posted on Feb, 12 2010 @ 08:50 AM
I'm involved in RE, my father is a CRE attorney, my mother a retired RE agent and my sister a director in a large company that inspects, repairs and
manages foreclosed and bank-owned properties. I tell you this so that you appreciate that we have perspective and experience that most outside the
industry don't have access to. I can tell you, unequivocably, that the bottom of the RE crisis is nowhere in sight - not yet! First, you have
another whole set of ARMs ready to reset this spring. Next, CRE is financed differently that traditional home mortgages - they are much shorter term
and generally do not require monthly mortgage payments but balloon payments due typically in 7 to 10 years. The CRE building boom began in 2003 - it
is now 2010. The first of those 7-year notes are going to be due this year and a HUGE amount of them cannot be repaid. My sister's company is
adding HUNDREDS of new employees in anticipation of this!
To add insult to injury, the average amount of a CRE note is easily 10 times that of an average home. Let's look at the mechanics of how the banks
use these notes as "Assets". First, the banks are required to be below a certain asset/loan ratio - meaning that they cannot lend beyond a certain
percentage of their assets. They are using the CRE notes as assets as they anticipate repayment of the note. When those default and they take
possession of the property, they are going to be forced to revalue the property which is going to trash their asset/loan ratios putting a majority of
them deep in the red. Failures will be endemic and unstoppable and there is no way to bail them out again - not for the dollars required.
BUT... believe it or not, this is ultimately a GOOD thing!!! Yes, you read that right, it is a VERY GOOD thing! Why? Well, most of the RE out there
has been artificially over-valued - by ALOT! That means that alot of good people have been kept on the sidelines, unable to own a home, start a
business etc... The banks and the "investors" have kept these values artifically inflated so that they could use the value of the property as
collateral to obtain more capital. Once the trash is purged from the system (Read that as big banks, corporations and the very few who have profitted
at our expense) then the system can reset to true market values - not manipulated speculation!
Don't think for even a second that this won't be painful. This is going to make the great depression look like a Sunday picnic in the park. But,
sadly, we are going to have suffer for the cure - removing cancer always is!