NexPoint Real Estate Finance Inc

Off-Balance Sheet Arrangements

As of December 31, 2023, we had one off balance sheet arrangement that has or is reasonably likely to have a current or future effect on our financial condition, changes in financial condition, revenues or expenses, results of operations, liquidity, capital expenditures or capital resources.

On December 8, 2022 and in connection with a restructuring of NSP, the Company, through REIT Sub, together with NexPoint Diversified Real Estate Trust, Highland Income Fund and NexPoint Real Estate Strategies Fund (collectively, the "Co-Guarantors"), as guarantors, entered into a sponsor guaranty agreement (the "NSP Sponsor Guaranty Agreement") in favor of Extra Space Storage, LP ("Extra Space") pursuant to which REIT Sub and the Co-Guarantors guaranteed obligations of NSP with respect to accrued dividends on NSP’s newly created Series D preferred stock and two promissory notes in an aggregate principal amount of approximately $64.2 million issued to Extra Space. The guaranties by

REIT Sub and the Co-Guarantors are capped at $97.6 million, and each of REIT Sub and the Co-Guarantors generally guaranteed the foregoing obligations of NSP up to the cap amount on a pro rata basis with respect to its percentage ownership of NSP’s common stock. On February 15, 2023, NSP paid down approximately $15.0 million of these promissory notes, resulting in an aggregate principal amount of approximately $49.2 million. On December 8, 2023, NSP paid down the remaining principal balance of $49.2 million. The NSP Series D preferred stock remains outstanding as of December 31, 2023.

Commitments and Contingencies

Except as otherwise disclosed below, the Company is not aware of any contractual obligations, legal proceedings or any other contingent obligations incurred in the normal course of business that would have a material adverse effect on our consolidated financial statements.

On September 29, 2021, the Company, through one of the Subsidiary OPs, entered into an agreement to purchase up to $50.0 million in a new preferred equity investment (the “Preferred Units”) upon notice from the issuer. Subject to certain conditions, the Company may be required to purchase an additional $25.0 million of Preferred Units at the option of the issuer. The funds are expected to be used to capitalize special purpose limited liability companies (“PropCos”) to engage in sale-and-leaseback transactions and development transactions on life science real property. On September, 22, 2023, the issuer exercised its right to extend the final obligation date to purchase any additional Preferred Units to September 29, 2024. As of December 31, 2023, the Company may have the obligation to fund an additional $3.6 million by September 29, 2024, which the issuer may extend for up to one year at its option for an extension fee. The Preferred Units accrue distributions at a rate of 10.0% annually, compounded monthly. Distributions on the Preferred Units will be paid in cash with respect to stabilized PropCos and paid in kind with respect to unstabilized PropCos. The obligations of the issuer will be supported by a pledge of all equity units of the PropCos. All or a portion of the Preferred Units may be redeemed at any time for a redemption price equal to the purchase price of the Preferred Units to be redeemed plus any accrued and unpaid distributions thereon and a cash redemption fee. Upon the redemption of any Preferred Units and if the parties agree, the remaining amount to be funded by the Company may be increased by the aggregate purchase price of the redeemed Preferred Units. In addition, if the issuer experiences a change of control, the redemption price will also include a payment equal to the amount needed to achieve a multiple on invested capital ("MOIC") equal to 1.25x for unstabilized PropCos and 1.10x for stabilized PropCos. As of December 31, 2023, the Company has not recorded any contingencies on its Consolidated Balance Sheets as the obligation to fund additional Preferred Units other than under the existing commitment is considered remote for the year ended December 31, 2023.

The Company provides certain guarantees in connection with the NSP Sponsor Guaranty Agreement. See Off-Balance Sheet Arrangements above for further details.

