Investment Property Insider

Commercial Tips 3-16-10

CSH — Wed, 17 Mar 2010 02:20:19 +0000

Beware the Ides of March … I think that’s what an oracle said to Julius Caesar, right? Well, happy Ides of March to you! The first quarter is almost done and we’re picking up steam heading into the last year of the first decade of the 21st century. If that doesn’t give your brain a twist, nothing will. College basketball is in full swing and all I can think about is the next Grand Slam in tennis. How’s that for oblivious? I’ve decided to wax eloquent on the topic of Bridge Loans this week. Now that we have several in underwriting I can see that this is where the focus of lending will be for the majority of this year. Yes, we’re still doing SBA 504s and USDA loans, but the real activity is going to be in completing discounted payoffs, along with REO and Note portfolio acquisitions. As America de-leverages, bridge money will be there to fund the purchases … assuming we don’t run out of energy to keep the lights on now that we can’t drill for oil, natural gas, or coal in our own country!

Commercial Tips 3-10-10

CSH — Wed, 10 Mar 2010 16:44:39 +0000

OK, so I sprang spring early. It’s been such a wintery winter here in Kansas City that the first few days of good weather (now giving over the major rainstorms) got me all excited! I’m sure that Old Man Winter won’t go so quietly into the night, but it sure was nice to put the winter coat away for a day or two. March also brings us College Basketball Madness. Not my favorite contest, but I’m in a very BIG college basketball town and it’s hard to avoid it here at the home of KU and Mizzou. So I’m expecting a bunch of you to be writing me about your favorite college team and talking some real smack in the coming weeks! “If we had no winter, the spring would not be so pleasant: if we did not sometimes taste of adversity, prosperity would not be so welcome.” – Anne Bradstreet A Quick Note: We’re changing our standard phone # to 310-857-6912. Please make a note of it. And I’ll be reminding you again and again and again … Our toll free number will remain the same. Another Quick Note: We’ve added a Bridge Loans to our wholesale product line. These are for commercial properties and residential projects. Commercial properties must have current cash

Commercial Tips 3-3-10

CSH — Wed, 03 Mar 2010 19:01:43 +0000

OK, I admit it. I’m an Olympics Junkie. As ashamed as I am to admit it, I even occasionally tuned in to the Curling competition. Not that I could understand the scoring in that most obscure of sports! All I knew was that it was the Olympics and I wanted to see Olympians. And how about that hockey game??? What a way to end the 16 days of competition. Too bad the Americans seemed to fade in week 2, but then we were generally not a major force in winter competition until recently. Lots of really good stories and competition this year, I loved it. “Perhaps the most valuable result of all education is the ability to make yourself do the thing you have to do, when it ought to be done, whether you like it or not; it is the first lesson that ought to be learned; and however early a man’s training begins, it is probably the last lesson that he learns thoroughly.” – Thomas H. Huxley Like the Olympics, I’m seeing activity increase of late. We are looking

What The MBA Has To Say About 2010

CSH — Wed, 24 Feb 2010 08:03:03 +0000

If you want to get a good idea of just how much commercial real estate debt is coming due in 2010 and 2011, along with how the industry is viewing those maturities, I suggest taking a look at the following article: Optimism Trumps Gloom at MBA Real Estate Finance Conference in Glitter City – CoStar Group I think you’ll find it extremely interesting.

Commercial Tips 2-22-10

CSH — Mon, 22 Feb 2010 22:47:08 +0000

Wow, I just LOVE the Olympics. From the John Williams theme to the Late Night recap of the day’s events, I just can’t get enough of them. I’m even over the fact that professionals can now play, since in the end it only raises the level of the sports. And the very best thing is the “unexpected.” Like Bode Miller getting not “zero” but “three” medals in this Olympics, so far. You have to just love how this guy turned his sports life around. He got another opportunity and took advantage of it. “Desire is the most important factor in the success of any athlete.” – Willie Shoemaker Speaking of opportunities, we are doing our best here at Excelsion to take advantage of the opportunities now presenting themselves in commercial real estate finance. I don’t know if you have been paying attention, but CMBS defaults are WAY up. First, the average loss on “resolved” loans is 52.7%!!! And 2009 ended with over $66 BILLION in “special servicing” situations (i.e., default). Your opportunity as a commercial real estate investor, should you choose to accept it, is to get out there and

