Apr
19
GLOBAL REAL ESTATE MARKETS BOOMING
 The commercial real estate market is quickly becomming an international market with large tenants, commercial real estate agents and developers expanding to other countries. The expansion is not just from the U.S. outward to other countries but also from other countries here. For example one of the major shopping center developers in the U.S. is Westfield Group, an Australian firm. We expect the internationalization of commercial real estate to grow substantially in comming years. The following article should be interesting to those who follow these events. Global Real Estate Markets […]
Apr
17
STRENGTHENING THE POSITION OF A BORROWER
Often when an investor is seeking debt or equity financing for a type of commercial property with which he has little or no experience he finds investors/lenders reluctant to consider new financing because of his lack of experience. In a recent article (“Strengthening the Property Sponsorâ€?) in the March 2007 issue of National Real Estate Investor W. Joseph Caton writes about how an investor can strengthen his position with a potential lender.  As he states, after the location and potential cash flow from a project the strength of the […]
Apr
10
Mortgage Fraud is on the Rise
The Mortgage Bankers Association of America recently reported information gathered using FBI and private industry data indicating that mortgage fraud of all types is on the rise in across the country. Currently California and Florida have leap-frogged to the top of the list of the states most mired in the fraud. This fraudulent activity consists of lying about income, assets, employment details, taxes, etc. It’s anticipated that loan fraud will continue to rise steadily in the wake of the sub-prime melt down. Mortgage payments for many Americans are rising as […]
Apr
3
Changes Coming for Mortgage Disclosures
The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) is on a major offensive against predatory lending practices, which it gets complaints about all too often. One major concern that they’re pressing currently is with the present mortgage disclosures. The standard disclosures used in closings today were designed more than 30 years ago and have proven confusing for even experienced home purchasers and investors to understand at times. FTC chair Deborah Platt Majoras recently made comments indicating that she’s aware that today’s loan products are much more complicated than those in use some 30 […]