Arnold 's Blog

Working the Band Of Investment Backwards If you've never heard of the "band of investment" technique for establishing a cap rate, let's do a quick review. For those who already have it, go to "B" below. A.A cap rate is a single number: it is a one year snapshot (or one year projected snapshot) of...

There are moments when you realize you're listening to someone whose elevator stops several floors short of the top.  My most recent example?The Mr. Kay referred to in this article (not pictured).Why?  Here's the money quote:"Real estate is becoming more commoditized through structured finance," ...

There are a couple of ways to do this.Way 1.  Read the paper religiously.  Subscribe to news services that feed you Fed testimony.  Peruse Federal Reserve websites.  This should take about two hours a day.Way 2. Per this post, do some arithmetic.  Subtract current unemployment (now 4.5) from Core...

Mezzanine Financing is a term that generally refers to fiancing on the entity owning the real estate, rather than on the real estate itself.For example: if you have a building worth $12 million, your primary loan will probably be about 7,800,000 -- which leaves a substantial gap if your investing...

Thanks to Jose Luis Ramirez, we have a preliminary list of the mortgage companies going under, if not an idea of the extent to which their disappearance will remove liquidity from the market. Why is this liquidity important? Well, because we have people with loans that need to refinance them: and...

Distressed notes are the key to the subprime woes that the market is suffering: many of them didn't pay within the six month window that defines a bad loan.But one person's bad note is another's opportunity to acquire property cheaply. And they're buying the notes in bulk.For an example of this i...

The New York Times has a story today about solving math puzzles: and I'm at a solid C (75%, six out of eight problems).  Pretty disappointing for a guy who works with numbers all day!  Try your skills here.  Then realize that the boy who answered the questions did it all in in his head!  Now, tha...

I mentioned previously the viewpoint of Ed Marek of Capital Lending Resources: there's more money than good deals. Today I illustrate this with a press release. Craig Phillips, who practically invented the Conduit Loan, has just created Ptarmigan Capital, and is seeking new investments in ..... I...

You needed a commercial realtor in the Woodland Hills/Tarzana area, you just didn't know it yet.  But if you're looking for an enthusiastic helper to get you the commercial deal you want, give her a call.  In addition, she finds "horse properties" (places where it's possible to have animals witho...

We have people who appear to be doing well in the market: Accredited Mortgage Loan REIT Trust declared a quarterly cash dividend on their 9.75 percent Series A Perpetual Cumulative Preferred Shares at 60.94 cents per share.This in the midst of New Century's panic about loans it has brokered with ...