Working with troubled real estate developments

Working with Troubled Real Estate Developments

By Harry Styron, Styron & Shilling, Branson, Missouri, copyright 2009

(This information is based on Missouri law)

The Wall Street crash of 2008 was dramatic, but the aftershocks may be worse, as the waves ripple through a damaged landscape of incomplete development projects that cash-strapped developers and fragile financial institutions struggle to preserve.

When the borrower-developer can no longer hang on, lenders, purchasers at distress sales and the FDIC’s asset disposal contractors have huge challenges in the management, marketing and continued development of thousands of troubled projects.

A. Preliminary Strategies

Stepping into an incomplete project is an exercise inappropriate for a novice investor or inexperienced developer. The usual skills relating to obtaining governmental permits and construction of streets and utilities are but a small part of the problems to be faced.

All of the reviews proposed here require the expert eyes of experienced engineers, architects, accountants, appraisers and real estate attorneys, working as a team. In some cases, specialists will be required to assess issues relating to environmental regulations, integrity of structures, and complex legal issues relating to bankruptcy, lien priorities, status of permits, and rights of third-parties. Determining the extent and quality of underground utilities is both difficult and necessary.

1. Analyze project documents and surveys carefully

Overhead power line easements greatly affect visual aspects of project and street locations, as well as limiting the number of lots, particularly premium lots. Pipeline easements running along street frontage may substantially add to the cost of creating new entrances, because of special care required for excavation and limitations on distance to structures around pipelines, especially high-pressure gas pipelines. Repair of fiber optic cables damaged by digging can also be expensive.

Look at recorded documents that affect the property, such as declarations of covenants, conditions and restrictions (referred to here as CCRs) and easements, paying special attention to whether the parties that signed these documents as owners of the property were actually the owners at the time. If the property was platted, check to see that the names of the subdivision and the names of the signatories match on the plat and CCRs and any other documents. This is especially important for transactions affecting subdivisions that have not been successful.

If the original developer signed a development agreement with a local government, which may have involved a community improvement district, neighborhood improvement district or transportation development district, evidence should show up in the title commitment (or could be overlooked). Whatever the case, development may include obligations to cooperate with local governments, which carries with it assessment liens and perhaps beneficial financial assistance for infrastructure.

The foreclosing lender should obtain engineering and architectural drawings and the rights to use them. As-built drawings of installed infrastructure and related inspection reports can be valuable for any party making a decision to become the next developer.

2. Track the ownership of development rights and take the temperature of the HOA

If the CCRs reserve development rights for the original developer, and the original developer was foreclosed or is otherwise out the picture, a purchaser of lots and future development property for the project may not have the control over the common elements, architectural control committee, and homeowners’ association (HOA) which holds water and sewer permits and may have title to or control of amenities.

Ordinarily, the developer will have reserved the right to appoint the HOA directors for an initial period and will have also reserved disproportionate voting rights and exemption of lots from HOA assessments, thereby retaining control of the HOA.

A development loan should include an assignment of development rights, including the right to control of the HOA, as a part of the collateral, so that the lender or foreclosure purchaser can obtain these rights. A lender doesn’t want any liability for the developer’s obligations; however, if a lender can’t convey the development rights when conveying the property after foreclosure or deed-in-lieu, the lender’s financial recovery could be substantially limited.

Having been abandoned (or just feeling mistreated) by the previous developer, the purchasers of lots may have taken over the HOA and are hostile to new development and wary of a new developer. If there is a water system or sewer system, DNR regulations would have made these under the control of the HOA. If there was no developer to control the HOA, DNR would have encouraged the lot owners to operate the HOA at least for the purposes of testing the drinking water and wastewater systems.

An adversarial HOA can stand in the way of a new developer doing what the market requires for the sale of the rest of the lots. Unless the foreclosing lender is in a position to foreclose on and assign the development rights to a new developer, including the right to control the HOA, the value of the remaining lots and development land may be severely impaired.

The new developer, besides not having the control that most developers want, could face a variety of roadblocks thrown up by the HOA involving the water and wastewater systems, architectural control, claims of defective infrastructure and unfulfilled promises relating to amenities. A subdivision’s reputation can be severely damaged by ill will created by the original developer or a builder of defective structures.

