June 2013

At last count, we now have four separate risk retention regimes (maybe five) that we need (or will soon need) to deal with as we attempt to restructure any securitization.   They are, of course, all different. And let’s be crystal clear. This isn’t an issue for the distant future. Risk retention is here now and soon, much sooner than most think, it will become a front and center issue for all of us. We’ve written about skin in the game many times in the past (e.g., here, here and here), and I’m not going to re-litigate both the intellectual unsoundness of the notion and the negative impact on capital formation, but as we await developments, I thought it would be useful to compare and contrast the four variations on the theme and sound the heads up.  It’s time for us to focus. Continue Reading Why Does Everyone Want to Make Me Keep Thinking About Risk Retention

This week, over a thousand industry participants made their way through a rain soaked Manhattan for the start of CREFC’s Annual Conference. The low hum of attendees taking conference calls in corners and tapping messages on iphones provided a constant auditory backdrop to the event and aptly conveyed the velocity of the CMBS industry in 2013. The market is back to work.Continue Reading Stormy Skies Greet Sunny Outlook at CREFC 2013

Mortgage Resolution Partners (“MRP”), a San Francisco-based venture-capital firm, continues to actively market its proposal to assist homeowners with underwater performing mortgage loans held in private label securitization by having such loans seized, refinanced, or restructured and sold to third party investors, with the government recovering the administration costs and MRP earning a fee on each transaction (the “Program”). For additional background information on MRP and the Program see here, here and here.Continue Reading Dechert’s OnPoint: Underwater Mortgages Deserve More than Eminent Domain

Next week, hundreds of industry participants will make their way to New York for CREFC’s Annual Conference.

The conference promises to provide a forum to explore present and future market trends in commercial real estate, as well as an opportunity to gain valuable insight from many leaders in the market as to where we are and where we are headed. With panels such as “Lend-sanity: Competition Between Balance Sheet and Conduit Lenders” and “Borrowers: Is it their Game Now?”, it is clear there is no shortage of activity in commercial real estate, and there shouldn’t be any shortage of interest in this forum. The conference’s keynote address will come from Blackstone’s Global Head of Real Estate, Jonathon Gray, who will be sure to offer a unique viewpoint of the current and future landscape of real estate investments. Continue Reading CREFC Returns to the Big Apple