THIS IS AN ADVERTISEMENT.
Experience to smooth the process. Peck Shaffer has provided leadership in single family financings since 1982. With over 25 years of experience and a familiarity with issues from the perspective of the issuer, the underwriter and the trustee, Peck Shaffer can create solutions to both common and uncommon problems for our clients. Our experience enables us to spot and address issues before they become problems, so that transactions can proceed smoothly to closing without last minute difficulties. Peck Shaffer has served as bond, underwriter's and issuer's counsel for successful single family financings of various sizes in several states. We have approved the issuance of approximately $7 billion of such financings and are current with all the approaches being utilized to structure single family mortgage programs. We have made our reputation by being responsive to client needs and meeting the most aggressive timetables when the financial markets demand that response.
Sophisticated tax analysis. Our Tax and Financial Analysis Department is dedicated to providing support for the transactional attorneys, analyzing the myriad of tax issues related to single family financings. Our work in the area of rebate compliance for single family bonds, including the actual numbers calculations, has given us a unique perspective on the tax and structuring aspects of housing programs. This continuing look at cash-flows allows us to provide additional input on structuring questions that occur as bonds are issued, remarketing or refunded (see "TAX AND FINANCIAL ANALYSIS - Rebate Services").
Finding additional savings for issuers. We have recently been involved in the "refunding" or restructuring of several single family bond issues. In one transaction, three separate bond issues were retired, resulting in a reduction in the interest rate on the mortgages of 3-5% and a return to the issuer of over $800,000 in excess assets (see "TAX AND FINANCIAL ANALYSIS – Investment Products"). We have also participated in various transactions which have used BMA and LIBOR based swaps, including forward starting swaps, to help our clients issue variable rate bonds backed by fixed rate assets and to positively affect interest rates for the benefit of the program (see "SWAPs AND OTHER DERIVATIVE PRODUCTS").
Our hallmark: personal service. Our firm is exclusively devoted to public finance. Since we do not bill by the hour, but instead charge a contingent flat fee, multiple partners are available to work on any given transaction. We provide continuity of service. The same team of attorneys works with an issuer year after year and trains the next generation of Peck Shaffer attorneys in the process. Additionally, we typically do not charge issuers or investment bankers for answering questions before, during or after a transaction.
Searching for new ways to assist prospective homeowners. We understand the common goal of single family issuers. We have structured various forms of down payment assistance and we are continuously analyzing new mechanisms to make programs more attractive to homebuyers. We have served as issuer’s counsel and bond counsel for a Home Improvement Loan bond program that used Community Development Block Grant funds to buy down the interest rate for lower income families and used Federal Housing Administration (FHA) insurance under Title I. We have participated in the structuring and completion of numerous lease/purchase or lease to own types of financings. These projects have generally been on sites in cities which are attempting to attract first time homebuyers and others who have not been able to accumulate down payments, but are interested in home ownership.
Underwriter’s counsel services. Peck Shaffer also serves as underwriter’s counsel for single family transactions. Our investment banking clients want a transaction to proceed as smoothly as possible for their client, the issuer; expecting solutions, not problems. As underwriter’s counsel, we treat the underwriter's client as our client. We know that investment bankers expect the highest degree of responsiveness from their counsel to quickly produce the highest quality offering documents for prospective bond purchasers. We have served as underwriter’s counsel for the Kentucky Housing Corporation’s single family financings (totaling nearly $2 billion) since 1996 and we recently served as Underwriter's Counsel on an Illinois single family issue (see "UNDERWRITER'S COUNSEL").