The Wall Street Journals Jonathan Karp provides a fascinating expose’, entitled HARD MONEY: Real-Estate Financier’s Death Hints At Trouble for Lenders, detailing a griping personal tale of Scott Coles and his company Mortgages, Ltd., that outlines a bizarre set of facts even greater than what fiction could believably spin.  
Unfortunately this story is true, and arguably representative […]

The point is often is often raised that there is some value in eliminating title insurance. Kimberly Palmer, in her article in U.S. New and World Report today, makes clear that the answer to whether to opt out of title insurance is: DO NOT!
When attorney Mark Rutzick sold his home in Fairfax, Va., and bought a new […]

So you think title is typically not an integral part of your deal. Think again!
Here is a title story, of epic proportions, told to us InmanNews. Remember this scenario the next time someone poo-poos the importance of securing title, prior to a development deal.
Some Hollywood moguls who were ready to build a $282 million movie production […]

Just to put a point to the notion that the Commercial Real Estate (CRE) market could actually become a lot worse, Seeking Alpha just posted a most interesting thumbnail analysis as to how we could see a huge downturn, with respect to the overall value in the CRE arena in the very near future.
The sale […]

We just reported on some promissing commercial retail real estate news, yet according to MarketWatch, commercial real estate markets in general should weaken in the months ahead, according to reports released May 21, 2008 by trade groups representing realtors and architects. Perhaps the most important thing we can all do, at this point, is simply […]

As reported in the Baltimore Business Journal, nearly 450 new shopping centers were added this year, through May 10, 2008, according to the latest industry report by from the International Council of Shopping Centers.
Here are some interesting supplemental data (and factoids) regarding the commercial real estate sector (and the retail arena, specifically): 

The Big Picture: In 2008 there […]

History does seem to repeat itself more often than not. So here we go again ….
In a fascinating expose in the Wall Street Journal, Jennifer Forsyth chronicles how property mogul, Ian Bruce Eichner, is poised to take yet a second fall from grace in less than two decades.
Forsyths WSJ piece not only documents the present […]

July 1st is almost upon us. And in the current edition of the Maryland Register, the State Department of Assessments and Taxation (SDAT) has published its proposed regulations to implement the recordation and transfer taxes on the transfer of a controlling interest in a real property entity. Have  the loopholes been closed?

This issue is not one of first impression […]

When it comes to predicting the future of the commercial real estate market, quirkiness is certainly in the air these days. Even when some good news finally appears, a cloud invariably seems to be lurking overhead.

Here is the good news. MIT commercial property price index turns higher. The cloud foreshadowing this good news is that […]

The news is certainly not good these days. The beginning of 2008 has not been pretty. Perhaps we can find a niche’ or some sort of viable approach that gets us the credit needed to move forward and do deals. 
I always believe that information is power, so here it is … unedited and unfettered …. 
As reported by Rex Nutting, Washington […]