the spread of infections such as COVID-19.
“The cubicle wall is not going to be a perfect barrier,” Peter Raynor, professor at the University of Minnesota’s Division of Environmental Health Sciences and director of the university’s industrial hygiene program, told Forbes.com. “It’s going to prevent those larger droplets from passing within six feet of the person in the next cubicle. From that standpoint, they’re good. Probably for the smaller aerosol droplets, the cubicle walls aren’t going to be much of a barrier. They don’t settle very fast, and they can remain airborne for long periods.”
Strangely though, separate offices and doors are not being considered by many businesses, even though they offer far more protection. Instead, more discussions are taking place about improving air circulation in office spaces.
“Generally, if you have more HVAC [heating, ventilation, and air conditioning], you’re going to tend to dilute the virus so there’s less of it to breathe on any given inhalation if it’s present in the first place,” Raynor told Forbes.com. He added that a higher proportion of air from outside, along with higher levels of filtration of recirculated air, could make transmission of the virus less likely.
“Planning paradigms of the past were driven by density and cost,” Steelcase’s COVID-19 brochure stated. “Going forward, they need to be based on the ability to adapt easily to possible economic, climate, and health disruptions. The reinvented office must be designed with an even deeper commitment to the well-being of people, recognizing that their physical, cognitive, and emotional states are inherently linked to their safety.”
Mike Wheatley is the senior editor at Realty Biz News. Got a real estate related news article you wish to share, contact Mike at [email protected]
American firms are likely to take a gradual and cautious approach as they reopen their workplaces amid the COVID-19 pandemic, according to a new survey from commercial real estate company CBRE.
Most companies will follow social distancing protocols and readjust their workplaces to ensure they can be implemented. Around half of the 203 companies surveyed will also introduce touchless technologies that aim to prevent the spread of the virus.
CBRE’s survey focused on organizations that oversee a combined 4.2 billion square feet of office, industrial and logistics, retail, data center and healthcare spaces that are used by more than 38 million workers overall.
Karen Ellzey, executive managing director of consulting and global lead for CBRE’s COVID-19 response for occupier clients, said most companies are engaged in “detailed planning to ensure a careful and reasoned approach” to getting back to work.
“Most of these companies have established their own criteria for when to return to the workplace beyond local and state government requirements,” Ellzey said. “And nearly three quarters plan to bring employees back in phases rather than all at once.”
Around 60% of the survey respondents said they will provide face masks or coverings for their employees, while 28% will require these to be worn at all times while workers are on site. Another 42% will only require masks to be worn at facilities mandated by local government or health agency guidelines.
Many companies also plan to limit the number of visitors to their spaces. In fact, just 21% will allow visitors during the early phase of reopening, with the remainder banning them altogether.
As part of their preparations for reopening, most companies plan to install digital signage, establish new policies on how workspaces can be used, and institute guidelines for social distancing. They will also outline social distancing zones with floor decals and other signs, and reconfigure furniture layouts to adhere to those rules.
Seventy-two percent of companies will carry out a phased reopening of their businesses, with only specific groups of employees allowed to return to work initially. Another 52% of firms say they’ll continue to allow employees to work from home for the foreseeable future, if they choose to do so.
“Across the board, we see evidence that companies are taking a thoughtful, measured approach to reopening their work environments in a safe and methodical manner,” Ellzey said.
Mike Wheatley is the senior editor at Realty Biz News. Got a real estate related news article you wish to share, contact Mike at [email protected]
Remote work is making people less productive than before, according to a recent survey of business leaders.
The survey, published last week by architect and design firm Vocon, found that almost 40% of business leaders nationwide said they’ve seen a decrease in productivity from their remote workforces. At the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, 56% of employers rated their remote workers’ productivity as “excellent” in an earlier Vocon survey.
Some reasons for the lowered productivity could be that workers are starting to feel as if they’re missing out by not being able to connect with their colleagues face to face. They’re also find it difficult to set boundaries at home with work. Employees who lack a home office space within their abode generally find remote work to be more challenging, the survey found.
Vocon’s survey came as a second study by research firm Engagious found that 53% of consumers “very much want to return” to the office. In that study, 40% of workers said they’d look for another job should their employer decide to go entirely virtual.
“Companies were having a really hard time keeping their culture together and a really, really difficult time onboarding employees,” Megan Spinos, director of strategy for Vocon, told the Commercial Observer. “The workplace was really a critical place for them.”
