It seems that commercial real estate mortgages held on the books of local banks are finally getting the attention they deserve.  After several months of both media and government attention on commercial mortgage backed securities, both the FDIC and the media are finally focusing on local banks as well.  In an article in Business Week, [...]

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Bloomberg reported that Capmark Financial Group, one of the largest U.S. commercial real estate finance companies has filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy.  Capmark was feeling pressure on two fronts.  First and foremost, they had originated more than $10 billion worth of commercial real estate debt.  As the default rates on these loans began to increase, [...]

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In another Bloomberg article today, it was reported that the FDIC basically dropped the ball when it came to enforcing their own guidelines.  In 2006, the FDIC set forth guidelines providing that banks should not have commercial real estate holdings that exceeded 300 percent of their capital.  I guess it’s pretty fair to say that [...]

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In a highly publicized article today, Reuters followed up on yesterday’s speculation regarding federal guidelines for commercial loan modifications.  It now appears that this guidance for the workout of commercial mortgages will be unveiled in the very near future.  I am closely following these developments as the impact that this will have on my clients [...]

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Bloomberg reported today that the FDIC will set guidelines to modify commercial real estate loans.  This could be a major development for both the commercial real estate and lending markets.  Government guidelines could provide lending institutions with a framework within which to modify commercial mortgages, something that they are desperately lacking.  In addition, the guidelines [...]

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Bloomberg reported last week that a survey of property investors indicates that the majority of them don’t expect the commercial real estate market to recover until 2012.  The coincides with the time that the last of the commercial mortgages funded between 2005-2007 with 5 year maturity dates are set to mature.  It seems to me [...]

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An article today by The Associated Press discusses an issue that I have felt for some time now has gone unaddressed by the media and the government.  This issue is that of “whole” loans which are also referred to as portfolio loans.  These are loans that are held by the lenders, as opposed to commercial [...]

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