From the monthly archives:

January 2009

REITs May Save $10 Billion With Stock Dividends; Strategy Spreads Across the Pond

January 31, 2009

We welcome prolific and urbane Zero Hedge to the REIT beat with their report on Simon Property Group’s (SPG) decision to join the list of REITs paying dividends in stock. The list continues to grow, seemingly limited only by the relatively lethargic schedule of dividends and earnings announcements. As Bloomberg reports in video below, cash […]

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Warning: These REITs Still Pay Dividends, But Not In Cash

January 19, 2009

“I’ll gladly pay you Tuesday for a hamburger today.” Wimpy, character from the cartoon series Popeye As many of you may remember, Wimpy was not only a character from the Popeye cartoon series, he was also a glutton for hamburgers, and he would consume them at a ferocious rate. Of course, “Tuesday” would never come, […]

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Time To Buy Retail REITs?

January 15, 2009

Retail REITs posted their worst yearly decline on record in 2008, and for good reason. Consumers snapped their wallets shut on dollars faster than a Venus Flytrap in a Stephen Goldblum movie. Does This Mean Opportunity in Retail REIT land? Nevertheless, money never made more money sitting under a mattress. For the risk tolerant among […]

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REIT ETF Directory

January 13, 2009

If you need a complete list of all REIT ETFs, here it is. REIT ETF prices and yields update daily, and the list includes expense ratios. Links to the latest news for each ETF can be found in the right-hand column. This REIT ETF directory is also a good place to start if you want […]

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Mortgage REITs Catch Bid on Fed’s New $4 Billion a Day Habit

January 12, 2009

The Fed announced late in 2008 that they would finally follow through on the original TARP intentions and actually buy mortgages. The Fed’s plan is to spend $500 billion by June 30th. That would would be $4 billion a day in government demand for mortgage bonds from the Fed’s munificent money men, so they have […]

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Boston’s Hancock Tower Goes Into Default

January 12, 2009

Broadway Partners, the heavily indebted private equity firm that purchased Boston’s landmark Hancock Tower at the top of the market in 2006 defaulted on a key loan payment last week. The iconic office building is a trophy property in the heart of Boston’s Back Bay district. The real estate fund manager purchased the property for […]

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Mortgage REIT Cram Down Gathers Momentum

January 9, 2009

A Thursday afternoon deal between Citigroup and Senate Democrats will help push forward legislation allowing for bankruptcy judges to “cram down” altered mortgage terms on beleaguered lenders. In the Mortgage REIT world, it’s just one more crack in the edifice of the “safety” of contractual cash flows underlying already shaky REIT dividends. And it’s even […]

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Commercial Real Estate Loans, Jamcrackers, Pike Poles and Dynamite

January 5, 2009

Many commercial real estate loans are heading inexorably toward their 2009 maturities, and straight into a titanic log jam in the capital markets. In the old days of commercial logging, this uncertain situation called for a Jamcracker. The job was extremely dangerous and required the Jamcracker to walk over the log jam and break it […]

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