It seems like the Montage and downtown issues are what everyone wants to talk about, so I’ll give them their own thread. Rumors certainly have been swirling lately. At least 2 readers of this blog have units reserved at the Montage – maybe they could give us the "facts" as they know them – and many more readers are plugged into the industry. I have absolutely no inside information, but will share what I have found in the public records.
When a project starts going bad financially, the contractors, subcontractors, suppliers and consultants are usually the first to know – they aren’t getting paid and start filing liens. There are NO significant liens on the property, and the industry scuttlebutt is that everyone are happy campers.
The $143,164,000 construction loan for the project (Recorder Document 3478066 21 December 2006) has a maturity date of 15 December 2008. This is probably the source of the "going back to Corus Bank on the 15th" rumor. The recorded deed of trust includes references to unrecorded documents that allow extensions of the loan up to 15 May 2009. Could the rumor be true? Yes, but I highly doubt it.
A buyer can’t close on a unit until it has received a Certificate of Occupancy (CO) from the City. Although there are some out-standing floors still under permit, the majority of the project had received COs by 20 November 2008. The Montage would not have been able to issue their enforceable 30 Day Closure Notifications to buyers until they received the COs, and closings could not begin until 20 December at the earliest. Closings are phased, since everyone can’t move in at once.
$143,164,000 divided by 370 units = $386,930 per unit. The project pro forma would also have included allowances for carrying costs, construction contingencies, sales and marketing costs, and of course profit. If you assume 30% for these costs, it would put the expected average unit sale price at a scooch over $500,000.
I really like the Montage, and "Mikey hates everything". Everything has been built to first class standards, and I admire Fernando Leal’s vision and commitment to downtown Reno. It will be a big blow to all of us if the project is not successful.
On another but related note, DowntownMakeoverDude has a great article on the Reno City Council prioritizing the 73 projects they would like to be part of the (still theoretical) Main Street Stimulus Package. Make sure to check out the list and leave comments, both there and here and with your councilperson.
MontageBuyer2
Wow, a little blood on the water and the feeding frenzy begins. Let’s all take a breath and dial down the flame…
I am under contract at the Montage also. I haven’t received my letter yet as I live out of town but Fernando called me Friday and told me the gist of it. I also had a chance to read it on the Dude’s blog. Not the outcome any of us – buyers or not – really wanted, nor did Fernando. My wife and I signed up early as we were sold on not only Fernando’s vision but everything else that was going on downtown and in beautiful Northern Nevada. We weren’t buying on pure speculation, but rather wanted in early – planning on renting it out for a few years – and then moving there or using it as a second home.
But, life happens. We saw the prices skyrocket after we signed our contract, I ended up leaving my job and starting my own business, Credit crisis and economic downturn later – here we are.
Downtown Dude may be passionate about the project (as he is for most quality improvement projects downtown) but Fernando was even more so. For all of you that haven’t taken a tour or seen what Fernando and his team built, you are missing out. The project is EVERYTHING that Fernando had promised us 3 years ago and more. The development and revitalization of the downtown corridor is fantastic – and it’s far from finished. This situation is a setback – a huge one – right now but in 5 years this could be perceived as the catalyst needed to finalize the drive downtown to finish the job.
So, will we go through with our purchase? I don’t know yet. We need to see the price reductions, look at the financing options and run the numbers. The contract is tight and there is an option in there to walk away – but you lose any money deposited and held in escrow. Not a great option but, for some, maybe better than the alternative.
Those of you living in Reno, you should be aware of this project and it’s overall impact – today and for the future. This is THE class property downtown right now, no question. Those of you flaming on this (and other blogs) that don’t live in Reno or haven’t taken the time to really find out all the great things happening in Reno right now need to get informed.
Mike, thanks for the blog and opportunity to converse. Downtown Dude, keep up your passion for Downtown and communicating all the great – and not so great – things happening. Fernando, thanks for trying to do this right. The quality, your integrity (all subs and vendors have been paid promptly, communication with contract holders is great), and your passion for your projects is what Reno needs so much more of.
