Anyone who has been around the real estate profession for any amount of time – even people buying their first homes – know that it can be one of those “hurry up and wait” type of experiences. Once a property is on the buyer’s radar and a purchase decision is made, then it’s time to get all the offer papers filled out and submitted to the seller. It’s easy to understand in today’s climate why this is so. Real estate agents know that a good piece of property can command multiple offers and often the first good offer to be submitted is the one that wins the day…or...
I’m writing this after a trading day when Dow Jones Industrial Average officially lost all of the gains it had made so far this year. Further, it’s down about 14 percent from its 52- week high. But that’s not all of the investment and economic news that’s noteworthy. Earlier this month trading was halted on the New York Stock Exchange because of some kind of tech issue. Of course, everyone immediately suspected the NYSE had been hacked – probably by the Chinese – but officials assured us that wasn’t the case. It was merely a home-grown, garden-variety...
We live in an age where we take a lot of things for granted. When we plug in an appliance, we know that we’ll get electricity to power it up. When we climb into our cars and turn the key, we know the engine will fire. When we go to the ATM and slip our card into the slop, we know we’ll be able to make a cash withdrawal – unless you’re in Greece. Recent economic strains have shown us that the financial system we all depend on may not be as solid as we have always accepted. When Cyprus ran into financial trouble, bank depositors received a “hair cut” – they woke...
In part one of this short series, I explained the first step we take at Evoque Lending to give our investors the safety they require. Simply put, we make sure borrowers have sufficient equity in the property they are borrowing against. This accomplishes two things. First, it helps keep borrowers motivated because if they default, they stand to suffer significant losses. Second, it gives investors a wide margin of safety in the unlikely “worst case scenario.” If a borrow defaults, we can move quickly to recoup investor funds. However, no one ever wants to get to...
