I appreciate the creative ideas my clients have to help their communities, and I find it gratifying to be involved in helping those ideas come to fruition. When my clients encounter difficult challenges or novel issues, I’m happy to draw on my deep knowledge base to craft practical and timely solutions that allow us to move projects forward.
Rita Schwantes advises affordable housing and community development organizations on real estate, development, and tax issues in the New England region and beyond. She counsels developers, nonprofits, for-profits, lenders, health centers, and charter schools on a variety of transactions.
Rita structures and closes complex New Markets Tax Credit (NMTC) and Low-Income Housing Tax Credit (LIHTC) program deals and handles bond financings, Historic Rehabilitation Tax Credit transactions, sales, acquisitions, new construction, rehabilitations, and mixed-finance developments. She adeptly drafts and negotiates a wide variety of real estate and financing documents, from conveyancing documents to loan and equity documents.
In addition to working to increase the supply of housing available to low-income residents, Rita facilitates a variety of projects that further enrich communities, including food banks, farmers markets, youth recreation facilities, health care programs, and small and local businesses. Always keeping up to date on new developments that could affect her client’s operations, she guides them in adhering to all relevant rules and regulations and looks for opportunities made possible by new laws.
Rita’s years of experience enable her to handle the upfront planning, advising, and structuring of transactions for maximum efficiency. She lays the groundwork by carefully vetting deals, helping clients assemble their project teams, setting the tax structures, and thinking through sources of capital. This helps the transactions proceed quickly and smoothly after the initial documents are drawn up. With a friendly and professional approach, Rita maintains an even keel for her clients and keeps deals moving positively. She emphasizes collaboration and preserving relationships so all parties in a transaction can work productively toward project completion.
