When a real estate loan becomes distressed, determining the best recovery strategy can be more difficult than determining the value of the collateral.

In a liquid, competitive market, multiple informed bidders provide price discovery. In today's thin, capital-constrained market for complex development assets, that mechanism is often impaired.

A low offer may reflect the property's underlying value. Or it may reflect uncertainty around entitlements, servicing, access, infrastructure, phasing, completion costs, development potential or the capital required to unlock that potential.

Knowing the difference can materially affect the recovery decision.

Distressed real estate files already involve highly capable professionals.

We do not replace the receiver, broker, appraiser, lawyers or the lender's workout team.

We fill a different gap. We know how to complete a creative transaction.

Our role is to provide the owner/developer perspective required to assess development constraints, identify practical value-creation opportunities, test their economics and translate those findings into actionable recovery alternatives.

That perspective can be particularly valuable where conventional valuation or marketing does not fully answer the central credit question:

Should we take the recovery available today—or is there a practical, risk-adjusted path to something better?

Our review and recovery is a four step process.

1. What is suppressing recovery?
Identify the physical, planning, development, market, capital or execution issues preventing the asset from achieving an acceptable outcome.

2. Can it economically be fixed?
Determine what would be required in capital, time and execution risk—and whether the expected improvement in recovery justifies it.

3. What should the lender do?
Compare the realistic alternatives and provide a clear commercial recommendation: sell, hold, invest, restructure, reposition, partner or pursue another recovery strategy. If the price available today is commercially reasonable, we'll say so and show why.

4. Complete the disposition transaction.

We bring more than four decades of real estate and development experience, including experience with distressed properties through two major real estate downturns.

• Our professional fees are based on the nature, complexity and potential value and outcome of each assignment, rather than the number of hours required.
• Each engagement is structured around clearly defined objectives, responsibilities and outcomes, with fees agreed upon in advance.
• Depending on the assignment, fees may be fixed for the agreed scope of work, payable at defined milestones, or contingent upon achieving specified commercial outcomes.
• This approach keeps our interests aligned with your objectives: maximize recovery and value while minimizing the time, cost and risk required to achieve it.

Have a difficult real estate file? Send us the basics, and we'll tell you whether we can help.