Find out about the HOA. Was it incorporated? Has its corporate charter lapsed? Does it have the same name as the one mentioned in the CCRs and on the water and sewer system permits? Did the developer appoint a board? Does it have a budget? Does it impose assessments and have meetings? Does it control amenities or utility systems?

3. Pay attention to subdivision regulations and zoning decisions

The planning and zoning process may not seem like anything but an exercise involving some professional fees and permit fees. However, this process has several significant cost items sometimes overlooked. The primary cost is unanticipated delays.

A lender may want to consider obtaining a review of proposed development plans from an independent attorney, land planner, surveyor or engineer (or some combination of these) with extensive planning and zoning experience in the location of the project. They may know whether the developer’s plan will be readily approved without tweaking or major reworking.

A developer who submits a half-baked development plan may use up too much goodwill at the outset and will never be given the benefit of the doubt later. A developer who talks about how the community needs the developer’s project will bore, at best, those volunteers who sit on planning and zoning boards; if the project as proposed is oblivious to the subdivision or zoning regulations and the tastes of the local market, the developer will lose credibility.

If the repayment of the loan depends on the sale of more lots or units than will be approved by the planning and zoning board, then the project needs to be reconfigured.

Getting a development plan approved can take several months. Having to reconfigure and resubmit can take enough time to expose the project to changes in interest rates, construction costs, and changes in the market, turning a once-feasible project into a money pit.

In taking over an existing project, look at the minutes of the meeting at which zoning and subdivision plat approvals were given so that you will know whether the current developer is obligated to meet specific conditions, such as contribution to intersection or drainage improvements. Look also for deadlines, which cause revocation of permits if specific conditions have not been met.

4. Look at site conditions and ask those who know a lot about them

A landscape architect may have esthetic insights that some surveyors lack, though they may use the same software that maximizes the number of lots. Or a different surveyor or an experienced developer may have a better sense of how to lay out lots in a way that maximizes the values of lots while keeping construction costs down. A pretty rendering of a land plan, more likely to come from a land planner or landscape architect than from a surveyor, can encourage the approval of a mediocre plan by a planning and zoning board and can neutralize opposition from others. But a licensed surveyor’s seal is a still statutory requirement for recording a subdivision plat.

In some instances, the loss of lots due to leaving green space can be recaptured in higher lot prices resulting from the existence of green space. Ultimately, the market and site conditions, not the developer, landscape architect or surveyor, determine much about optimum lot size and subdivision layout.

Look at topography and surface geology to determine the extent of developable area and whether the preliminary plats overstate the realistic number of lots or units that may be constructed. In some instances, landforms or other natural features (ravines or springs, for example) may have significant value as amenities that should be protected and featured, and the cost of preservation of these features may be less than the cost of controlling them.

5. Don’t forget infrastructure bonds

The cost of providing the completion and maintenance bonds for assuring the installation and quality of infrastructure improvements is often overlooked and may impair the developer’s borrowing capacity and create delays. If a bond cannot be posted, a final plat cannot be recorded until the infrastructure construction is complete, thus delaying sales, which are prohibited in most places in Missouri until a plat is recorded.

Many developers can’t seem to remember they must provide a completion bond for the required infrastructure improvements before a final plat can be recorded. Successful builders who are new to development of subdivisions may simply not be aware of this requirement. Some local governments also require a maintenance bond for a year or two after completion to assure that the improvements will be functional.

The bond requirement can often be satisfied with a letter of credit from the lender, the amount of which can be reduced as the infrastructure is built, if it so provides.

If the developer’s lender is asked to provide a letter of credit in addition to the construction financing, the lender may discover that the borrower isn’t strong enough to support this extra debt or that the additional cost of funds incurred by the lender in providing the letter of credit is just enough to push a marginal project into the category of risks that shouldn’t have been taken.

A lender providing a financial assurance for infrastructure needs to be sure to have an assignment of the infrastructure construction contract and engineering plans, so that the lender can take over if the developer can’t finish. Implicit in this requirement is that the contract be with a capable contractor and contain clear obligations to complete in a realistic time at a realistic price.

If the developer has purchased a performance bond relating to infrastructure, the foreclosing lender or successor purchaser should determine the status of the bond.

