Third Week (AKA Shredder?!)

Hey everyone, it looks like it's that time of week again! To be honest, I think I know what the ropes are now, but there's a long way to go before I can claim any sort of proficiency.

My work this week has mostly been looking at the largest spreadsheet known to mankind, containing 1749 different properties of a multitude of types (ranging from office and retail, to mini-warehouses and drive-thru restaurants. 1749 properties is a huge number. It takes me 30 seconds and one very-tired finger to scroll all the way down to the bottom (I know this because I timed it).  The purpose of the spreadsheet, from what I gather, is put lots of loan maturities in one place so that Churchill can follow-up with deals that are nearing their loan maturity date.

To put in simple terms, a loan maturity refers to the last payment of a loan, including interest payments (Thanks Real Estate Dictionary!). The reason loan maturity dates are important is because many people tend to need more money (for a variety of reasons) for the operation of their property, and therefore need to either ask for a new loan or refinance their existing loan. Refinancing is part of the work that Churchill specializes in. The great part about having a spreadsheet like this is that it firstly allows whoever is using it to track progress of a property (or an area!) over time, in terms of how much income the property is making, the loan amount they need (whether in the past or present), tax changes, market improvements, and so on. This spreadsheet specifically tracks deals from 2011 to 2012, which means that if each of the properties follows the typical 5-year loan time period, then the loans would be about to reach their maturity date, giving Churchill the opportunity to step in.

In a previous post, I mentioned that I was filling out a preliminary analysis for an apartment complex. Work progressed on that today, and I compared the listings of rental homes and other apartments on Zillow to get an idea for the average monthly rent and rent per square foot for the market. The reason that this is important is the apartment deal aforementioned is going to be a construction project, and lenders need reassurance. If their predicted rent per square foot is wildly different than the market rate, then they have a higher chance of losing their investment.

I've realized that many of my expectations about the professional environment were definitely influenced by the many hours I spent watching the Office and Brooklyn 99 (though the latter has less obvious effect). It's been interesting to take a look at the differences between what we see on TV and the reality of working in a professional environment:

1) Paper jams are existent, but they're not as big of a deal as they are on the Office.

2) People are so friendly! Every time I walk past the elevator to get to Churchill's office, I pass several other companies, and there's this one receptionist who I always wave at.  He has great hair; I should ask him for tips. In the first week I was here, he looked confused, but now he laughs and always waves back. Progress! (It took a lot of waving. I pass by him several times a day so I guess that helped?)

3) Even finance, in all of its glory, can get to be a bit tedious. One of the other people who works here, Chad (hi Chad!), said this to me about it: "no matter where you start out, unless you're already doing something complicated, this kind of work is what you should expect as some of the first things you will do when you get a job." I don't mind it at all (I like the freedom that comes with interning), but it's nice that I'm getting an idea for what life will be like in a few years.

4) I have a new best friend here. I'm accepting name suggestions, because Shredder is unoriginal. I'm thinking Jack the Ripper, but comment your suggestions and I might turn it into a poll!  Here's a picture:

Fig. 1: Churchill's paper shredder

I never knew I could have so much fun shredding papers. Of course, I'm trying not to be obnoxious about it and only shred things that have to be shredded and when people are out to lunch, but honestly if Churchill was trying to condition me like Pavlov, they could reward me with papers to shred.

Anyway, that's enough of things on a tangent, but as this project progresses, I'm starting to see more of the reasons why the processes I observe take place, and what that means in a bigger picture. Thanks for reading, and see you next week!