A majority of the business leaders surveyed by Vocon said they still intend for their employees to return to the office, with most aiming for that to happen in the first quarter of next year. Vocon’s survey reflects the heads of firms that oversee 443,895 workers nationwide in industries such as real estate, technology, advertising, finance, and more.
The news is positive for the commercial real estate sector, of course. And the industry has benefited from other firms that are looking to expand their physical office footprint. The most conspicuous of these is Amazon.com, which recently purchased a 630,000 square foot building in Manhattan and leased two million square feet in two developments in Bellevue, Washington.
“Tech companies still believe in physical spaces,” Tom Vecchione, a principal at Vocon, told the Commercial Observer. “There’s a new awareness about wanting to be in a building working together.”
Surprisingly, it’s the younger workforce that seems most eager to return to the office. A recent analysis by Cushman & Wakefield found that around 70% of Generation Z and 69% of Millennials faced challenges in working from home. Some of the reported problems include struggling to find a space to do their work, and missing out on advancement opportunities due to a lack of face to face contact.
Mike Wheatley is the senior editor at Realty Biz News. Got a real estate related news article you wish to share, contact Mike at [email protected]
After years of speculation and debates, President Biden finally announced that he’d be fulfilling a campaign promise to cancel some student debt.
The plan could bring relief to over 43 million borrowers with an average $30,000 debt outstanding.
So, do you qualify for Biden’s student loan forgiveness plan? How much of your debt will be forgiven? How will it affect your monthly payments, and what relief is there for future borrowers?
Here’s everything you need to know about Biden’s student loan forgiveness plan!
What’s Ahead:
Biden’s student loan forgiveness plan
On Aug. 24, President Biden announced that the federal government would forgive $10,000 in student loan debt for qualified borrowers making under $125,000 as a single filer or $250,000 as a household.
If you received a Pell Grant, you could qualify for an extra $10,000 in forgiveness.
Biden also proposed a new income-driven repayment (IDR) plan that would lower payments on undergraduate loans from 10% or 15% of your monthly discretionary income to just 5%.
Overall, the Biden administration estimates the new plan will provide relief for up to 43 million borrowers. Here’s the full White House Fact Sheet.
December 2022 update
Now, if you were looking forward to having up to $20,000 of your student loans forgiven, you might feel deflated by some recent, grim-sounding headlines.
Headlines featuring words like “Lawsuit,” “Challenged,” and “Frozen.”
I was actually speaking to a group of college students about financial wellness right as the program was blocked. I was explaining how the program was in legal jeopardy, and that anyone interested should apply ASAP when a student politely raised his hand and said:
“Uh… the site is down right now.”
TL;DR: What happened?
The program is facing two high-profile lawsuits: one from six Republican-led states, and one from a pair of borrowers who didn’t qualify for full relief. As a result, student loan relief can’t proceed until both suits play out in court sometime next year.
In other words, it’s in limbo and nobody has received relief yet.
Who’s trying to block student loan forgiveness, and why?
Well, as you might recall, not everyone was happy to hear about Biden’s program. Some called it a Band-Aid on a bigger problem, and others said it was straight up unlawful.
But most of the students I spoke with didn’t care too much for the overarching politics. I’ll just take my $10k, thanks. They were among the 26 million who applied for relief before the site went down, 16 million of which had already been approved by the Biden administration.
Unfortunately, before the $400 billion relief train could arrive at the station, a federal judge based in Texas yanked on the brakes. U.S. District Judge Mark Pittman struck the program down on Nov. 10, barring its implementation and forcing an indefinite hold on new applications.
Judge Pittman was acting on behalf of a lawsuit filed by conservative interest group the Job Creators Network Foundation, which itself wrote up the suit based on complaints filed by two borrowers. One didn’t qualify for relief because her loans were privately held, and the other complained he was only eligible for $10,000 because he wasn’t a Pell Grant recipient.
The lawsuit alleges that the program unlawfully skipped right over the step where citizens provide feedback on proposed federal programs — a rule made sacred by the Administrative Procedure Act.
“This ruling protects the rule of law which requires all Americans to have their voices heard by their federal government,” said Elaine Parker, president of Job Creators Network Foundation.
“The program is thus an unconstitutional exercise of Congress’s legislative power and must be vacated,” wrote Judge Pittman.
So that’s big lawsuit/roadblock no. 1.
