Business Specialties

The equity markets seemed to be headed for positive territory on Tuesday, or at least they did in the morning, but slumped in the afternoon. In the end, the Dow Jones index was down a minuscule 25.41 points for the day, or 0.3 percent. The S&P 500 nudged up slightly for the day, 0.18 percent, and the Nasdaq likewise exhibited a small gain of 0.5 percent. In a refreshing bit of real estate news, J.P. Morgan Chase, which swallowed Washington Mutual and its many, many retail branches last year, has said that it’s going to spend a fair amount of…

Real estate brokerage and advisory firm Calkain Cos. has established a new division aimed at aiding clients in dealing with adverse investment situations on net lease properties. The group, dubbed Calkain Opportunity Services, will be headed up by Todd Harrison (pictured), who will serve as managing director of the new entity. Calkain said it formed the division as a result of the increase in debt restructurings, failed investments and transaction-related litigation in the current environment of economic turmoil. “For those…. involved in less than ideal situations, Calkain will be able to formulate a plan on how to exit their challenging…

The credit crunch that has gripped the U.S. and the world during the last 18 months seems to be giving momentum to a property investment vehicle, the Delaware Statutory Trust (DST), that allows as many as 100 investors, and sometimes more, to buy commercial real estate and reap the benefits of a 1031 exchange. Many tenant-in-common, or TIC, sponsors are increasingly turning to the DST model to buy properties, according to Grant Conness (pictured), president of 1031 Alternatives Group, L.L.C. “We’ve seen an uptick in this (DST) activity,” Conness told CPN, and today’s capital constrained environment is the major reason…

The Dow Jones index took something of a dive yesterday, possibly because of ill tidings from the likes of Time Warner and Intel, or the anticipation of bad job market numbers, or maybe because it was time to yo-yo back to roughly where the market started at the beginning of the year. In any case, the Dow was down 245.40 points, or 2.72 percent, while the S&P 500 lost 3 percent exactly and the Nasdaq lost 3.23 percent.Jobless numbers from the federal government will be released tomorrow, but private assessments of the increasing scope of the problem are already out….

Orlando-based CNL Financial Group and Sydney’s Macquarie Group have joined forces for the first time to establish a new global REIT, CNL Macquarie Global Growth Trust Inc., which will pursue opportunities in just about every sector of commercial real estate in various areas around the world. The partners can afford to think big, as the proposed total offering for the REIT is $1.5 billion. Timing is everything and CNL and Macquarie believe that now–in the midst of what has essentially become a global meltdown of the real estate market–is just the right moment to lay the groundwork for a new…

The equity markets dropped considerably Monday morning, but then yo-yoed around for the rest of the day–small fluctuations, really–and ended up slightly down, for the first time in four trading sessions and the first time this year. The Dow Jones index dropped 76.7 points, or 0.85 percent, while the S&P 500 dropped 0.35 percent and the Nasdaq lost 0.49 percent. Investors might be buying stocks (sometimes), but consumers aren’t buying so many cars. In December, sales of GM cars were down 31 percent compared with the same month last year, while Ford sales were down 32 percent. Toyota suffered a…

Student housing REIT Education Realty Trust Inc. has closed a $222 million secured credit facility, courtesy of Fannie Mae DUS lender Red Mortgage Capital Inc., and is wasting precious little time making use of the proceeds. Drawing about $198 million in initial loans under the facility, Education Realty paid off $185 million of secured mortgage debt scheduled to mature in July of this year, and used the remaining $13 million to pay down its corporate revolving credit facility and to address other working capital demands. The initial group of loans includes five-year variable rate loans totaling $50 million, in addition…

Freddie Mac today named Raymond G. Romano chief credit officer. Romano had been the company’s senior vice president of credit risk oversight since joining Freddie Mac in 2004 and in September also took the position of acting chief credit officer. Romano’s appointment follows a nationwide search to fill the position, which is responsible for credit risk management activities across the entire Freddie Mac enterprise. “Managing credit effectively is the cornerstone of this company, particularly in a turbulent economy,” Freddie Mac CEO David Moffett said in a prepared statement. “Ray has really demonstrated leadership at Freddie Mac, and I can think…

Fidelity National Financial Inc. has closed on the previously-announced acquisition of LandAmerica Financial Group’s two title insurance underwriters, Commonwealth Land Title Insurance Co.and Lawyers Title Insurance Corp.. The total price tag of the deal was some $235 million. Fidelity also bought out United Capital Title Insurance Co. Fidelity National Financial already consists of several title insurance underwriters, including Fidelity National Title, Chicago Title, Ticor Title, Security Union Title and Alamo Title. Together these companies issue more than a quarter of all title insurance policies in the nation. The purchase just closed will make Fidelity National Financial the largest title insurer…

The quarterly report by the U.S. Department of Commerce on the national GDP is something of a lagging indicator. The fact that the U.S. economy contracted 0.5 percent in the third quarter–July to September–might be worrisome, but it only raises the further question of how much contraction will happen in the fourth quarter. The other shoe is bound to drop, and it’s expected to make a bigger thud when it does. Some prognosticators are predicting as much a 6 percent contraction in 4Q08, the steepest drop since 1982. The markets didn’t take the news well, but didn’t melt down either….