6. Include contributions to electric company in cash flow projections and other capacity and impact fees assessed by utility providers

Whether investor-owned (utility commission-regulated) or cooperative, electric companies are now requiring developers to advance the electric company’s capital costs to be incurred in serving the new development. The amount demanded by the electric companies seems large to most developers; all up-front costs are magnified in impact, because they draw down the line of credit in big chunks, accrue interest from early in the project, and don’t contribute much to the appearance of the development. A developer who hasn’t included this cost in its cash flow planning will run short of money somewhere else.

Similarly, municipalities, water and sewer districts and regulated providers of water and sewer services require fees, called “impact fees” or “capacity fees,” so that existing customers are not subsidizing the increases in capacity and capital investment required to serve to developments.

If the fees assessed by the utilities have not been paid by the time a lender forecloses, the lender should realize that the property cannot be developed according to the original plan until the contribution to the utility providers’ capital costs have been paid. Alternate development plans should be investigated to make the property marketable.

7. Take the appraisal seriously

Many appraisers offer a wealth of information in their appraisal reports, but lenders (and borrowers) don’t take the time to understand the information in the report, focusing only on the value. The best appraisers update their data frequently, noting changes in trends, such as absorption rates for particular kinds of developed property and which price brackets appear to offer the best return. Savvy appraisers are watching types of subdivisions in the planning and zoning process and in various stages of development, so they know what kind of competition to expect.

Even though a developer may wish to go slow (under the optimistic idea that construction can be financed by sales, reducing borrowing), simple arithmetic shows that a developer’s construction and sales and marketing efforts are more cost effective if the development period is shorter rather than longer and sales revenue comes earlier rather than later. In reality, the market–not the developer–determines absorption rates. The developer can make the product available and may be able to speed up the absorption somewhat by effective marketing, but the competition in the marketplace and general economic conditions usually have a greater effect.

If a borrower-developer doesn’t have a track record in producing the types of lots, homes or commercial space that the market is craving, the lender should investigate whether the borrower-developer is attuned to the needs of the market and has the capability of meeting them.

Many developers do little or only superficial market research, often presenting a business plan based on specious data from chambers of commerce or other promoters. Because good data is readily available, why waste time with propaganda?

Some of the good data is likely to be in the appraisal report; if the appraisal report doesn’t contain an analysis of reasonably current data, it’s time to question the choice of appraiser. If the appraiser is chosen primarily on the basis of promised delivery date or price, the lender’s judgment doesn’t protect the bank’s shareholders and depositors.

Good data is local and empirical. Board of realtors sales data is particularly good for residential property in homogeneous residential subdivisions. The federal Bureau of Census, the Missouri State Data Center and Missouri Department of Economic Development offer detailed sets of economic and demographic data by political subdivision. Companies such as Claritas track consumption patterns by zip code subdivisions and are able to predict with great accuracy how many units of all kinds of consumer products will be purchased in a particular neighborhood. Real estate developers often feel confident because of past success, which happened without much advance analysis in a rising market, and do not perceive the need for anything more than their abilities and credit.

Even good data is dangerous. At some point, whatever has worked no longer works. If too many similar projects are coming to market at the same time, some will fail and all may languish. If a borrower claims his project will compete with existing projects, take a close look at the trends and the delivery dates of competing projects. Getting the right product to market first means a lot; copycats are often too late. Getting the wrong product to market ahead of its time, sometimes called “being on the bleeding edge,” can also be a disaster.

8. Look at the new developer’s character, management and marketing capabilities

A lender looks at a borrower’s will (the character attribute that lenders focus on, sometimes to the exclusion of all other character attributes) to repay the loan. If the lender has seen the same borrower work through difficulties in order to make past projects eventually work, and the residual asset value and cash flow projection barely meet the lender bank’s criteria, the lender will be inclined to approve the loan.

Developers and builders are notorious for scrimping on administration and larding their organizations in other ways. For example, they will outfit superintendents with big new trucks and spend a fortune on brochures, but may not have anyone in the office who can do market research, produce financial statements and reports, deal with correspondence in a timely way, keep files organized, or work through regulatory issues. The understaffed office people are always putting out fires with government agencies, dealing with creditors, and juggling cash.

Lenders need to make loans; that’s what they do to earn money. Still, something like the Peter Principle plagues developers. The Peter Principle holds that any manager can be promoted–on the basis of past success–to a level at which the manager is incompetent. Every successful developer wants to do a project that will bring the developer to financial ruin, with a lender’s help. The challenge for the lender is to look at the data and the sales and marketing plan for omissions and inadequacies, avoiding the consequences of a developer’s misstep.