Peace out everyone.
WaitingTooLong
Can Corus bank really enforce the contracts? Are they mentioned anywhere in the contracts? Neither L3 nor Fernando will own the building. Seems the validity of the contacts is in question. I would not just walk away from the money without a fight.
Sharon
MontageBuyer2, who does not live here, suggests he knows more about downtown Reno than those of us who do live here know. How wonderfully arrogant.
As somebody who DOES live here in Reno, and has the opportunity every day to go downtown and see the boarded up, trashed out dilapidated old liquor stores, t shirt shops, creepy bars, and casino remnants, I can assure you, MontageBuyer2, that it is YOU who doesn’t have the story straight. I see the garbage every day, please don’t tell me I am ill-informed.
WaitingTooLong
MontageBuyer2, Have you looked into financing lately? I’m curious because I have heard that Fannie Mae will not buy loans from lenders when the loan is made to buy a condo in a development with less than 50% units sold. I see this becoming a big problem bogging down closing sales for months to come.
MontageBuyer
Green guy I have tower residence E 1 bed + 1 den 1054 sf with 90 sf balcony. It’s an inside corner unit that faces Southwest. I don’t want to divuldge how much I paid for it on here it might open a can of worms.
Somewhat related this Montage project in Seattle http://www.montageliving.com/ was recently converted to rentals from condos.
stjoe56
I too have a contract on the Montage. I briefly spoke with my Reno based lawyer. He has some skill in Nevada real estate law.
His major concern is why would the large entity really want to run a rental operation out of a condominium. According to him, if the Montage remains a condo development, then the CC&Rs will continue to be the controlling document. If you cancel out the condo and go to apartments, it becomes a lot cleaner operation to run as an apartment house.
As to a personal observation to MontageBuyer2 who has a southwest view: do you really want to close on your unit, it more than half of the units on your floor will be rental units?
What if the Corus bank uses it powers as a majority owner of the units to modify the CC&Rs so part of the building becomes time shares? Would you still want to close? How will you feel if this change happens after you close?
As far as I am concerned, there is way too much risk at this time to proceed.
SJ
Doofus
Nice knee to the groin, Green. Kill the comments by asking the actual shareholders to state their positions in the Montage.
smarten
MontageBuyer, a deed in lieu of foreclosure is the moral equivalent of a consummated foreclosure sale where the property has reverted to the mortgagee without the formality of a procedural sale. It’s like pleading guilty to a crime without actually going to trial.
The simple fact of the matter is the seller of your unit NO LONGER HAS TITLE TO CONVEY because it has been foreclosed [or assigned] in favor of someone else. Now maybe this Fernando person has assigned his corporation’s right to pending contracts in favor of Corus Bank or some other person/entity but I would find this to be highly unlikely and disingenous [what, the seller can assign its interest under executory contracts to a third person yet you the purchaser can’t assign your interest to some third person (it’s called a lack of mutuality)? I don’t think so].
The simple fact of the matter is that you as a purchaser have no contractual relation with Corus Bank. Furthermore the entire nature of the project has changed from that originally represented to you. Go ask your attorney if you have an out [assuming that’s what you want to do].
Scottsman
High rise condo projects are dying on the vine all over the country. The possibility that the Montage could be turned into rentals simply cannot be discounted. The letter from Mr. Leal(posted on Makeover Dude’s site) sounds like it was written by a lawyer with some polish by a media spin consultant. Not blaming Mr. Leal for marking his words very carefully, but anybody who takes this letter as anything other than damage control is naive.
Bailey
So what do you think are the chances now that Ruth’s Chris restaurant will open up at the Corus Towers?
AlmostBought
The condo we put under contract is roughly 1200 SF for $500K. 10% deposit was required. What’s it worth now? $350-370K if the project stays as condos and doesn’t convert to rentals. Is Corus going to discount this 30% and guarantee the project will remain condos? Good question because anything less and I’m walking – straight to my lawyers office to attempt getting my deposit back.
