Companies seek new office buildings, shun ‘aging’ ones! This has led to an uptick in the default rate for CMBS backed by ‘buildings with large vacancies and insufficient cash flow to pay back their debt’! The default rate in December hit 2.53%, up from 1.81% in November. Compounding the problem is the fact that companies […]
Tips for Renting an Apartment… For those willing to pull the apartment rental trigger at the beginning of the Covid pandemic, when it looked like New York City was finished and landlords were desperate, great deals were possible although at most they would last two years. Now it’s not that easy, and an article in […]
Picking Ourselves Up By The Bootstraps, And Focusing On The Future! We Have Been Here Before! I was watching television the other day, when a story came on that inspired me to want to write about the current situation that most Americans currently find themselves in. Month-long quarantine with business activity spotty at best. Those […]
Today, and rightfully so, parties to a New York real estate transaction are loath to sit in close proximity to each other regardless of the degree of social distancing being used! In certain instances they may also be unavailable for a sit-down as they are quarantining themselves voluntarily or, because they feel ill, have been […]
The owners of office buildings, office parks, multifamily apartment buildings and other types of commercial property, find themselves facing decisions that they didn’t know existed two months ago! With the spread of coronavirus, in the event that a management company and/or building owner is put on notice that a tenant or visitor is exhibiting symptoms […]
With unprecedented volatility in the financial markets that’s been brought on by the international spread of coronavirus, and the economic backlash associated with it, is potential systemic risk to the global financial system lurking ‘out there’ in an obscure and often little understood investing vehicle (even for its buyers)… DERIVATIVES! Back in 2015, then reposted […]
Whenever you buy an insurance policy you may or may not be expecting to ever have to submit a claim! If it’s health insurance you know that at some point during the year you will need to go to a doctor or specialist and will utilize whatever insurance you may have. Whether or not you will get reimbursed depends […]
Typically a homebuyer will let their attorney take the lead when it comes to the title insurance portion of a purchase transaction! (Updated, January 2020) Similarly those refinancing a mortgage will do the same with their lending institution. And given that the relationship between the attorney or banker and their client is based on trust, […]
(Note: Why is a title insurance company writing about investing and hedging tools like credit default swaps? Because the potential risk to the economy and to the financial well-being of all Americans would affect every industry and every business, title insurance included!) As a result of the travel firm Thomas Cook filing for bankruptcy a few days ago, […]
In September Hallmark Abstract Service President Michael Haltman had the honor and pleasure of being interviewed by NEFCU banker Ray Schwetz on his show, Tower Talk Business Radio! In a studio located on the Nassau Community College campus, the interview on 90.3 WHPC was free-flowing and covered subjects that included the New York title insurance industry, regulation, […]
