• National rent collection tracked by the NMHC through July 13th was at 87.6%, down from 90.1% in July 2019. 
• It’s crunch time for lawmakers to put together a second round of funding and stimulus as the $600/week CARES Act unemployment bonuses fade out at the end of July. 
• Banks are “flying blind” into a potential credit storm. Lenders can’t tell who is creditworthy, so many are pulling back and tightening their lending criteria. I’ve heard this first hand for weeks from the lenders I talk to. Many smaller banks / credit unions are feeling the stress from PPP loans coupled with a waive of  forbearance and deferral requests.   
• In Massachusetts, the introduction of the Housing Stability Act to cancel evictions and freeze rents was met with….err… apprehension from many landlords and lenders. The Mass Real Estate Law blog has an interesting summary of landlord concerns with the bill.

Gladstone Capital updates

• By far the coolest day of construction I’ve ever seen was the set day for the Spencer Flats project with OnPoint Capital. The 60 second highlight video is a must-watch for an orchestra of adult legos.

• Saratoga Street in East Boston is almost completely framed. This is going to be a beautiful building – can’t wait to see it come together over the next few months!

• Unfortunately, the sellers backed out of our 8 unit rental building acquisition in Manchester. While frustrating, I’d much rather lose out on a potentially good project than give up discipline with pricing and terms. On to the next one!

What I’m..

Reading: The Week magazine. As much as I love twitter, there’s something refreshing about getting The Week delivered and reading a physical magazine with succinct recaps of what’s going on.

Finishing: after ten months of living through a gut rehab, our house is finally done (98%)! There’s still a few odds and ends left and we’ll always find new projects to take on, but for now the sounds of saws and drills have gone away. I’ll organize some before/after pictures for next month.

Watching: This webinar on Boston’s co-living climate. I always love hearing Benjie’s industry insights, and the co-living industry will be fascinating to see evolve post-COVID.

Thanks for reading and please give me feedback by responding to this e-mail. What do you want more or less of? Let me know! 

Cheers,
James

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