Commercial Real Estate Finance

Posts Tagged ‘recovery’

To merge or not to merge…

See our previous polls here.

Mensch:

Noun, informal. A decent, upright, mature and responsible person.

Schlemiel:

Noun, slang. An awkward, clumsy, or unlucky person whose endeavors tend to fail; a loser. 

Mensch of the Week:  

CrowdMason

A couple weeks ago, in one of our Week in Review posts, I discussed an article that explained how last year’s Jumpstart Our Business Startups Act (JOBS Act) might influence commercial real estate investment. This securities law, intended to bring increased investment capital to start-ups of all kinds, is expected to promote a more “democratic” investment community.

How?

By lowering the capital requirements for “accredited” investors, so that one doesn’t have to be a bona fide millionaire in order to invest in a CRE or other venture. Now, fund managers don’t have to rely on high net worth, corporate, or institutional investors, but can amass needed equity through lots of smaller contributions from investors in lower tax brackets. This “crowdfunding” approach (similar in structure to “crowdsourcing”) will hopefully strengthen the investor base of companies and funds not lucky enough to have Blackstone Group or a Saudi prince in their Rolodex.

Not that anyone uses Rolodexes anymore.

We asked our readers whether or not they approved of crowdfunding in a Llenrock poll. While the response wasn’t overwhelmingly positive, the Yay’s beat the Nay’s with well over 50%, showing some promise for this new investment tool.

Which brings me to CrowdMason, an online start-up working to promote commercial real estate investment on a more public level. Read the rest of this entry »

Tom Fink, Trepp sr. VP., says new signs of recovery are starting to emerge in  the commercial real estate market, particularly in D.C. and New York.

Graeme Maxton, chief economist at The Insight Bureau, discusses problems for US residential and commercial property space, including a massive amount of bad debt for the commercial sector.

Larry Silverstein, president and CEO of Silverstein Properties, shares his outlook on both commercial and residential real estate.

Hessam Nadji, Marcus & Millichap managing director, discusses three “perfect storms” lining up for recovery in commercial real estate.

Commercial Real Estate Week In Review for the Week of September 25- October 1

- Could Basel III spark consolidation in the banking industry?

- What’s the deal with hybrid debt, and is it a good thing or bad?

- Asset loss for real estate funds have slowed in 2010.

- The FDIC is giving banks 3 months to meet securitization standards.

- The Fed is considering changes in its bond purchase strategy to aid the recovery.
Read the rest of this entry »

Commercial Real Estate Videos of the Week-June 6-12

Nick Axford of CB Richard Ellis discusses whether a recovery is on the way for a commercial real estate market given that European office rents rose for the first time in 18 months.

Steve Joyce, CEO of Choice Hotels, and Bill Strazzullo, of Bell Curve Trading, discuss the US National Debt, and what to do cut deficits while still stimulating the economy.

Commercial Real Estate Videos of the Week-May 30-June 5

An extremely humorous view of Europe’s debt crisis by political humorists John Clarke and Bryan Dawe.

The amount of empty commercial space fell for the first time in a long time, but the large amount of shadow office space may indicate that a recovery is still a long way off.

Week of May 9-15

-Are lawmakers overlooking Fannie and Freddie in the reform debate?

-Goldman Sachs and Citigroup are partnering for what could potentially be the largest mortgage-debt financing connected to real estate for the acquisition of Extended Stay by Starwood Capital.

-Malaysia will have a new largest REIT in the third of fourth quarter after Sunway City’s IPO, which is expected to raise $459M USD.

-CBRE says Mexico’s commercial real estate market is poised for growth. I say watch out for drug wars.

-A tough real estate market is hindering recovery.
Read the rest of this entry »

Bernanke Supports Regulatory Power to Shrink Banks

Is Commercial Real Estate Really Near the Bottom?

In the commercial real estate space, you likely by this time have heard the phrase “extend and pretend,” usually in reference to what a bank will do when faced with a non-performing loan coming due on their books.  Rather than foreclose and ending up owning an asset, which banks are not in the business of (nor do they have the proper asset and property management staff  requisite to keep the asset from devaluing further over time), they would rather extend the term of the loan and allow the borrower to continue to try and turn the asset around. In the mean time, they will sit on there collective hands and pretend there is no impending doom in relation to the asset, or their portfolio full of similar problem properties.  After all, it is likely the borrower is more of an expert in how to fix the asset’s issues than the bank.

But after attending a brokerage conference last week that was full of investors of the four major food groups (multi-family, retail, office and industrial product), I think perhaps that there is a new phenomenon.  Banks may be extending and pretending, but investors are doing the opposite: Pretending and extending….as in their hopes and expectations for their assets, and the markets for them. Read the rest of this entry »