On March 14, 2023, the Company, through one of the Subsidiary OPs, committed to fund $24.0 million of preferred equity with respect to a ground up construction horizontal single-family property located in Phoenix, Arizona, of which $16.9 million was unfunded as of December 31, 2023. The preferred equity investment provides a floating annual return that is the greater of prime rate plus 5.0% or 11.25%, compounded monthly with a MOIC of 1.30x and 1.0% placement fee. The Company was also issued a common interest at the time of its first funding of preferred equity on May 16, 2023. The common interest allows the Company to receive a 10% profit share once aggregate distributions exceed the 20% internal rate of return ("IRR") hurdle as shown below. There was no value ascribed to the common interest as of December 31, 2023. Further, once the Company's preferred equity and accrued interest has been repaid, any additional cash flow and net sale proceeds shall be distributed as follows:

•0% to the Company and 100% to issuer up to a 20.0% IRR

•10% to the Company and 90% to issuer thereafter

On February 10, 2023, the Company, through one of the Subsidiary OPs, through a unit purchase agreement, committed to purchase $30.3 million of the preferred units with respect to a multifamily property development located in Forney, Texas, of which $3.4 million was unfunded as of December 31, 2023. Further, the Company committed to purchase $4.3 million of common equity with respect to the same property, of which $3.3 million was unfunded as of December 31, 2023.

On February 10, 2023, the Company, through one of the Subsidiary OPs, through a unit purchase agreement, committed to purchase $30.3 million of the preferred units with respect to a multifamily property development located in Richmond, Virginia, of which $11.1 million was unfunded as of December 31, 2023. Further, the Company committed to purchase $4.3 million of common equity with respect to the same property, of which $3.3 million was unfunded as of December 31, 2023.

On January 26, 2024, the Company, along with related party The Ohio State Life Insurance Company (“OSL”), entered into a Mezzanine Loan and Security Agreement whereby it made a loan in the maximum principal amount of up to $218 million to IQHQ-Alewife Holdings, LLC, which is solely owned by IQHQ, LP. The Company has an ownership interest in the Series D-1 preferred stock in IQHQ, Inc., who is the limited partner in IQHQ, LP; however, the Company has no controlling financial interest nor significant influence in IQHQ, LP. The loan is secured by a first mortgage with a first lien position and other security interests. The Company made the initial advances of $20 million, and subsequent advances of the mezzanine loan may be made by the Company or OSL. The Company’s portion of the total commitment is $208 million.

The table below shows the Company's unfunded commitments by investment type as of December 31, 2023 and December 31, 2022 (in thousands):

Critical Accounting Policies and Estimates

Management’s discussion and analysis of financial condition and results of operations is based upon our consolidated financial statements, which have been prepared in accordance with GAAP. The preparation of these financial statements requires our management to make judgments, assumptions and estimates that affect the reported amounts of assets, liabilities, revenues and expenses, and related disclosure of contingent assets and liabilities. We evaluate these judgments, assumptions and estimates for changes that would affect the reported amounts. These estimates are based on management’s historical industry experience and on various other judgments and assumptions that are believed to be reasonable under the circumstances. Actual results may differ from these judgments, assumptions and estimates. Below is a discussion of the accounting policies and estimates that involve significant estimation uncertainty that have or are reasonably likely to have a material impact on our financial condition or results of operations. A discussion of recent accounting pronouncements and our significant accounting policies, including further discussion of the accounting policies described below, can be found in Note 2 to our consolidated financial statements.

Allowance for Credit Losses

In periods ending on or prior to December 31, 2022, the Company, with the assistance of an independent valuations firm, performed a quarterly evaluation of loans classified as held for investment for impairment on a loan-by-loan basis in accordance with ASC 310-10-35, Receivables, Subsequent Measurement (“ASC 310-10-35”). If the Company determined that it was probable that it would be unable to collect all amounts owed according to the contractual terms of a loan, impairment of that loan was indicated. If a loan was considered to be impaired, the Company would establish an allowance for loan losses, through a valuation provision in earnings that reduced carrying value of the loan to the present value of expected future cash flows discounted at the loan’s contractual effective rate or the fair value of the collateral, if repayment was expected solely from the collateral. For non-impaired loans with no specific allowance the Company determined an allowance for loan losses in accordance with ASC 450-20, Loss Contingencies (“ASC 450-20”), which represented management’s best estimate of incurred losses inherent in the portfolio at the balance sheet date, excluding impaired loans and loans carried at fair value. Management considered quantitative factors likely to cause estimated credit losses, including default rate and loss severity rates. The Company also evaluated qualitative factors such as macroeconomic conditions, evaluations of underlying collateral, trends in delinquencies and non-performing assets. Increases to (or reversals of) the allowance for loan loss for the fiscal year ended December 31, 2022 and prior years are included in “Loan loss (provision)” on the accompanying Consolidated Statements of Operations.

