Note 2 - Investments in and Advances To Local Partnerships

3 Months Ended

Mar. 31, 2013

Notes

Note 2 - Investments in and Advances To Local Partnerships

Note 2 – Investments in and Advances to Local Partnerships

As of March 31, 2013 and December 31, 2012, the Partnership held limited partnership interests in 4 Local Partnerships, located in two states and Puerto Rico, that owned residential low income rental projects consisting of 262 apartment units.  The mortgage loans of these projects are payable to or insured by various governmental agencies.

The Partnership, as a limited partner, does not have a contractual relationship with the Local Partnerships or exercise control over the activities and operations, including refinancing or selling decisions, of the Local Partnerships that would require or allow for consolidation. Accordingly, the Partnership accounts for its investments in the Local Partnerships using the equity method. The Partnership is allocated profits and losses of the Local Partnerships based upon its respective ownership percentage (between 95% and 99%). Distributions of surplus cash from operations from most of the Local Partnerships are restricted by the Local Partnerships’ Regulatory Agreements with the United States Department of Housing and Urban Development (“HUD”). These restrictions limit the distribution to a portion, generally less than 10%, of the initial invested capital. The excess surplus cash is deposited into a residual receipts reserve, of which the ultimate realization by the Partnership is uncertain as HUD frequently retains it upon sale or dissolution of the Local Partnership. The Partnership is allocated profits and losses and receives distributions from refinancings and sales in accordance with the Local Partnerships’ partnership agreements. These agreements usually limit the Partnership’s distributions to an amount substantially less than its ownership percentage in the Local Partnership.

The individual investments are carried at cost plus the Partnership’s share of the Local Partnership’s profits less the Partnership’s share of the Local Partnership’s losses, distributions and impairment charges. The Partnership is not legally liable for the obligations of the Local Partnerships and is not otherwise committed to provide additional support to them. Therefore, it does not recognize losses once its investment in each of the Local Partnerships reaches zero. Distributions from the Local Partnerships are accounted for as a reduction of the investment balance until the investment balance is reduced to zero. When the investment balance has been reduced to zero, subsequent distributions received are recognized as income in the accompanying statements of operations. 

For those investments where the Partnership has determined that the carrying value of its investments approximates the estimated fair value of those investments, the Partnership’s policy is to recognize equity in income of the Local Partnerships only to the extent of distributions received and amortization of acquisition costs from those Local Partnerships. Therefore, the Partnership limits its recognition of equity earnings to the amount it expects to ultimately realize.

Two Local Partnerships, Santa Maria Limited Dividend Partnership Assoc. (“Santa Maria”) and Marina Del Rey Limited Dividend Partnership Assoc. (“Marina Del Rey”), have been marketing their properties for sale. On October 26, 2011, Santa Maria and Marina Del Rey each entered into separate purchase and sale contracts to sell their respective investment properties to a third party for a gross sales price of $2,600,000 and $2,750,000, respectively. After payment of closing costs and repayment of the notes payable encumbering the properties, the Partnership expects to receive approximately $330,000 and $500,000 from Santa Maria and Marina Del Rey, respectively, for advance repayments and distributions. The sales are expected to close during 2013. The Partnership has no investment balances remaining in these two Local Partnerships at March 31, 2013 and December 31, 2012.

At March 31, 2013 and December 31, 2012, the investment balance in all four of the Local Partnerships had been reduced to zero.

In December 2012, the Partnership assigned its limited partnership interest in Vista Housing Associates (“Vista Housing”) to a third party, for approximately $22,000, which was recognized as gain on sale of interest in Local Partnership during the fourth quarter of 2012. The Partnership’s investment balance in Vista Housing was zero at the date of assignment.

At times, advances are made to the Local Partnerships. Advances made by the Partnership to the individual Local Partnerships are considered part of the Partnership’s investment in the Local Partnerships. Advances to Local Partnerships for which the investment has been reduced to zero are charged to expense. During the three months ended March 31, 2013, the Partnership advanced approximately $46,000 to two Local Partnerships, Santa Maria and Marina Del Rey, for taxes which was recognized as expense. There were no such advances during the three months ended March 31, 2012.  While not obligated to make advances to any of the Local Partnerships, the Partnership may make future advances in order to protect its economic investment in the Local Partnerships.

The following are unaudited condensed combined estimated statements of operations for the three months ended March 31, 2013 and 2012 for the Local Partnerships in which the Partnership has invested (in thousands). The 2012 amounts exclude the operations of Vista Housing for which the Partnership assigned its interests in December 2012:

	Three Months Ended March 31, 2013	Three Months Ended March 31, 2012
Rental and other income	$   465	$   456
Expenses:
Operating expenses	220	239
Financial expenses	171	176
Depreciation and amortization	47	48
Total expenses	438	463
Income (loss) from continuing operations	$    27	$    (7)

In addition to being the General Partner of the Partnership, NAPICO or one of its affiliates is the local operating general partner for two of the Local Partnerships included above.