When dealing with a failed project, the lender is looking to be rescued, so is less critical of the developer’s understanding of the project, making the risk of another failure more likely.

9. Make sure the borrower’s sales plan contains the right people, the right product and a sufficient budget

The sales plans of most real estate developers are merely rehashes of past successes, not mentioning past failures. Most real estate brokerage firms are don’t put together a detailed and realistic sales and marketing plan, but sell their firms with pitches based on their past successes, millions in “sales” and the number of their licensees and branch offices.

The number of licensed real estate agents shrinks and swells with changes in the market and favors those with longevity, earned by personal financial prudence, skill and luck. If a project doesn’t have top-tier agents committed to it, sales will be dismal during a downturn and slow to take off during a recovery.

A decision to make a loan shouldn’t be made on the basis of which broker wants to sell the project, because any of several brokers are capable of selling a marketable product. None are capable of selling a project that doesn’t match customer preferences, and the developer will may switch to a second-tier agent if sales are slow, because the top-tier agents won’t take the project, and the project’s faults will be well known in the market.

If the identity of the listing agent seems to be critical, the lender should be interested in the commitment of the listing agent to the project. There should be a realistic budget, developed on the basis of market research to efficiently reach customers likely to buy. Whether the market research and advertising are paid by the agent or the developer, or shared, isn’t as important as that somebody is willing and able to pay appropriate amounts at the proper times.

Mortgage financing availability for lots and units is undergoing massive change. Mortgage underwriters and insurers have become much more sensitive to contents of CCRs and may require more attention to HOA formation and operation than many developers are accustomed to. Even though Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac have delegated aspects of qualifying a project to originating lenders, there is no guarantee that this process will continue or be successful.

10. Get the full collateral package

The collateral should include assignments of development and declarant rights, infrastructure and building permits, water and sewer and environmental permits, special use permits, design and construction contracts, engineering and architectural plans and specifications, trademarks and service marks associated with the project, and registrations of sales and marketing programs with government agencies, so that the lender will be in a position to provide these to a buyer after a default. If the full collateral package is not obtained with the initial development loan, assembling all the components for the successor developer’s loan may be impossible.

Registration with HUD’s Office of Interstate Land Sales Administration and similar state agencies is required for many projects. If registrations have been approved, lenders and successor developers should investigate whether the registrations can be amended to reflect the new developer and marketing plan. Starting over can require extra months.

If the water and sewer permits are to be held by the HOA, the developer’s appointees, as members of the initial HOA board, may need to sign collateral assignments of the water and sewer permits.

11. Make sure that phasing and exit strategies protect the value of future development property

Developers like to brand their projects with pretentious names and entrance features. If the project fails, the brand may be tainted. It may be best to keep future development property from being identified with the project before its success is proven.

If practical, future development property should have the possibility of good access without passing through the first phase, so that it can be less adversely affected if the first phase is a disaster.

If substantial amenities and utilities are to be included with the first phase, the rights of future development property to share those amenities and utilities on an equitable basis should be included. In all cases, reserves for replacement of amenities and utilities should be accumulated, to avoid disproportionately shifting the cost of replacement to future phases, which means that Phase IV owners shouldn’t receive a special assessment for a replacement pump at the water well if Phase IV has only been using the 10-year old pump for the last year of its life.

12. Require developer compliance with sales and marketing regulations

Many projects containing more than 100 lots are subject to the registration requirements of the Interstate Land Sales Full Disclosure Act or may qualify for exemption from it. Without registration or application for exemption, the project may receive adverse publicity affecting future sales and devaluing the project as a whole if a disgruntled purchaser calls HUD. Unless the project is exempt, the developer should allow a six-month period for review and approval of the registration by HUD’s Office of Interstate Land Sales Administration. There are criminal penalties for violation.

If internet, direct mail or telemarketing is involved, registration of the marketing program and project details may be required by regulatory agencies of other states. Arkansas, Oklahoma, Kansas, Nebraska, Iowa, and Illinois have registration requirements for Missouri real estate marketed to their residents. Other state regulations (including Missouri’s) govern sweepstakes, other giveaway programs, and telemarketing.

