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Robert Pitts Wells Fargo loans, waits for CMBS to return

With the CMBS market all but shut down, Wells Fargo Bank has responded with two new permanent financing programs for commercial real estate that hold the loans in portfolio until CMBS investors regain some of their confidence. “We rolled it out pretty quickly after the CMBS market kind of came apart, knowing we had to serve our existing customers,” said John Tomlinson, senior vice president in the bank’s Orlando office. The first program offers short-term fixed and floating rates for most prop… Continue

Posted by Robert Pitts on June 26, 2008 at 9:44am — No Comments

Matthew Townsend Stimulus checks stimulating the wrong economy

It should come as no surprise that Wal-Mart is reporting a 3.9% rise in same-store sales in May, as reported by a recent article on CNNMoney.com. The federal stimulus checks are out, and those who haven’t pocketed their money or funneled it to debt have flocked to Wal-Mart to take advantage of those low, low prices. Unfortunately, Wal-Mart’s federally sponsored boost in sales was a very… Continue

Posted by Matthew Townsend on June 5, 2008 at 2:02pm — No Comments

Robert Pitts Hope remains for a limited government

I admit to being a little despondent about the upcoming presidential election. None of the candidates who seemed to genuinely care about reducing the size and scope of the federal government had a snowball’s chance in Florida of securing a party nomination - much less being elected. So as of this writing, we’re left with three contenders, none of whom seem to understand the phrase “limited government.” Their labels - Republican or Democrat - are unimportant. They all seem to be at ease with the… Continue

Posted by Robert Pitts on May 13, 2008 at 4:47pm — No Comments

Don Madden Property Rights

Property Rights are the basic building block of the American experience, and today they are under attack in ways both subtle and downright heavy handed. We need to refocus our fellow citizens on the value that property rights brings to their lives. When a property owner comes before a governmental body it shouldn't have to be with hat in hand hoping his neighbors don't object to his struggle for success. The Coalition for Property Rights (CPR) needs your help to show up at the meetings and ask… Continue

Posted by Don Madden on April 14, 2008 at 3:20pm — No Comments

Robert Pitts Desperately seeking subprime perspective

Lost in the screaming headlines about the current subprime mortgage “crisis” is a look at the big picture, which has been provided by a new Mortgage Bankers Association report. Looking at 4Q07 numbers, the MBA reported that subprime home mortgage loans make up just 13 percent of the total home mortgage loans outstanding. And among those, only 5.29 percent of subprime adjustable-rate mortgages are entering the foreclosure process. The rate for subprime fixed-rate mortgages is only 1.52 percent.… Continue

Posted by Robert Pitts on April 1, 2008 at 11:49am — 1 Comment

Athan "Tom" Prakas The Restaurant Business Remains Healthy

As a commercial real estate broker specializing in restaurant and hospitality property sales and leases, I have been monitoring our first quarter activity. In light of the current real estate crunch, it is not all doom and gloom for the commercial real estate industry. In fact, I can share a few recent success stories if anyone would like to discuss. I think it is important to remember a key component of this economic equation for restaurants and other hospitality businesses is that the weak dol… Continue

Posted by Athan "Tom" Prakas on March 26, 2008 at 4:34am — No Comments

Richard Edwards, CCIM Independent Commercial Real Estate Brokers

Hi, Like many of you, I own and operate an independent commercial real estate brokerage company and every minute of every day we compete with the "Big Boys" within our industry. Individually, for the most part we strive to gain those great listings and believe we have the knowledge, the technology and the resources to get the job done correctly and effectively. Most of the time we are brought in to compete for the desired job, however, those prized listings typically go to those national compan… Continue

Posted by Richard Edwards, CCIM on March 8, 2008 at 6:47am — No Comments

Stephen Nostrand New Commercial Construction Numbers Will Contribute to Economic Downturn

I don't want to sound like an economist or a stuffy academic but here are some new numbers that just came out today that do not bode well for the economy. It's the first time in a while that non residential contruction dropped as hard as it did. Spending year over year Jan was down 1.2%. This indicator typically lags housing so they say we can expect more decreases. That's quite distressing and will lead to a further downtun in the economy. Continue

Posted by Stephen Nostrand on March 3, 2008 at 12:58pm — No Comments

Robert Pitts Is the subprime crisis really so different?

Not really - if you agree with the research by two experts from the National Bureau of Economic Research. In a report titled Is the 2007 U.S. Sub-Prime Financial Crisis So Different? An International Historical Comparison, Carmen Reinhart of the University of Maryland and Kenneth Rogoff of Harvard University compared our country's current financial situation to that of several other countries prior to their own financial crises. Going back to 1974, the authors took a look at Spain, Norway, Jap… Continue

Posted by Robert Pitts on February 29, 2008 at 4:57pm — No Comments

Matthew Townsend The best cure for financial woes is proper education

Since the collapse of the subprime mortgage market last year, there’s been a lot of talk about what the government could do to help consumers avoid costly, embarrassing mistakes in their financial life. As usual, this talk centers around regulations, handouts, moratoriums and rebates - a Band-Aid solution to the bleeding artery of profound consumer ignorance about any subject that involves dollar signs and decimal points. We all know there was a great deal of abuse, and many people now suffer t… Continue

Posted by Matthew Townsend on February 27, 2008 at 1:00pm — No Comments

Robert Pitts Loan doc woes bode ill for commercial real estate finance

I had an interesting conversation the other day with Steven Gomez, a managing director of the Commercial Asset Recovery & Restructuring Services business (CARRS) for CB Richard Ellis in Miami. I met Steve at the recent Mortgage Bankers Association CREF ’08 conference in Orlando, and in a follow-up interview he told me about a fascinating court case that is directly relevant to commercial real estate finance today. In the Feder… Continue

Posted by Robert Pitts on February 27, 2008 at 11:30am — No Comments

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