Commercial Real Estate Finance

Posts Tagged ‘bankruptcy’

Any of you familiar with poker have heard the expression “betting on tilt.”  Essentially, it describes a player who has let their emotions get the best of them, and is overbetting a particular hand (or multiple hands) to try and make back the money they just lost on a big hand.  Rather than play the cards in from of them, they have let a bad beat cloud their judgment into making poor decisions.

And that brings us to Lehman (remember them?), the once upon a time Wall Street behemoth who crumbled into oblivion with bad commercial real estate bets.  Well, now they are doubling down on commercial real estate, betting that we have reached a bottom. Read the rest of this entry »

Commercial Real Estate Week In Review for the Week of July 17-23

- Is Tim Geithner the biggest winner of  financial regulation reform passing this week?

- Meanwhile, Barney Frank is aiming to tackle Fannie and Freddie.

- GGP is finally ready to emerge from bankruptcy…and on strong financial footing.

- Innkeepers USA Trust is readying for bankruptcy.

- Private Equity still seems to be shying away from real estate int he second quarter.
Read the rest of this entry »

A “desert island” is one that is uninhabited by humans.  Usually this is because it hasn’t been discovered yet, the terrain is too tough to develop, or it is simply is too far away from a mainland to realistically support an economy. But what happens when islands that are created nearby a mainland for the sole purpose of development and occupancy by humans goes indefinitely uninhabited?  Perhaps those qualify as ‘deserted desert islands’. And if you want the scenic view of the economic crisis, deserted desert islands might be the place to start.  While Florida might provide you with some (oily) sand, vacant shoreline buildings, and some stalled beachfront developments, it is nothing compared to the picture above. That picture is of “The World,” a cluster of man-made islands off the coast of Dubai.  Read the rest of this entry »

General Growth Properties (NYSE: GGP) has filed a reorganization plan to get them out of bankruptcy. Much of commercial real estate trades privately, so public trades are good opportunities for price discovery.

What can we learn from this plan? Read the rest of this entry »

Ben Bernanke urges Congress to keep banking oversight

Public Pensions Bankrupting America?

The very insightful Annaly Salvos blog provide a interesting graph on the level of support the GSE’s have been providing the residential mortgage market via a all-out domination of the origination market. Just as we over-shot the natural level of home-ownership in the United States through misguided policies built up over centuries of well-intentioned programs, the GSE’s, and the Pols that back them find it hard to find a way to stop funding the market. After all, it is easy to argue they all own massive homes, and anything closely related to affordable housing is easy politics.

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The Week of December 12-18

- Is all of the loose spending by world governments creating a massive asset bubble risk?

- If Fed funds and interest rate hikes aren’t coming, then we’ve got one confused futures market.

- Dollars from Dhabi to Dubai: One Arab nation is bailing out a neighbor.

- Specialized investment banks are ramping up to prepare for CRE turmoil.

- Fairfield Residential, one of the biggest U.S. apartment landlords, is filing for Chapter 11.
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Hand over the keys?  More like hand over your chips, Mr. Trump. Andy Beal, head of Beal Bank, called the Donald’s bluff as he feigned interest last week in a joint venture with Beal to buy Trump Entertainment Resorts, the parent company of the troubled Atlantic City casinos Trump Taj Mahal, Trump Plaza and Trump Marina.  After filing for bankruptcy protection for the third time in his overstated real estate career in December 2007, Trump and daughter/business partner Ivanka withdrew their position. Read the rest of this entry »

The Week of November 14-20

- The bond market has a healthy appetite for TALF-backed CMBS.

- CRE is getting blamed left and right for the slow economic recovery.

- Is the CIT Group bankruptcy a sign that government rescue plans don’t work?

- Is CRE a bigger risk to smaller banks?

- Dozens of banks are in trouble despite TARP aid.
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The Week of October 24-30

- Capmark finally filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection, but will prevail in the end.

- How many more firms could be following Capmark into bankruptcy?

- Could PPIP be the solution to more bank transparency with regard to distressed assets?

- The Great Recession may be ending, but for CRE, its more like the Great Depression beginning.

- ING will be spinning off to get ahead.
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