Big lawsuit/roadblock no. 2 comes from six whole states. GOP-led Arkansas, Iowa, Kansas, Missouri, Nebraska, and South Carolina collectively filed a lawsuit challenging Biden’s authority to cancel student debt. Technically their complaint preceded Judge Pittman’s, but wasn’t granted a preliminary injunction (read: taken super seriously) until Nov. 14.
Though both lawsuits have the same throughline — that this is an overreach of executive power — the Republican-led states also add that this high amount of debt relief could negatively impact tax revenue.
This echoes several earlier lawsuits that were eventually thrown out. One came from a Wisconsin taxpayers group alleging that this would dip too far into the U.S. Treasury. Another came from Arizona Attorney General Mark Brnovich, who asserted that the plan would hurt recruitment of public sector employees by erasing incentives provided by Public Service Loan Forgiveness.
In short, a lotta folks are trying to block Biden’s student loan forgiveness program. And while most lawsuits have fizzled out in the lower courts, the two big suits described above made it through the gauntlet and pose a real threat to the program’s survival.
So what happens now?
Well, it could take weeks or months for these two big lawsuits to play out in court. And until then, the 8th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals has blocked the Biden Administration from providing a penny of debt relief — or even taking new applications.
That said, the program isn’t canceled; it’s just on pause until litigation gets resolved. It’s entirely possible that these suits will fizzle out just like the others, and that you’ll get your $10k or $20k by mid-2023.
It’s also possible that these efforts will succeed and student loan forgiveness will be blocked indefinitely. Or that the lawsuits will be drawn out until 2024.
Point being, hope for the best and plan for the worst.
What about repayment extensions?
If there’s a silver lining for borrowers, it’s that the program’s legal challenges gave Biden the opening to further extend the pause on repayments.
On Nov. 28, he announced that federal student loan payments would be paused until 60 days after the lawsuits are resolved. They were previously scheduled to resume on Jan. 1.
As a borrower, what steps should you take as you wait?
Here are four steps every borrower can take as you wait for all this to be resolved:
Read the rest of this guide — As of now, the terms of the original plan are exactly the same. So be sure to educate yourself on whether or not you qualify and for how much.
Subscribe to updates — The U.S. Department of Education has two newsletters I’d recommend: Federal Student Loan Borrower Updates and Top News from the Department. They’re the top two on this list.
Don’t plan on receiving relief — There’s nothing wrong with crossing your fingers, but don’t plan your 2023 budget around debt relief since it isn’t guaranteed.
Shrink your debt in other ways — Check out our guide on how to manage student loan debt for ways to manage your debt and pay it off faster.
Who exactly qualifies?
Here are the qualifications for receiving $10,000 in student loan forgiveness:
You’re a single filer with an adjusted gross income of under $125,000 on either your 2020 or 2021 tax returns. For joint filers or heads of household, that number rises to $250,000.
You took out a federal student loan, including PLUS loans. Loans taken out by you or your parents on your behalf both qualify.
You took out your loan prior to June 30, 2022.
If you meet the above requirements and you received a Pell Grant, you may qualify for an additional $10,000 in relief for a total of $20,000.
Which loan types qualify?
Most types of federal student loan debt qualify. That includes:
Direct loans (subsidized and unsubsidized)
Direct PLUS loans, including Grad Plus and Parent Plus loans
Direct consolidation loans
Some (but not all) Federal Family Education Loans
The trick with Federal Family Education Loans (FFEL) is that some are held by private companies. If your FFEL qualified for the payment pause in 2020, it may qualify for forgiveness. If it didn’t qualify for the payment pause, that’s a sign that it’s privately held and won’t immediately qualify for the $10,000.
That being said, there’s still hope. The Washington Post reports that the Biden Administration is working with private FFEL lenders to see if they can fold their borrowers into the relief program.
Will I get the full amount? Or is there a sliding scale?
If you meet the above qualifications, you will get the full $10,000 in forgiveness ($20,000 for a Pell Grant).
There is no sliding scale based on income, or anything like that.
What steps do I have to take? Or is it automatic?
It depends.
If the Department of Education already has your income information from 2020 and/or 2021, you’ll automatically qualify. According to the Biden administration, they already have income information from 8 million out of 43 million qualified relief candidates.
If you qualify but you’re not sure if the DoE has your income information, you’ll soon be able to fill out a form that certifies your qualification.
The form is scheduled to release sometime between now and when the repayment freeze expires. You can subscribe here for Department of Education updates — be sure to check the first box for Federal Student Loan Borrower Updates.