Sales for many condominium projects begin before the original sale certificate has been prepared. The original sale certificate is a disclosure document required by the Missouri Uniform Condominium Act. Preparation of the original sale certificate requires the declarant to make binding decisions about the amenities, the number of units in phases, the common expense budget, maintenance fees, and other important issues. Without the original sale certificate, no purchase contracts are binding on the purchaser, and any constructions loans made on the basis of these “pre-sales” are inadequately supported by contracts.

B. Administration of the Ongoing Project

1. Understand the function of lender subordination to plats, condominium declarations and CCRs

The foreclosure of a deed of trust will make void any subordinate encumbrance, such as an easement, a plat, a condominium declaration or a declaration of covenants, conditions and restrictions, unless the holder of the deed of trust has joined in or subordinated the lien of the deed of trust to the encumbrance.

This process is often overlooked, even though the effects of a foreclosure may impair the rights of utilities to use easements, the rights of condo unit owners to use the clubhouse that they pay to insure and maintain, the rights of ingress and egress of lot owners, or the design standards for buildings.

Rather than hauling multiple copies of plats around to be signed by the lender, the consent or subordination can be done with a short document added to the declaration that incorporates subordination to a particular plat by reference.

2. Clarify the lender’s role in developer-owned or HOA-owned water and sewer facilities and public improvements

Regulations administered and enforced by the Missouri Department of Natural Resources require that homeowner association own the land where water supply facilities and wastewater treatment facilities are located and that, in the absence of PSC-certified or governmental providers of utilities, that a homeowner association hold the operating permit. The purpose of these regulations are to assure the public and the purchasers of lots is that there is a permanent and responsible operator, in contrast to the developer, whose interest is relatively transient and oriented to sales, not providing water and sewer services forever.

While DNR is doing its best to more closely administer these regulations during the construction process and the issuance of the operating permits, there are many opportunities problems to emerge. Assuming that the water and wastewater systems are completed enough to receive operating permits, if the project languishes for lack of sales, the utility systems are a heavy burden on a few lot or unit owners, particularly if the developer is not paying a share of the costs on all platted lots or units. If the developer is subsidizing the utility systems, the developer’s cash flow is damaged. These factors frequently occur in combination with a HOA that was never operated except by the developer and whose existence was merely on paper.

If the developer is not committed to operating the HOA until it can stand on its own feet, the water and wastewater systems are likely to be underfunded and not maintained properly. If the developer fails financially, drinking water and wastewater samples will not be submitted to DNR. DNR will have no responsible person to communicate with concerning the water and wastewater facilities, until the lender forecloses. If the proper subordinations have occurred, the lender will have no lien on the water and wastewater facilities, but will own lots whose value depends on functioning utilities. If the lender has not subordinated to the HOA’s interest in the utility systems, then the lender finds itself being responsible to DNR for the utility systems. Neither alternative is attractive for lenders, who should try to avoid these situations by making sure the developer makes the HOA is functional (if sales are resulting in enough members to handle the work) or making sure that the HOA, while under the developer’s control, enters into contracts with qualified operators for the utility systems.

3. Get the right construction contracts

A wise lender will pay attention to the contracts between the developer and general contractor or construction manager for the infrastructure and major amenities. Often the contracts don’t really describe what the developer and contractor have agreed on, but are just paper required by the suits.

Often, American Institute of Architects contract forms are used, because they are fairly short, have a lot of white space for amendments, and are available in several different revisions. The reason that they are short is that the detail is incorporated by reference from the General Conditions (form A201), which is not at all short and sets up formal relationships among the architect, owner and contractor that are rarely followed. AIA publishes a different General Conditions document for small projects (A205).

It would be good to know which versions are in use. There are a variety of AIA forms for owner-contractor agreements; if AIA forms are used, it is good to find one that fits the deal, rather than using a stipulated sum owner-contractor form (A101 STD) for a design-build project (A141 or A191) or a project in which the general contractor has a limited scope of services (A107) or a cost-plus construction manager-owner contract (A131).

4. Keep construction disbursements in balance and make use of review architects, engineers and inspectors

Even if lenders make sure that construction disbursements are made according to a schedule of values, as shown on AIA form G702, which is the contractor’s application for payment with the architect’s certification, the lender ordinarily does not truly know that the schedule of values was appropriate from the outset. If all the construction loan proceeds have been spent but the infrastructure improvements or building are not complete, then the construction disbursements exercise was somewhat futile. The lender may want to get independent assurance from a construction professional that the initial schedule of values is practical.

