What I'm Reading Jumping on Board: When the pandemic hit last year, many of us waited for legendary distressed investor and self-proclaimed "grave dancer" Sam Zell to make an acquisition. Well, the wait is over but the acquisition is unexpected. Rather than targeting a struggling retail, hospitality or office purchase,...
May 5th – Upping the Stakes
What I'm Reading Risk On: According to CBRE's 2021 Investor Intentions Survey, most core or core-plus investors expect their unlevered target returns to fall slightly or stay the same. However, those playing in the value add and distressed spaces anticipate that returns will increase, especially those based in the US. ...
May 4th – Deep Freeze
What I'm Reading Deep Freeze: If the Biden tax plan is passed in its entirety, it would likely result in an initial rush to sell properties most impacted before the changes take effect, followed by a substantial drop in the number of property sales and less market liquidity. Commercial Property...
April 30th – Up, Up and Away
What I'm Reading It's Official: The Biden tax proposal includes getting rid of the 1031 for gains of over $500k, taxing carried interest as earned income and eliminating the stepped up basis. Obviously, this is the first offer in a negotiation but if even a small amount of these proposals...
April 28th – Blind Spot
What I'm Reading Triple Threat: The worst-case tax scenario for real estate would be a simultaneous end to the 1031, basis step-up on death and doubling of capital gains. IMO, elimination of 1031 and doubling of capital gains would lead to far less transaction volume and increase the desirability of...
April 27th -The Great Migration
What I'm Reading The Churn: California is undergoing a major population shift, with coastal residents relocating to more inland locations in search of more space and a lower cost of living. Washington Post Its Time: Americans overwhelmingly believe that marijuana should be legal for recreational or medical use in the...
April 26th – Diamond Hands
One Big Thing One universal rule that becomes even more apparent when raising young children is incentives - whether positive or negative - drive everything. Tell a kid to clean her room and you may get an attitude. Promise her a reward of some sort if its clean for a...
April 23rd – Dead on Arrival
What I'm Reading Dead on Arrival: $12.3 trillion of economic stimulus over the past year effectively killed off the US credit default cycle despite the lingering pandemic, resulting in the lowest-rated companies enjoying their cheapest borrowing costs in history. Bloomberg Blowback: The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau announced an interim rule...
April 19th – So It Begins (In Earnest)
What I'm Reading So It Begins: Despite the economic recovery, Q4 bank loan CRE data showed an uptick in distress, especially in hospitality assets. To be sure, this is still much lower than many anticipated but supports the thesis that reopening is a moment of truth for struggling properties. Those...
April 16th – Backlog
What I'm Reading Backlog: During COVID, many US courts stopped functioning for months before adopting new technologies to move cases through, albeit more slowly than before. At the same time, cases including landlord-tenant disputes, foreclosures, contract disputes, tax appeals, partnership settlements have been piling up. Experts fear that once courts...