McCreery: This took affect at the beginning of October, and it is implemented for all new loans that engage third-party reports as of October 1, 2015.

GlobeSt.com: What are the benefits of going this route?

McCreery: I think they made this change to be more in line with their competitor, Fannie Mae. The PGA map is also more accurate. The 1997 UBC map is nearly 20 years old and they have had a lot of new analysis that has been implemented and this is a better way of detecting seismicity and seismic data. It is a lot more accurate, and I think that we will start to see that the industry as a whole is going to start moving in this direction. The agencies are often on the forefront of these types of changes, so it is not odd that they would take the helm and move forward with it and then most other lending platforms will follow.

GlobeSt.com: Will borrowers incur additional costs related to these changes?

McCreery:There isn't really anything that will change for a borrower because the seismic triggers have not changed. It is now more site specific. Whereas there was a site that before was not in a seismic zone, it very well now could be in a seismic zone or visa versa. There is nothing that a borrower will need to know. Based on the location, the borrower may now need to have a seismic report performed where as before it was not needed. This therefore, would generate an additional cost for this report whereas before it was not necessary.

GlobeSt.com: Freddie Mac also came out with new energy loan discounts. Tell me about those.

McCreery:Freddie is starting to give a $5,000 rebate at the end of the loan if the borrower chooses to choose to benchmarked for all fuels. That would mean electricity, water and gas that would be benchmark through the Energy Star benchmarking program. If you insert that information into the Energy Star website and it will kick back a numerical number on a one to 100 scale that shows you where you are sitting on efficiency, which will in turn provide understanding where potential upgrades could be completed to make your building more efficient and reap some monetary saving. My concern is that the rebate costs that are being implemented in relation to the costs to the benchmarking is limited, so it is kind of a wash. But, it is something that Freddie Mac has put into affect. Partner has not been requested to do this analysis yet, but it doesn't mean that the potential is not there.

GlobeSt.com: Does this mean that Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae are increasing their focus on sustainability?

McCreery: Freddie Mac is starting to come around on sustainability. It was something that was discussed as part of the 2015 customer conference. They are anticipating more implementation into this realm. Fannie Mae has been dealing with this more aggressively over the last two years. With Fannie Mae, they provide a 10 basis point rebate on the interest rate if you go with a green sustainability program in their packages and lending processes, so their rebate is greater, but there is a little more mandate associated with it. Freddie is going to be doing more of these types of programs, so we should start seeing more energy lending platforms.