Bailey
It seems to me that Reno Ignoramus may be right and that the only way out of this is if Corus is willing to take a massive hit. Corus may have to finance individual purchasers and then hold those loans in its own portfolio since they are not saleable into the secondary market. Corus is going to have to substantially drop the asking prices to attract buyers, which is fine since Leal’s prices were absurd and the source of this whole problem to begin with. I’m not sure what Corus can do to abate people’s fears that the project will turn into rentals or timeshares or whatever at some point down the road. A written guaranty? From a bank with the financial issues of Corus? Couldn’t such a guaranty be avioded in bankruptcy? And if the bank breaches the guaranty in the future? What are the damages for a buyer who relied on the guaranty? You get to hire a lawyer at $300 an hour and litigate with Corus for five years? Sounds like an invitation to buy a lawsuit to me.
AnotherFoolWhoBought
I think that most of you have an exaggerated view of the Montages value. You are talking about 20-30% discounts. Your $500,000 unit is probably worth closer to $200,000 now. You can buy in Arrowcreek for $500,000 now.
Montagebuyer3
The Montage is a disaster. It would appear to me that if Corus Bank now owns the Montage our contracts are no longer valid. It is a legal question. For those who want out of their contracts contact:
John R. Markowicz
Senior Vice President
CORUS Bank, N.A.
3959 N. Lincoln Ave.
Chicago, IL 60613
Email: jmarkowicz@corusbank.com
Telephone 773-832-3147
inclinejj
I am willing to bet a beer or two at Bully’s that Corus doesn’t make it much longer..take a look at these staggering numbers:
http://www.corusbank.com/DealsbyRegion.asp?region=West
http://www.corusbank.com/DealsbyRegion.asp?region=Southeast
Walter
AnotherFoolWhoBought is absolutely right on. Any Montage buyers out there who think their “$500,000” unit is worth anything close to that are in deep delusion and denial. So far, NOT ONE montage condo has been sold, really sold, as in escrow has closed kind of sold. So where does this pie in the sky “$500,000” value come from?
The mind of Fernando Leal is where.
Look around the MLS folks, and see what $500,000 can get you today. It will get you even more a year from today.
If you think your 1200 sq.ft. condo in the Montage is worth one half of a million dollars, the it appears the Greater Fool theory is alive and well.
AlmostBought
Supply and demand gentlemen. Unfortunately there wasn’t 369 other people that thought living downtown in Reno was worth $500K like I did. No sweat. I just toured Portland and it looks like that is where I will be.
Grand Wazoo
What did you like about Portland? After living here for 3+ years, we’re leaning in that direction as well.
downtownrenojunkie
Those figures on the Palladio are correct. I know because I owned a unit there.
I thought the construction quality at the Palladio was superior to the Montage- besides the makeshift roof.
You can now buy a two bedroom for what I sold my 1 bedroom for at the Palladio. I lived downtown for 8 months and LOVED IT! People need to take DReno for what it is. It’s not San Fran by any means but the opposite is true as well.
Some on here bash downtown and its projects. I admire Fernando for his passion and vision. Bad timing- you bet. I am sure his sub contracts, like the Palladio’s, were very high. Hopefully the Montage will survive as it was intended. It would make the next redevelopment efforts a lot less painful.
Thank you Diane and Guy for this wonderful blog. And everyone remember to forget about this mess we’re in during X-Mas!
billddrummer
I’m late to the discussion, but I’ve got a couple of questions:
1). The original loans are between 255 North Sierra LLC and Corus Bank. L3 Development isn’t named in any of the recorded documents. Is L3 Development the entity handling sales of the completed units? If that’s the case, there’s probably an assignment of proceeds between L3 Development and 255 North Sierra, which wouldn’t be affected regardless of the property disposition.
2). From what’s here (I haven’t read Mr. Fernando’s letter) it seems that Corus will take over the property ‘upon completion.’ Now, to me that sounds like when a C of O is issued on the total project. What’s the timing on that? As was mentioned previously, final maturity on the original notes is 5/15/09, barring any extensions granted subsequent to the original recordings. Is it likely that a C of O for the total project will be issued by then? Will it be done sooner? Has it been issued already? And does Corus define ‘completion’ by the issuance of a C of O, or is another definition floating around?
