Sims Mortgage Funding, Inc. (SMF) originates Federal Housing Administration (FHA) insured loans for the construction, rehabilitation, acquisition and refinancing of healthcare, senior housing and multifamily rental projects. Established in 1984, SMF is a subsidiary of Herbert J. Sims & Co. (HJ Sims), a nationally recognized investment banking firm that specializes in debt and equity financing for the senior living industry. SMF originates, processes and underwrites insured loan applications through the Multifamily Accelerated Processing (MAP) program, as well as FHA’s traditional processing protocols. We also have been approved to participate in FHA’s newest, most innovative option – Lean processing. In addition to traditional mortgage banking activities, SMF provides consulting and financial advisory services to FHA insured loan borrowers with respect to construction loan servicing, asset management, debt restructuring, and tax-exempt bond financing.

SMF has closed over $875 million in insured loans representing all of FHA’s major mortgage insurance programs. The company arranges funding with GNMA Mortgage Backed Securities, taxable loan participations and tax-exempt bond financings underwritten by HJ Sims. Please visit our Completed Transactions section for a listing of these loans.

The company is a member of the Mortgage Bankers Association (MBA), and is active in the MBA’s insured loan and loan servicing committees. SMF has been a longstanding member of the Committee on Healthcare Financing, a Washington, DC-based coalition of mortgage and investment bankers that specializes in government financing programs for healthcare facilities. The Committee regularly meets with senior FHA policy makers to exchange views on FHA’s critical role in providing access to low cost capital to healthcare and elderly housing providers.

FHA-insured loans are an excellent source of affordable capital, offering very attractive terms. They are non-recourse, with fixed rates of interest and fully amortizing terms of up to 40 years. FHA also offers high loan-to-value ratios, ranging from 85% to 100%. Further, while other financing programs exhibit varying degrees of staying power in the market, FHA’s insured loan programs remain constant. Under MAP and Lean, FHA delegates a significant amount of processing and loan underwriting responsibilities to its approved Lenders reducing the time it takes to complete a financing. FHA’s role under these programs is primarily to review the Lender’s work and to issue mortgage insurance commitments on an expedited basis. Lean processing, which is currently available for the refinance or acquisition of existing nursing and assisted living facilities, will further reduce FHA’s review times over the MAP program. It also features a streamlined, electronic application filing format and requires traditional market-based appraisals.