Worked up over mortgage workouts

A word of advice to commercial landlords having trouble keeping up with their mortgages: Don't get mad at your banker and ruin the chance of getting out of a messy situation.

“My therapist tells me I have to come and say I'm a defaulter,” joked Andy D'Jamoos, executive vice president with Naples development firm The D'Jamoos Group.

Surrounded by bankers, lawyers and consultants, D'Jamoos was the lone brave developer to sit on a panel discussion about loan workouts held in Estero under the auspices of NAIOP, a commercial real estate group.

If emotions sometimes get the better of you, do as D'Jamoos did and hire a consultant like Jim Howard of GlassRatner in Miami. Howard is a go-between for developers and lenders who can negotiate a solution without emotion.

But if you go it alone, Howard advises: Don't discuss the bank's problems; don't talk about TARP. Oh, and remember that there's $2.5 trillion of commercial loans coming due in the next 24 months.