You’ll also want to double-check that your loan servicer has your latest contact and address information. If you’re not sure who your loan servicer is, check here on the DoE’s official page.
How will student loan forgiveness affect my remaining monthly payments?
It kind of depends on how your loan servicer wants to interpret the loan forgiveness program. At the time of this writing, we’re not sure if the bulk of them will choose to:
Lower the amount you have to pay each month, or
Keep your monthly payments the same and shorten your term.
They may end up letting borrowers choose, but again, who knows? The New York Times asked Scott Buchanan, executive director of Student Loan Servicing Alliance, what borrowers should expect. His response was basically:
“¯_(ツ)_/¯ “
We do know that if you’re on an income-driven repayment (IDR) plan, any amount of forgiveness you receive probably won’t shrink your monthly payments since your payments are income-based, not balance-based.
That being said, Biden has big changes in store for IDR plans, too.
What about the updates to the income-driven repayment (IDR) plan?
If you’re on an IDR plan like PAYE, REPAYE, ICR, etc., you’re probably used to paying 10%, 15%, or even 20% of your discretionary monthly income towards your student loan balance.
While capping your required payments is helpful, even 10% can be pretty steep for low-income borrowers struggling to make ends meet as the cost of living rises.
Read more: How little can you live on in 2022?
That’s why the Biden administration has proposed a new rule that would cap monthly payments at 5% of your monthly discretionary income versus 10% or higher. The new rule would also raise the amount considered “non-discretionary” and forgive balances after 10 years of payments instead of 20.
The rule is expected to take effect in summer 2023.
Will I have to pay taxes on my student loan forgiveness?
Nope! Congress eliminated taxes on loan forgiveness through 2025.
Will the student loan repayment freeze be extended (again)?
Yep!
The student loan repayment freeze that began in 2020 was originally slated to expire on Aug. 31, 2022, then bumped to Dec. 31, 2022, has now been extended again pending the lawsuits.
Payments are paused until 60 days after the lawsuits are resolved. If that hasn’t happened by June 30, 2023, payments will resume on Sept. 1, 2023.
Should I hold off on refinancing until forgiveness kicks in?
Oh, most definitely.
Generally speaking, refinancing your federal student loans with a private lender only makes sense when you qualify for a much lower interest rate than you’re currently paying, as is often the case when your credit score rises.
But private loans often lack some or all of the protections of federal loans, such as payment freezes and income-driven repayment plans. That’s why refinancing federal student loans with a private lender should be a careful, calculated decision.
Check out our full guide on student loan refinance options for more info.
And even if you qualify for a lower interest rate — say, 3% versus 7% — that’s not enough to offset $10,000 in instant forgiveness. Wait for the Department of Education to knock $10k off your principal, and then reassess your options.
I paid off my loans during the freeze. Is there any kind of relief for me?
Actually, yes!
If you:
Meet the qualifications for loan forgiveness, and
Made student loan payments after March 13, 2020,
you’re actually eligible for a refund! The Department of Education advises that you contact your loan servicer to request your refund and get the ball rolling.
I haven’t applied for student loans yet. Is there any relief for future borrowers?
There’s no direct monetary relief for borrowers who took out loans after June 30, 2022, or plan to in the future. That means if you borrow $50,000 this fall, you won’t automatically get a $10,000 discount on your principal.
That being said, the Biden administration claims that three new policy adjustments can improve the outlook for future borrowers:
Setting an income-driven repayment plan at 5% instead of the standard 10% to cut required monthly payments in half
Fixing the “broken” Public Service Loan Forgiveness program to broaden who qualifies for forgiveness, and overall streamline a complex and messy system
“Holding schools accountable when they hike up prices,” thereby strengthening overall accountability “to ensure student borrowers get value for their college costs”
For more on how to make college more affordable, check out:
The bottom line
If Biden’s plan means you’re suddenly debt-free, you might start having a little extra capital at the end of the month to invest.
So where should you put it?
Well, you’re definitely in the right place to find out! Check out:
Refinancing a loan — consolidating two or more loans into a single private loan with its own terms and interest rate — can save you a ton of money. Once you sign up for a new loan, your existing loans are paid off and you make payments on the new loan instead.
In addition to simplifying the repayment process, refinancing reduces the total interest you’ll pay over the life of the loan, shrinking your interest APR (annual percentage rate). You can combine both federal and private loans when you refinance.
