Small but important financing update today.
CMBS loans in Family Office Simulator are intended to trade some flexibility for longer-term, non-recourse commercial financing. The game already enforced the CMBS lockout when refinancing or paying off a mortgage directly, but I found a separate property-sale path that could still settle the mortgage during that same lockout period.
That was inconsistent, so it has been corrected.
WHAT CHANGED
• Properties with an active CMBS loan lockout can no longer be voluntarily sold and settled before the lockout expires.
• Refinance and direct mortgage payoff remain blocked during the same lockout period, so all three voluntary exit paths now follow the same rule.
• Property Management now clearly explains when a property is under a loan lockout and shows the exact month and year the lockout ends.
• CMBS is now expanded as Commercial Mortgage-Backed Securities where the restriction is explained, rather than assuming everyone already knows the acronym.
• Catherine Hale’s closing email now gives you a short explanation of CMBS financing when you close with a CMBS loan, including:
- what CMBS financing is;
- why early voluntary exit flexibility is restricted;
- the exact lockout end date;
- which actions are unavailable during the lockout; and
- that the normal modeled prepayment-penalty schedule may still apply after the lockout expires.
• Existing post-lockout prepayment penalties and normal sale/refinance/payoff behavior remain intact.
This update does NOT change CMBS interest rates, LTV limits, DSCR requirements, loan terms, or the length of the existing 24-month lockout.
This was one of those things I wanted to get right because if the game is going to model and teach real financial concepts, the rules in the game need to match what the game tells you.
As always, thank you for the reports, questions, and feedback. They continue to help me find places where Family Office Simulator can be more accurate and easier to understand.