Philadelphia Metropolitan Area Real Estate Law Blog

Pennsylvanians who are involved in the commercial real estate market might want to follow Deutsche Bank. The U.S. Department of Justice has announced that it is fining the bank $14 billion for its role in issuing residential mortgage-backed securities leading up to the mortgage crisis in 2008.

Pennsylvania commercial real estate investors may have heard about the recent $150 million sale of the Datran Center in Miami. The deal, which was made jointly by Acre Valley Real Estate Capital and ABS Partners Real Estate, reflects the trend of investors moving from major to medium-sized cities.

The hospitality sector has become increasingly interesting to commercial real estate investors throughout Pennsylvania and the U.S. in recent years. However, backing a restaurant can still be an extremely risky proposition. Studies show that 60 percent of new restaurants fail within three years of opening, and a quarter fail to even make it through their first year before shutting their doors for good.

Philadelphia residents who want fixed-income investments with high yields and greater security may want to look at loans collateralized by commercial real estate. Online lenders have helped fill in the gaps so that people can have greater access to these types of investments. However, before evaluating these opportunities, it is important that investors consider several factors regarding these online lenders.

Some Pennsylvania real estate developers occasionally encounter financing problems for their projects. Many might turn to an alternative type of debt called a hard money loan. There are several reasons why these types of loans should only be used in case of an emergency, however.

Many investors in Pennsylvania and around the country still think of the 2008 mortgage crisis and subsequent financial meltdown when they consider putting their money into real estate, but several years of healthy returns have nurtured at least some confidence in the nation’s property markets. The real estate sector has outperformed most other notable benchmarks in recent years, and these investments were placed in a separate class by MSCI and the S&P Dow Jones Indices on Sept.1.

Investors in Pennsylvania who have real estate as part of their investment portfolio may be aware that equity real estate investment trusts, also known as REITs, will be reclassified into a separate sector from the financials sectors. This will have a number of implications for investors.

Much has been written in recent months about a credit crunch that real estate buyers and investors in Pennsylvania and around the country may soon be forced to contend with. However, there is one part of the commercial real estate financing sector that has been growing rapidly. Crowdsourcing has grown from a cottage industry to a multi-billion dollar economic powerhouse in just a few short years.

Pennsylvania investors who follow the U.S. residential and commercial real estate markets are likely aware that their Chinese counterparts have been very active in recent years. During the 1980s, iconic American properties like the golf complex at Pebble Beach and New York City’s Art Deco landmark Rockefeller Center were scooped up by Japanese investors, but Chinese nationals now make up the largest group of foreign property buyers.

Officials in a Pennsylvania county are having a difficult time completing construction of an emergency communications system. For the past two years, Montgomery County officials say that they have been trying to convince township supervisors in Upper Merion to give them the zoning rights to construct a 180-foot tower. The $36 million project requires 30 towers, and so far all but one of the towers has been built.