In June 2016, the FASB issued ASU 2016-13, Financial Instruments – Credit Losses on Financial Instruments (“ASU 2016-13”), which establishes credit losses on certain types of financial instruments. The new approach changes the impairment model for most financial assets and requires the use of a current expected credit loss ("CECL") model for financial instruments measured at amortized cost and certain other instruments. This model applies to trade and other receivables, loans, debt securities, net investments in leases and off-balance sheet credit exposures (such as loan commitments, standby letters of credit and financial guarantees not accounted for as insurance) and requires entities to estimate the lifetime expected credit loss on such instruments and record an allowance that represents the portion of the amortized cost basis that the entity does not expect to collect.

We adopted ASU 2016-13 as of January 1, 2023. The implementation process included the utilization of loan loss forecasting models, updates to our loan credit loss policy documentation, changes to internal reporting processes and related internal controls, and overall operational readiness for our adoption of the new standard. We have implemented loan loss forecasting models for estimating expected life-time credit losses, at the individual loan level, for our loan portfolio. These models are also utilized for estimating expected life-time credit losses for unfunded loan commitments for which the Company has a present contractual obligation to extend the credit and the obligation is not unconditionally cancellable. The CECL forecasting methods used by the Company include (i) a probability of default and loss given default method using underlying third-party CMBS/Commercial Real Estate loan database with historical loan losses from 1998 to 2022, and (ii) probability weighted expected cash flow method, depending on the type of loan and the availability of relevant historical market loan loss data. We might use other acceptable alternative approaches in the future depending on, among other factors, the type of loan, underlying collateral, and availability of relevant historical market loan loss data. Significant inputs to our forecasting methods include (i) key loan-specific inputs such as loan-to-value, vintage year, loan-term, underlying property type, occupancy, geographic location, performance against the underwritten business plan, and our internal loan risk rating, and (ii) a macro-economic environment forecast. The allowance for loan and lease losses reserve as of December 31, 2022, was $0.7 million and the CECL reserve as of January 1, 2023, is $2.3 million. As such, the cumulative effect of adoption of ASU 2016-13 is a $1.6 million reduction in retained earnings. The provision for credit losses of $4.3 million for the year ended December 31, 2023 is included in other income on the accompanying Consolidated Statements of Operations, resulting in a December 31, 2023 ending allowance for credit loss of $2.1 million.

Significant judgment is required in determining impairment and in estimating the resulting loss allowance, and actual losses, if any, could materially differ from those estimates.

Purchase Price Allocation

The Company considers the acquisition of real estate investments as asset acquisitions. Upon acquisition of a property, the purchase price and related acquisition costs (“total consideration”) are allocated to land, buildings, improvements, furniture, fixtures, and equipment, and intangible lease assets in accordance with FASB ASC 805, Business Combinations. Acquisition costs are capitalized in accordance with FASB ASC 805.

The allocation of total consideration, which is determined using inputs that are classified within Level 3 of the fair value hierarchy established by FASB ASC 820, Fair Value Measurement and Disclosures (“ASC 820”) (see Note 10), is based on management’s estimate of the property’s “as-if” vacant fair value and is calculated by using all available information such as the replacement cost of such asset, appraisals, property condition reports, market data and other related information. The allocation of the total consideration to intangible lease assets represents the value associated with the in-place leases, which may include lost rent, leasing commissions, legal and other related costs, which the Company, as buyer of the property, did not have to incur to obtain the residents. If any debt is assumed in an acquisition, the difference between the fair value, which is estimated using inputs that are classified within Level 2 of the fair value hierarchy, and the face value of debt is recorded as a premium or discount and amortized as interest expense over the life of the debt assumed.

