Looking Ahead: What the Next Year Holds for Real Estate Finance

Maryland, USA, Sep 02, 2026, ZEX PR WIRE — Gita Sankano, an attorney representing the D.C. Department of Housing and Community Development, has published her one-year outlook identifying four major shifts she expects will reshape how real estate finance and community development transactions unfold through the end of 2025.

The forecast draws on her work coordinating closings across the United States for multifamily housing projects and health care facilities, as well as her current role advising on complex affordable housing finance transactions involving multi-layered financing structures.

“The next twelve months will test how well we adapt our deal structures to changing conditions,” Sankano says. “The tools we rely on today, from tax credit programs to secondary market execution, are all being reshaped by forces outside the transaction table.”

Four Trends to Watch

Sankano’s outlook focuses on areas where she sees the most movement.

Tax credit market pressure. Low Income Housing Tax Credit pricing has fluctuated over the past two years, and Sankano expects continued volatility as investor appetite responds to broader economic signals. Projects that combine LIHTCs with Historic Tax Credits face even tighter pricing windows. She advises sponsors to build in more contingency time and alternative capital stacks.

Bond financing costs. Tax-exempt bond rates remain a core financing tool for multifamily projects, but interest rate uncertainty makes long-term underwriting harder. Sankano notes that deals relying on taxable and tax-exempt bonds alongside subordinate soft debt need more flexible timelines and closer coordination with state and local funding sources.

Secondary market execution changes. Fannie Mae’s Delegated Underwriting and Servicing product line and Freddie Mac’s Capital Markets Execution program have served as reliable takeout vehicles for years. Sankano sees both programs adjusting their appetite and pricing in response to portfolio risk management, which will ripple through origination and servicing practices.

Layered regulatory compliance. Projects involving FHA insurance programs under Sections 220, 221(d)(4), 223(a)(7), 223(f), 232, and 241(a) of the National Housing Act carry dense compliance requirements. Add in Section 8 contracts, Section 202 and Section 236 Use Agreements, and mezzanine financing, and the documentation burden grows. Sankano expects increased scrutiny on subordinate debt terms and intercreditor agreements.

Why This Matters Now

Real estate finance transactions do not move quickly. Deals that close in late 2025 are being structured and negotiated now. Sankano’s outlook is aimed at lenders, developers, and public agencies who need to anticipate where the market is headed rather than react to where it has been.

She points to one practical example: a multifamily project that layers bridge loans, secondary financing from state and local sources, and FHA insurance has multiple approval timelines that rarely align. If tax credit pricing drops or bond rates spike during the gap, the deal can stall. Planning for that scenario up front makes the difference between a successful closing and a restart.

Practical Steps for the Year Ahead

Sankano recommends that transaction teams review their assumptions on three fronts.

First, capital stack flexibility. Every major component, from senior debt to tax credit equity to subordinate soft loans, should have a backup plan. If one piece shifts, the whole structure should not collapse.

Second, closing timelines. She has seen too many deals assume everything will proceed on schedule. Build in buffer time for regulatory approvals, investor diligence, and market changes.

Third, documentation discipline. Complex structures require clear intercreditor agreements, subordination terms, and compliance tracking. Mistakes here create problems years after closing, not just at the table.

Grounded in Real Transactions

Sankano’s perspective comes from years of work on both sides of the transaction table. After clerking for the Honorable Michael W. Reed at the Court of Special Appeals in Maryland, she spent five years at a large law firm counseling mortgage banking clients in the origination, sale, and servicing of loan transactions sold to secondary market investors, primarily Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.

She coordinated closings for lenders providing financing for multifamily housing projects and health care facilities under multiple FHA insurance programs, with particular expertise in complex structures. Her current role at DHCD places her inside the public sector, advising on affordable housing policies, programs, and initiatives while reviewing and drafting legal documents for the affordable housing and community development programs the agency administers.

That combination gives her a view of how market forces, regulatory requirements, and public policy objectives intersect in real deals.

Why a One-Year Window

Sankano chose a one-year outlook because it matches the planning horizon most transaction teams actually use. Five-year forecasts sound authoritative but rarely shape day-to-day decisions. One year is concrete enough to plan around and short enough to adjust if conditions change.

Her forecast is not a prediction that everything will break. It is a reminder that the tools and structures that worked reliably in one cycle will need adjustment in the next. The teams that anticipate that shift will close deals. The ones that wait for certainty will fall behind.

To read more, visit the website here.

About Gita Sankano

Gita Sankano is an attorney representing the D.C. Department of Housing and Community Development, where she works on complex affordable housing finance transactions and advises on affordable housing policies, programs, and initiatives. A graduate of the University of Maryland School of Law, she clerked for the Honorable Michael W. Reed at the Court of Special Appeals in Maryland and spent five years in private practice before joining DHCD. She is based in Washington, D.C.