3). What will the final final final construction costs be? And how willing (and able) will Corus be in negotiating lower release prices if construction costs are as high as projected?
4). I don’t know enough about the project to make an educated guess about the potential rents to be generated if it was turned into apartments. But I do know that additional construction dollars may be needed to convert it to rentals, if in fact that’s a proposal on the table. Case in point: The Caviata project in Spanish Springs originally was to be a condo project. During the final phases of construction, the developer decided to convert it to apartments. But the conversion cost additional dollars for wider hallways, upgraded fire suppression systems, reconfigured exits and the like. How much will that cost?
5). How long will it take to absorb all these units?
As I said earlier, I welcome any comments.
CommercialLender
1) it is standard in the industry to have “completion guarantees” on the construction debt. They will have to complete, which usually means COs build to specs, and ‘lien-free construction’ so the liens will have to be cleared, if there are any. As for recourse, it would be totally normal for some percentage or full recourse on the debt.
2) Buyers of units (I count 4 supposed buyers above), you might take into consideration what happened during the last condo bust: (in many cases I know of) early buyers who closed frustrated the ability of the lender to sell the project en masse to an apartment operator, and they eventually got bought out handsomely. The reason is a lender, say Fannie or Freddie, won’t lend on the asset en masse as an apartment if x units or more is owned by outsiders, and certainly not if the HOA cannot be controlled by the new bulk buyer (or if existing owners are filing law suits, or there remain uncleared liens, etc). So, you might expect Corus or whomever controlls the Note to modify the HOA to their own disposition needs. Also, you might have more leverage than you think to get your deposits back, given they have a greater chance of selling to an apartment operator or opportunity investor if they can sell 100% of the asset en masse. Good luck.
inclinejj
Wells, BofA just changed the rules on condo’s they want over 50 percent of the condo’s sold before they lend..
That is another nice way of saying..go away we don’t want your loan
AlmostBought
Thanks for the info, CommercialLender.That’s certainly something to think about. From what I gather from here and Downtown Makeovers blog, all we’d really like at this point is our deposit back. It seems unfair that the project wasn’t foreclosed as I suspect the contract with 225 N. Sierra LLC would then be void and we would get our money back, as it is just held in escrow and still there. As someone pointed out Fernando gets to walk away from the project, even gets a job out of it, while all of us who put down a deposit are stuck with it.
I looked up Corus and besides their stock tanking, they are repo’ing projects left and right. One was sold at auction last month. The Executive VP in charge of commercial lending just left the company, so as the new owners I can’t say I’m very confident in them. I’m unsure how anyone can feel they can go through with the purchase and not feel they’re hanging everything out there.
TOW
I have double verified this information. Loans can not be closed for Montage buyers at this time due to the low percentage of sales. There are two possible solutions. 1) Buyers wait until more units are sold, and the project meets the Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac requirement of 50% of units sold for new developments. Meanwhile Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac may raise the requirement to 70%. This could stall sales for months or longer. We’re in a brand new phase of the waiting game. 2) The other solution could be that Corus bank might provide all the loans to qualified buyers. Fellow buyers, what do you think of having only one possible lending source for your mortgage loan, no competition. I have heard that the Montage team has understood this dilemma for months. Yet, even in his letter, Fernando references the possibility that Corus bank might provide loans for people who can not get loans elsewhere. Well that would be all, not some, of the buyers who are not paying 100% cash for their home. Fernando did not acknowledge this new unfortunate reality. Distrust is growing because of this lack of direct communication.
Bailey
It seems clear than the Montage is in deep doo doo. If Leal could not get to 50% BEFORE he gave the project back to the bank, he sure as hell is not going to get to 50% AFTER the property is essentially foreclosed. As I said above, Reno Ignoramus has it right. Corus is going to have to finance these units and keep the loans in its own portfolio. If that doesn’t happen, you can kiss the Montage goodbye.