Real estate assets, including land, buildings, improvements, furniture, fixtures and equipment, and intangible lease assets are stated at historical cost less accumulated depreciation and amortization. Costs incurred in making repairs and maintaining real estate assets are expensed as incurred. Expenditures for improvements, renovations, and replacements are capitalized at cost. Real estate-related depreciation and amortization are computed on a straight-line basis over the estimated useful lives as described in the following table:

Post-acquisition, construction in progress includes the cost of renovation projects being performed at the various properties. Once a project is complete, the historical cost of the renovation is placed into service in one of the categories above depending on the type of renovation project and is depreciated over the estimated useful lives as described in the table above.

Valuation of Common and Preferred Equity

As of December 31, 2023, the Company owns approximately 25.7% of the total outstanding shares of NSP and thus can exercise significant influence over NSP. The Company elected the fair-value option in accordance with ASC 825-10-10. On a quarterly basis, the Company, with the assistance of an independent third-party valuation firm, determines the fair value for subsequent measurement absent a readily available market price. The valuation is determined using widely accepted valuation techniques consistent with the principles of ASC 820. Specifically, these techniques include the discounted cash flow methodology whereby observable market terminal capitalization rates and discount rates are applied to projected cash flows generated by self-storage assets owned by NSP. The necessary inputs for the valuation include projected cash flows of NSP, terminal capitalization rates and discount rates. These inputs are reflective of public company comparables, but are assumptions and estimates. As a result, the determination of fair value involves significant estimation uncertainty because it involves subjective judgments and estimates that are based on unobservable inputs. For the year ended December 31, 2023, the unrealized loss related to the change in fair value estimate is $17.3 million. See Notes 5 and 10 to our consolidated financial statements for additional disclosures regarding the valuation of NSP.

As of December 31, 2023, the Company owns approximately 6.36% of the total outstanding common equity of the Private REIT. The Company records the Private REIT at fair value in accordance with ASC 321. The valuation is determined using a market approach. The necessary input for the valuation includes the yield of the Private REIT. As a result, the determination of fair value is uncertain because it involves subjective judgments and estimates that are unobservable. For the year ended December 31, 2023, the unrealized loss related to the change in fair value estimate is $0.5 million. See Notes 5 and 10 to our consolidated financial statements for additional disclosures regarding the valuation of the Private REIT.

As of December 31, 2023, the Company owns approximately 98.0% of the total outstanding common equity of each of Resmark Forney Gateway Holdings, LLC ("RFGH") and Resmark the Brook, LLC ("RTB"). The Company holds RFGH and RTB based on the Company's proportionate share of income (losses) for the year ended December 31, 2023. See Notes 5 and 6 to our consolidated financial statements for additional disclosures regarding the equity method investments RFGH and RTB.

As of December 31, 2023, the Company owns 9.5% of the total outstanding shares of the Series D-1 preferred stock in IQHQ, Inc. See Notes 5 and 10 to our consolidated financial statements for additional disclosures regarding the equity security investment in IQHQ, Inc.

Considerations Related to Tightening Monetary Policy

The macroeconomic environment remains challenging as central banks have held interest rates high to combat inflation. The high rate environment, coupled with large bank failures in early 2023 and ongoing economic uncertainty, has limited credit availability to commercial real estate. Less available and more expensive debt capital has had pronounced effects on the capital markets, making property acquisitions and other investments harder to finance. Similar factors also impact the timing of and proceeds generated from asset sales and our ability to obtain debt capital.

REIT Tax Election

We elected to be treated as a REIT under Sections 856 through 860 of the Code. To qualify as a REIT, we must meet a number of organizational and operational requirements, including a requirement that we distribute at least 90% of our “REIT taxable income,” as defined by the Code, to our stockholders. Taxable income from certain non-REIT activities is managed through a TRS and is subject to applicable federal, state, and local income and margin taxes. We had no significant taxes associated with our TRS for the years ended December 31, 2023 and December 31, 2022. We believe that our organization and current and proposed method of operation will allow us to qualify for taxation as a REIT, but no assurance can be given that we will operate in a manner so as to qualify as a REIT.