REITs Amass Capital Raised on Public Markets
REITs have been raising capital on the stock market in earnest since the beginning of this year.
Apartment REITs Register Total Returns of 38% in 3Q
New York—REITs posted their best-ever quarterly gains since the NAREIT indexes’ inception in 1972.
Investing in Apartments Today
Investing in apartments is a multi-part effort that involves determining return expectations, seeking apartments, conducting due diligence and exiting the investment. The economy and financing conditions have changed, and that impacts the apartment investment process.
Sycamore Urban Properties Revives Distressed Inland Empire Asset it Purchased from a Bank
Rancho Cucamonga, Calif.— Sycamore Urban Properties, a multifamily investment and development company based in Irvine, rescued a troubled 41-unit townhome development in a successful demonstration of its model for acquisition, stabilization and rapid revival of financially distressed real estate.
Foong on Finance: Restructuring Fannie and Freddie
The past few months have seen a flurry of activities to do with the possible restructuring of Fannie and Freddie. Industry observers emphasize, however, that we are only at a very early stage of the process of reassessing the future structures, and roles etc., of the two Government Sponsored Enterprises (GSEs). Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac are now under conservatorship, under the control of the government. At this point, the government has to support the two organizations to keep them afloat. The thinking is that a better solution has to be found for the two mortgage financing organizations, long-term. “The…
INSIDE THE DEAL: Foreclosure Response Team Steers $1.15M Sale of Distressed Property
By Keat Foong, Executive Editor Ft. Lauderdale, Fla.—Here is one example of a distressed sale, of which the ultimate result may be newly constructed homes selling at $250,000 instead of $550,000. The 1.5-acre property consisted of nine assembled multiple family lots in the Poinciana Park neighborhood of Fort Lauderdale. The sites contain single family homes, duplexes and triplexes. The properties were purchased for a total of $4.7 million in 2006. Originally, the developer’s intention was to redevelop the site: to demolish the existing buildings and build 33 new townhomes selling for $550,000 per unit. “The developer wanted to eventually assemble…
Foong on Finance: Initial Look at Financial Regulatory Reform
Last week, President Obama put forward his proposals to make changes to the regulatory oversight of the financial system. Among the proposals, the “ Financial Regulatory Reform Plan” would give the Federal Reserve and the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. additional controls over financial institutions. It would require hedge funds and private equity funds to be registered with the Securities and Exchange Commission. And it would consolidate the agencies that oversee consumer debt banking into a regulator called the Consumer Financial Protection Agency. Where our industry is concerned, the plan would more tightly control banks that issue mortgage-backed securities. And it…
INSIDE THE DEAL: 10 Years Later, Love Funding Refis 1999 Loan with Favorable Results for Borrower
By Keat Foong, Executive EditorElkton, Md.—The owner of Apartments at Iron Ridge here has made a good deal on his 1999 development. The property was originally developed using a construction loan which rolled over into a 30-year permanent loan rollover financing under the FHA 221(d)(4) mortgage insurance program. Ten years later, the development company, MHTJ Enterprises LLC, which still owns the property, refinanced the original loan, dropping the interest rate from 7.75 percent on the FHA 221(d)(4) loan to a below-6 percent Fannie Mae 10-year fixed-rate loan obtained from Love Funding. As a result, the borrower was able to save…
Foong on Finance with Keat Foong: Worse Is Yet to Come
If you have been reassured by President Obama’s calm demeanor and are feeling more relaxed these days, there is an opinion article in a recent issue of The New York Times entitled “The Economy is Still at the Brink.” In case you miss the point, an illustration accompanying the article says, in big, black, artistic, letters, “The Storm Is Not Over, Not By A Long Shot.” In the multifamily sector specifically, if the number of outfits being created that are specializing in turnarounds is any indication, players may be expecting the trickle of distressed assets and property owners to…
Leverage Your Portfolio
places an old model that used manual processing and spreadsheets, which is error-prone, says Tao.Creating a bridge between the various software packages is Multifamily Information and Transaction Standards (MITS). Some of the newest MITS have been especially valuable to apartment companies for their help in linking the companies’ systems to their Internet Listing Services (ILS). “For example, we all use ILS to market and advertise our properties. Every time pricing, availability or even pictures change, we change this data once in the property management system and all of our ILS listings are updated via the MITS feed,” says Reeves. “Really,…