All lenders would far prefer to know what is happening.

Experienced observers claim that these lenders prefer shorter term obligations and usually restrict their loans to less than two-thirds of the value of the residential property.

Many lenders may prefer to process loans for under $100,000 under SBA's LowDoc program.

Investment analysts said that in most cases the lenders would prefer not to declare the loans in default.

These swings are facilitated by short-term loans, which lenders prefer to long-term lending.

Generally, he said, lenders prefer not to hold mortgages on more than 10 or 20 percent of the units in a building.

Most commercial lenders prefer to offer terms for shorter periods of time than residential lenders might at thirty or so years.

He said that lenders accustomed to financing suburban shopping malls and dealing with a single developer prefer to avoid complicated urban ownership structures.

Often, lenders prefer to take only a small percentage of any project, obliging the home builder to cobble together financing from many sources.

The reason is that risk-averse lenders prefer investors to first-time buyers who want high loans.