With a proper G702, the lender can determine at a glance that the percent of completion on each category of construction cost with each draw, as modified by change orders (G701). In reality, G702 can be used to present illusions that work is being completed and materials supplied have been incorporated into the improvements. There is no substitute for inspection and inventory of stored materials by someone who knows his work.

The AIA G702 forms include an architect (acting as the owner’s representative) certifying that the general contractor’s application for payment is complete, that the work represented by the payment application is complete and in conformity with the plans and specs, and that the bills attached to the general contractor’s application are all the bills for labor and materials for the time period identified on the payment application. Often, the G702s are misused, so that the contractor is not really affirming the completeness of the submittal and the architect is not certifying that the completed work to date includes the labor and materials that have been paid for.

The reality is that the general contractor or engineer (for an infrastructure project) or developer often signs the architect’s certification. Nobody has checked to make sure that the application represents all the labor and materials supplied for the payment period. Nobody has checked to make sure that the work conforms to the plans and specs. The escrow agent relies on the signatures, including the signature of the lender, to make construction disbursements, obtaining lien waivers for each payment. Many escrow agencies lack the expertise to inspect complex construction projects, but rely the indemnity provisions of their construction disbursement agreements as insurance against errors.

5. Coping with mechanics’ and materialmen’s liens

Now the construction work has stopped for one or more of the following reasons:

· The construction loan is exhausted.

· The developer has instructed the general contractor to stop.

· The general contractor has not received instructions from the developer on how to proceed.

· A supplier or subcontractor has filed a mechanics’ lien, so others have stopped work.

If the loan isn’t already in default, it probably will be soon.

For various reasons, subcontractors sometimes keep working even though they have not gotten paid for two or three pay periods. Either the general contractor has turned in the subcontractor’s invoices, but has not paid the subcontractor, or the general has not turned in invoices for all the subcontractors or suppliers, because doing so would show the project to be out of balance. The general contractor has told the subs, that the general will “get caught up” and that the subs will be paid when the owner makes the money available. The subcontractors are loyal to a general who has provided them with work.

The lender and the escrow company may drive by the project and make cursory inspections, but they don’t realize that the subs aren’t getting paid and they haven’t noticed that the fixtures have been delivered, but no invoices for the fixtures have been included in the applications for payment. Materials have been paid for, but aren’t at the project site. Less expensive (meaning cheaper than specified) HVAC units, carpeting, sewer lift station pumps, doors and windows, or hardware are on the jobsite, but the plans and specs and invoices show the premium products. Liens will be filed.

The lender has never bothered to get an insured closing letter from the escrow agent. The lender has not bothered to get the lender’s title policy “down-dated” after each construction disbursement to reflect the amount advanced by the lender.

A construction lender’s foreclosure doesn’t get rid of the mechanics’ liens. If there is no other purchaser at the foreclosure sale, the lender takes title subject to the mechanics’ liens, under the theory that the mechanics’ liens attach to the improvements made after the lien of the deed of trust attached, such that the lender would be unjustly enriched by taking the improvements free of liens. Never mind that the lender has paid the general contractor or developer for most or all the completed work.

Any purchaser of the improved real estate by the foreclosing lender, or at the foreclosure sale, will have to obtain the release of the liens by payment or negotiation. Bankruptcy might free the developer of direct liability for the amount owned that it secured by the liens, but bankruptcy will not eliminate the liens.

The lender’s reliance on the escrow company and the construction disbursement process gives false security. There is no substitute for careful inspections by competent architects, engineers or other trained inspectors, use of appropriate design and construction documents, and obtaining title insurance coverage up to the cumulative amount disbursed at each draw.

The lender should consider hiring construction experts to do inspections, comparing the work performed and billed for and the materials supplied with the plans and specs and actual improvements and stored materials. Due to changes in construction superintendents and other key personnel, a reliable general contractor can change its character, or badly screw up one project.

Parting shot

There is no end to what we learn from downturns in the real estate market. Nobody knows enough, but each of us—surveyor, appraiser, engineer, architect, government official, construction worker, builder, developer, lawyer and lender—knows a few things that can together make the best of a bad situation.