Even that assumes that there enough are willing buyers to go ahead and still purchase and take the chance they end up owing in a building that ends up 60% or more rentals. This is a hell of a mess.
Waldo
This notion of Corus Bank providing the financing for individual buyers really needs to be thought through. If there are 370 units in the Montage, and Corus needs to finance 50% of them to get to the magical number where other lenders could make loans that could then be sold to Fannie or Freddie, then Corus would have to finance 185 units. At an average price of $500,000, that is $92,500,000 Corus would have to loan out to individual buyers. On top of the $200,000,000 or so that it has already lent to Mr. Leal to build the place. So we are talking about Corus loaning new money to individual purchasers to pay back itself on the old money it lent to Leal?
Reno Ignoramus says Corus would have to be willing to take an immense bath to make this work. Quite true.I think there are limits as to just how big a bath Corus, already in serious trouble with high rise condos all over the country, is going to be willing, or able, to take.
bondstevenbond
Any fool can plainly see
Corus is done
It
bondstevenbond
Their stock has gone from $30 down to $1.01. The $1.01 represents the dire hope of a FDIC/TARP bailout. This won’t happen. Not when far bigger/healthier financial companies are in the front of the line. It’s nearly impossible to find a weaker bank that is still alive. The market has already given up on Corus. It’s over.
Waldo
As I said earlier, Corus Bank is going to own half of Miami by the end of 2009. Until the FDIC takes over Corus. Then we will all own a piece of the Montage.
Also, Mr. Leal has a rah-rah letter posted on Downtown Makeover Dude’s site.
Bailey
So when the FDIC owns the Montage, do you think Ruth’s Chris will open a restaurant then?
bondstevenbond
Ruth’s Chris? No. Kick-butt dormitory? Maybe
Montage buyer4
Interesting article in the 12/4 TheStreet.com about Corus. Seems they’re using Corus as an example of a bank in financial trouble due to the vast increase in under performing loans. The stock is rated ‘sell’. I’m not a big stock guy but that can’t be good for future stability.
CorusFollower
Whoever is saying Corus will turn the Montage into rentals does not know Corus’ modus operandi very well. Amateurs. Let me enlighten you all to the future of the Montage. Take it from someone who tracks Corus.
Corus is the primary lender for condo projects in Southern Florida.
In South Florida, Corus holds loans on 18 condo, condo conversion and apartments projects totalling $1.38 billion as of Oct. 30. Nine of them with a balance of $405 million were nonaccrual, meaning that they were at least 90 days late.
Another two condo loans with a $281 million balance were classified potential problem loans, which means they were performing but the bank has “serious doubts” the borrowers can repay them.
Corus to date has not converted any of the condo build-outs it holds notes or deeds on to rentals. Instead they are holding massive auctions to sell off remaining inventory in each building? Want proof? See Jade Ocean Condominiums in Sunny Isles Beach, Paramount Bay in Miami, The Mint at Riverfront in Miami, The Ivy in Miami, Artech Residences at Aventura, Tao in Sunrise, the Caribbean Miami Beach and especially Edge Condominium in West Palm Beach. None of those projects converted to rentals, instead each is going through massive auctions where 50 to 100 units are sold in one auction at cut-rate pricing.
To the Montage owners who are worried about the project converting to rentals, that is the least of your worries. You’ll buy your units at ‘reduced pricing’. Then the remaining will be auctioned off at half the price of your ‘reduced’ pricing. Just like the 9 troubled projects they have in Florida. And as well-meaning as Fernando Leal and L3 Deveopment might be, there won’t be anything they can do about it.
Bailey
Ahh cool, CorusFollower, excellent post. Really excellent. So Corus is not likely to offer financing to buyers it seems. Actually, auction seems to make so much sense now that you have mentioned it. But man, that seems like REALLY bad news. You are so right, why would I pay $420,000 for my $500,000 condo(ok, I understand that is Leal Land fantasy pricing) and then watch Corus auction off similar units in the Spring for $200,000?
Reno Ignoramus
CorusFollower, yes indeed an excellent comment. Thanks greatly for this info. Do you know if Corus generally has a reserve price on auction, or are they real auctions with no minumum bid?