What’s Ahead:
How the calculator works
Comparing rate estimates side by side is helpful but it doesn’t always show you the full picture, especially if you’re juggling multiple interest rates and term options.
The calculator is designed to give you an objective glance at how each term and interest rate will affect your new loan.
Fields you enter
Current loans
Add the info for up to three current loans, including your balance, interest rate (2% to 9%), and monthly payment.
If you have more than three loans, enter the three with the highest balance. Or if two of your loans have similar interest rates, combine the balances and monthly payments into a single entry.
New loan
Term (years) — Lenders generally offer terms between five and 20 years.
Interest rate — If you’ve seen estimates and know the interest rate you’re likely to get, enter the info accordingly. If you don’t, compare your results with as many rates as possible. The sliding scale goes from 2% to 9% (the calculator doesn’t let you choose between fixed and variable rates).
Your results
Monthly payment
Here’s where you see your potential monthly payment based on the loan term you select. It may be more or less than what you’re currently paying.
Keep this guideline in mind: your total debt payments (including any other payments you’re making in addition to student loans) shouldn’t exceed 40% of your monthly pre-tax income. Lenders look at your debt-to-income ratio when they’re approving loans.
Read more: How to pay back your student loans
Months remaining
Here you’ll see how much more quickly (or slowly) you’ll pay off your loan if you refinance.
Total interest cost
This field shows how much interest you’ll pay during the life of your current loan — it’s okay if this number shocks you — and the interest you’ll pay during the life of the refinanced loan. The difference will show you how much you can save over time.
Read more: Should I refinance my student loans?
Summary
Refinancing your student loan can save you money, but before you do so, you’ll want to ensure the terms and interest rates work in your favor. You can use the student loan refinancing calculator to determine whether it’s the right move for you.
The coronavirus outbreak has created an army of remote workers, and it’s left those in the commercial real estate industry facing a real challenge – how do they get people to come back to the office?
According to Coen van Oostrom, chief executive of a real estate firm called Edge, companies will need to adapt and upgrade their work environments if they’re to persuade employees to return to the office.
“You have to basically seduce your people to come into the office and work there instead of from home,” van Oostrom told CNBC’s “Squawk Box Europe” on Monday. “We believe that it will be the end of the large batteries of people working on a big floor, side to side, even with screens in between. There’s no real need for that any more; you can do your work everywhere. … We believe that the office will be the place that you get together, where the culture is being built, where new people are being brought in and can learn and understand the way things are done in a company, but to do so you have to have a work environment that is amazing.”
Van Oostrom said he believes that workplaces will become more like a “clubhouse” where employees can come in for one or two days a week and spend the rest of their time working from home. However, he believes that those who opt to work remotely on a permanent basis will be missing out on certain opportunities, and that their jobs could well be outsourced in the future.
“If you’re not part of the inner circle of a company and invited to come to that clubhouse, then you’re going to have a very difficult time,” van Oostrom said.
He said that companies can help workers feel more comfortable about returning to the office through design changes. For example, they can install extra staircases to help people avoid using elevators too much and risking their chances of catching a virus. They could also install air quality sensors to ease people’s concerns.
Meanwhile, public health officials say one of the easiest ways to prevent spreading germs indoors is to increase the volume of outside air that comes inside a building. Just opening a few windows can help with this, according to an NPR report. Still, many office buildings are fitted with windows that cannot be opened, and there has been a trend in recent years to create air tight seals in buildings to boost energy-efficiency. So architects are now challenged to come up with new ways to boost outdoor ventilation in a post COVID-19 world that doesn’t accelerate energy consumption.
Mike Wheatley is the senior editor at Realty Biz News. Got a real estate related news article you wish to share, contact Mike at [email protected]
[Note from editor: The “Mastermind Showcase” highlights companies and news from members of the GEM. Today’s showcase: Valcre.]
Valcre is an appraisal platform for the commercial real estate industry. Their cloud database is available across devices for tracking assignments and datasets as well as accessing communications, reporting, and presentations. Custom reports, invoices, and service agreements can be generated using the software.
Mobile apps for iPhone and Android map properties, have photo/video upload capabilities, and log notes.
The platform supports a wide variety of property types like office buildings, retail, and multi-family residences, with more coming soon.
What we like: Having recently joined the NAR Reach Commercial Class of 2021, Valcre is poised for an aggressive year of expansion.