A Personal Pledge with Concrete Commitments

New Jersey, USA, Sep 02, 2026, ZEX PR WIRE — Devin McMenamy, Account Executive at Team Logic IT and owner of Demand Wireless LLC, is making a public pledge to formalize five working disciplines designed to keep personal life ahead of professional demands. The commitments, grounded in practices McMenamy has refined over years in B2B technology sales and small-business connectivity consulting, represent a concrete set of boundaries he plans to hold through 2025 and beyond.

“Personal is more important than professional. Family comes first,” McMenamy said. “Without the personal, the professional stuff isn’t worth it.” The pledge codifies habits he has developed to maintain that balance while managing client work, carrier negotiations, device procurement, and network troubleshooting across New Jersey. 

The Five Commitments

McMenamy’s pledge centers on five disciplines:

1. No email or client calls during family dinner. Devices stay off the table. Client emergencies are rare. Most can wait an hour.

2. Weekly planning sessions on Sunday evenings. A fifteen-minute review of the week ahead, mapping client meetings, device shipments, and contract deadlines. Planning reduces firefighting.

3. One day per quarter with zero work. A full day away from phones, laptops, and client channels. McMenamy uses the time for long hikes, songwriting, or unstructured time with his wife and kids.

4. Mindfulness check-ins before difficult conversations. Before a tough client call or a pricing negotiation, McMenamy takes two minutes to reset. Discipline in the moment, he says, prevents reactive decisions that create long-term problems.

5. Asking for help early. Whether it’s a network issue outside his expertise or a scheduling conflict that risks a missed commitment at home, McMenamy commits to flagging problems when they are still small.

Why Make It Public

McMenamy grew up in Florham Park, New Jersey, playing travel soccer and hockey. He served as assistant captain of his high school hockey team his senior year. His mother was a senior director of the Colonials Hockey organization. His father was an attorney at Bressler, Amery and Ross. The structure and accountability those environments demanded shaped how he approaches work today.

“I stay disciplined in the moment and practice mindfulness,” McMenamy said. Making the pledge public adds a layer of accountability he believes will help the commitments stick.

He has worked in B2B sales for PCS Wireless, Verizon Wireless, NICE Systems, and Team Logic IT. Through Demand Wireless LLC, he offers small and midsize businesses mobile device strategy, carrier plan optimization, device procurement, network setup, troubleshooting, support, and contract negotiation. The pace can be relentless. Devices ship to the wrong address. Carrier reps change mid-contract. Clients need help after hours.

“I always take a long-term approach,” McMenamy said. “What happens in the moment is usually irrelevant long term.” The disciplines in the pledge are designed to protect that long view.

Why These Five

Each commitment addresses a specific friction point McMenamy has encountered.

The no-devices-at-dinner rule came after a string of evenings interrupted by notifications that, in hindsight, could have waited. The Sunday planning habit grew out of weeks where client issues piled up because he had not mapped dependencies in advance. The quarterly offline day emerged after McMenamy realized he had gone months without a break that felt complete.

The mindfulness check-ins are a direct counter to reactive problem-solving. “Strategic resilience” is how McMenamy describes the ability to step back before stepping in. The final commitment, asking for help early, reflects lessons learned from a time he personally located a customer device order that had been shipped to an old legacy address in the system. The issue could have been caught sooner if he had flagged it when the tracking first looked off.

Who This Is For

McMenamy is not suggesting every entrepreneur adopt these five disciplines verbatim. The specifics matter less than the structure. He believes that setting boundaries, naming them clearly, and making them visible increases the chance they will hold under pressure.

He credits his wife as his biggest influence. “She keeps me grounded,” he said. The pledge is as much for her and their children as it is for the business.

McMenamy graduated from Hanover Park High School in 2004, earned an associate degree in liberal arts from County College of Morris in 2009, and completed a bachelor of science in marketing from Rutgers Business School in 2011. He has volunteered at soup kitchens in Morristown, New Jersey, donated to various charities over the years, and consistently supports friends’ fundraising efforts.

His hobbies include following financial news, sports, politics, and science developments, as well as songwriting, music, and cinema. He views discipline not as restriction but as the framework that makes space for what matters.

To read more, visit the website here.

About Devin McMenamy

Devin McMenamy is an Account Executive at Team Logic IT and the owner of Demand Wireless LLC, a local SMB connectivity consultancy based in New Jersey. He specializes in mobile device strategy, carrier plan optimization, device procurement, network setup, troubleshooting, support, and contract negotiation for small and midsize businesses.