Sims Mortgage Funding, Inc. (“SMF”) was recently acknowledged by Multi-Housing News, a national trade publication, for its participation in a complex financing for the Annunciation Inn, a 106-unit elderly housing project in New Orleans that suffered considerable damage from Hurricane Katrina and has been closed since August, 2005.

Providence Community Housing, a non-profit corporation organized in 2006 to rebuild housing in metropolitan New Orleans, will be purchasing and renovating the Project with a short-term loan and approximately $8.3 million in low income housing tax credits. The interim lender needed an exit strategy, which is where SMF played a key role. Working closely with the New Orleans HUD Office on a very aggressive time frame to meet the tax credit investor and interim lender deadlines, SMF obtained a $4.65 million Firm Commitment for Section 221(d)(4) mortgage insurance in about 50 days. The HUD Commitment is valid for 20 months, giving Providence ample time to acquire and renovate the Project.

SMF also arranged for a forward lock of the insured loan’s interest rate at 5.96%, giving Providence peace of mind that not only is their take-out financing in place, but they have their future cost of capital quantified today. Given the tight budgets and operating margins of low income housing, the HUDinsured loan will become a critical component of Annunciation’s capital structure.

Providence intends to purchase and renovate 5 additional elderly housing properties in New Orleans, all of which have been closed down as a result of Katrina, and has retained SMF to secure HUD take-out financing for these transactions.