The Real Deal New York

From the July issue: Commercial lenders are facing reality — but not all at once. In
addition to reluctance to admit they have bad loans on commercial
properties, lenders have been trying to avoid taking large losses in a
single quarter, industry experts said. In many cases, they are holding onto underwater real estate loans
not only because they don’t want to accept low-ball offers, but also
because they cannot afford the appearance of a large single-quarter
loss, said real estate insiders. Alan Miller, senior director of commercial real estate brokerage
Eastern Consolidated, offered a wry phrase to describe lenders
extending a loan past its maturity date to keep it from being
considered non-performing: “extend and pretend.”