Commercial Tips 02-02-10

CSH — Tue, 02 Feb 2010 19:59:45 +0000

Well, did you miss me and my cheeky comments each week? I disappeared for slightly longer than my anticipated 10 day vacation, enduring warm weather in sunny California (yes, that’s a joke), some illness, and later some very serious weather on my return. We took a driving vacation that included some skiing in the Rockies and then continued out West to the coast. From there, we looked at some homes, contemplated never coming back to Kansas, and set out during what was some of the worst storms to hit that part of the country in nearly 20 years. Duh! “Thanks to the Interstate Highway System, it is now possible to travel from coast to coast without seeing anything.” – Charles Kuralt We were delayed first by some stomach flu that added nearly a week to our stay and then the recent storms that saw us getting stuck in Arizona for four days. We were delayed alternately by sand storms (the roof was blown off of the truck stop where we were holing up) and snow storms (Flagstaff got 4 FEET of snow in a couple of days)

Commercial Tips 12-23-09

CSH — Wed, 23 Dec 2009 19:57:46 +0000

Someone told me it was December yesterday. December! Sheesh, I was still coping with Halloween a minute ago! I think I blinked and November shot by without a wave. Well, since it’s December, it’s time to start focusing on next year. No, it is NOT too early. I can tell you candidly that I did not come close to my goals this year and I intend to change that in 2010. “It is a paradoxical but profoundly true and important principle of life that the most likely way to reach a goal is to be aiming not at that goal itself but at some more ambitious goal beyond it.” – Arnold Toynbee How would you like to do the same? Good, you’re paying attention. I’m going to go through a powerful goal setting process through December to set up 2010 to be a great year regardless of market conditions. I’m going to post this process on www.InvestmentPropertyInsider.com and each post will be available for a week before they become “members only.” I’ll include downloads and show you my goals for the

Commercial Tips 12-16-09

CSH — Wed, 16 Dec 2009 19:55:50 +0000

Here we are, less than a couple of weeks away from Christmas! Where did the year go? I’m looking at a stack of un-finished Christmas cards on my desk and thinking “when the heck am I going to get these out?” I’ve also got to do year-end accounting, bill paying, respond to folks like you with loan requests, work with my underwriters … oh yeah, I still have to get some gifts! Aren’t the Holidays great? “He who asks is a fool for five minutes, but he who does not ask remains a fool forever.” – Chinese Proverb My two favorite teams (this year) continue to impress. Both Indianapolis and New Orleans remain unbeaten. The big debate among the sports crowd is this: Do you rest and protect your starters now that you’ve secured your first round bye and home-field advantage or do you go for history and try to run the table as an undefeated team? While this is purely anecdotal on my part, taking the conservative course and not going for history tends to un-do teams in the playoffs. My

Commercial Tips 11-25-09

CSH — Wed, 25 Nov 2009 19:54:13 +0000

The Colts and the Saints remain undefeated, the superbowl champion Steelers fall to the lowly Chiefs, and the Lions beat the Browns in an old fashioned shootout. Isn’t football great? Personally, I’m looking forward to a couple of games this Thursday and stuffing my face with … stuffing! Yum yum! “Gratitude is born in hearts that take time to count up past mercies.” – Charles E. Jefferson And before this month closes out, I’d like to give my thanks to you, my loyal readers, clients, and colleagues. Here they are: Thank You: For reading these emails, responding when something catches your attention, for sending us loans, for understanding when we say “no,” for hanging in there during tough times, for being honest with your tenants and vendors, for working hard, for telling your congressional representatives that you are paying attention and that they can’t get away with their crap any more, for being a good father-mother-son-or-daughter, for doing what need to be done because it’s right, and for being a real, red-blooded American. “Gratitude is the most exquisite form of courtesy.”

Commercial Tips 11-17-09

CSH — Tue, 17 Nov 2009 19:52:33 +0000

Well, the “Game of the Year” did not disappoint last night. For those of you who go to sleep early (except on the West Coast), the New England Patriots played the Indianapolis Colts (still undefeated) in what was billed as THE game to watch. Those of us who did got a treat. For most of the game it looked like Tom Brady & Company were going to blow the Colts off of the turf. But late in third quarter you could sense a shift in momentum and the Manning Machine started to come alive. Long story short, with 13 seconds left to go, Manning threw his fourth touchdown pass of the night, the extra point was good, and the Colts won 35 to 34. How’s that for confidence and a comeback? Lesson: Never give up. “We have too many high sounding words, and too few actions that correspond with them.” – Abigail Adams Looks like China is telling us how to run our economy now (SOMEBODY need to tell those boneheads in Washington, they sure don’t listen to US, the citizens, any more).