From the monthly archives:

September 2008

Mortgage REITs & Custer’s Last Stand

September 28, 2008

With news Sunday of a breakthrough, finally, on what Hank Paulson is calling the “Troubled Asset Recovery Plan”, it looks like the government will officially be in the Mortgage REIT business by Tuesday or Wednesday. This will undoubtedly bring significant, long term changes to the Mortgage REIT business. And while some Mortgage REITs may have […]

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Are We Finally Going to Get Serious?

September 26, 2008

The Securities Industry and Financial Markets Association (SIFMA) sent an email out to members this morning, I post it herewith. Remember, this thing is going to happen. So if you do contact your senator or house member, please remind them that limiting executive compensation is a stupid political stunt. We’ll just get what we pay […]

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The Mortgage REIT Riddle

September 24, 2008

This is a longish post, so get a refill before settling in. There was a great story on the downfall of AIG in Moneymorning.com on Monday, a great story because it is incredibly analagous to the price/value disconnect that has been hammering equity values in the Mortgage REIT world. As I’ve posted again and again, […]

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The Treasury’s New Mortgage REIT

September 21, 2008

I just had some fun reading the text of the proposed treasury bill. It’s basically a $700 billion Mortgage REIT that has yet to be named let’s just call it expensive. Not only that, the draft of the enormous bill, which requires an increase in the federal debt ceiling in order to accommodate its incredible […]

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The Mother of All CDOs!

September 19, 2008

Wow. It turns out that REITs can go up in price too. And Mr Market actually compelled the government itself into purchase mode with a new plan to buy mortgages. Do you think Mortgage REITs may be a good place to be, with the federal government now swinging the bat on the bids? If you […]

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Terminated! The Price of Prudence

September 16, 2008

The alchemy of modern finance is coming back to haunt what were thought to be pretty mundane deals. As every follower of Mortgage REITs knows by now, borrowing short and lending long can be a risky proposition. Those REITs that have any shot at surviving the market carnage were those that matched the average life […]

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Cash is King

September 14, 2008

Confirming today that the subprime crisis is “largely contained”, Lehman Brothers Holding Inc., declared bankruptcy, and Merrill Lynch confirmed it doesn’t need to raise more capital (“these problems are behind us”), it just needs to sell out to a commercial bank in Charlotte. And the Fed has now added equities to the list of assets […]

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REITs Right Now

September 10, 2008

“I believe non-dividend stocks aren’t much more than baseball cards.” Mark Cuban I wonder what Cuban would say about those REITs currently sporting 20% dividend yields? Some REITs certainly do look enticing, but not all yields are created equal. In fact, Alesco finally came clean last week (Thursday, Sept. 11), announcing that it would be […]

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U.S. Treasury to Make Open Market MBS Purchases

September 9, 2008

WASHINGTON, DC-While market participants work to digest the details of the government’s takeover of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, Globest.com is reporting that one of the more intriguing aspects is a new program in which Treasury will purchase agency mortgage backed securities on the open market, in addition to the direct portfolio acquisitions that the […]

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Northstar/Landcap Loan Acquisition: High Reward, Low Risk

September 8, 2008

“Jeff [Gault] is a very smart guy with two very smart partners,” [Goldman Sachs and Northstar Realty Finance] Matkins said. “They formed LandCap 18 months ago. They did two deals in 18 months. Now Jeff will get 10 calls a day.” Just a couple of weeks after the Northstar Realty Finance (NRF) reported strong earnings, […]

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