Is there any available info out there about what kind of discount these condo units actually go for at acution compared to original asking prices?
CorusFollower
According to this http://www.nytimes.com/2008/11/28/greathomesanddestinations/28auctions.html a very happy woman bought a condo for $225,000, original asking price was $511,000 this was at Edge Condos I mentioned in my post above.
Detmar
So maybe there will be a 55% off sale at the Montage come auction time?
These places were so damn overpriced, I’d still have to think about 55% off. But, I will say, if this really happens, that makes the Montage a lot more interesting to me than it was 5 days ago.
I guess this will not be good news for Palladio owners will it?
Waldo
I’m not trying to be a prophet here, but wouldn’t it be a strange twist of fate if this turns out in a way to fulfill Donwtown Makeover Dude’s fondest wish?
The overpriced Montage goes into the ditch, Mr. Leal has to give it back to the bank, the bank wants to get the hell out of town as quickly as it can, so it offers the condos at auction for about 40% of Mr. Leal’s fantasy pricing. Price per sq. ft. goes from $400 to $170. People who would never have even looked at the Montage now get interested. You know, ordinary folk, who could actually afford to pay $200K for a 1200 sq. ft. condo.
stjoe56
CorusFollower:
You are wrong. There is nothing to prevent Corus/Leal from renting out part of the building. From Corus’s most recent 10Q:
—–
Apartment Exit Plan
Most of our apartment loans (funded balance $390 million, total commitment $524 million) were condominium loans that were reclassified when the borrower opted for an apartment exit, in lieu of condominium sales. If we do not believe our loan to be well-secured by the new apartment exit plan, we will either specifically reserve for any shortfall in our Allowance for Loan Losses or charge off the shortfall. In addition, there are four other projects, with a total commitment of $319 million, that have not yet been re-categorized as apartments, but which appear to be headed in that direction. There are several other loans that have already been paid in full via sales as apartment buildings. Not all condominium projects have viable apartment fallback options (in fact, only a minority do), but obviously when such a fallback exists it adds a helpful level of security to our loan.
. . .
There have been no unit sales closed on seven of the projects, five of which do not yet have a Certificate of Occupancy (a precondition to selling units). The level of presales for these projects ranges from 0%-85% of the units, with the variation due largely to the location of the property. Certain markets tend to have higher levels of presales than others. For the remaining five properties, two have closed on essentially 50% or more of the units. One of the properties just recently started closing on units and has closed on roughly 10% of the building. The last two are multi-phase projects where the borrower is considering splitting the phases between condominiums and apartments. To the extent that units are for sale in the completed phases of the projects, between 50%-75% of the units have closed.
The outlook for these loans could be either to 1) allow the borrowers to continue selling units in an attempt to pay down the loan to a safe level, 2) allow the borrower to complete construction and proceed to the initial sellout period, or 3) foreclose and take over the property. For certain properties, the apartment option is viable and is a potential exit strategy as well.
. . .
As cited previously in this report, the Company has experienced several reclassifications from condominium to rental apartment during the second quarter of 2008. Two such reclassifications occurred on loans that were on nonaccrual status as of March 31, 2008 and continue to be identified as such as of June 30, 2008. Note however that the two properties collateralizing the loans were being rented as apartment at March 31, 2008, but were ‘officially’ reclassified as rental apartment during the second quarter.
SJ
Martin
So either the Montage units will:
1) get converted to apartment rentals, (the St.Joe56 suggestion) or,
2) be sold at auction for drastically reduced prices from the original purchase contract, (the CorusFollower suggestion).
Under either of those scenarios, wouldn’t buying at this point be a huge risk? Am I missing something?
Reno Ignoramus
StJoe, I don’t think that CorusFollower said that Corus Bank is necessarily prevented or prohibited from converting all or part of the Montage to rentals. I think he just said that Corus has not done so with respect to several other high rise condo projects it has taken back. The language you quoted from Corus’ 10Q would seem to indicate that the bank has more than one option.
I agree with Martin ( and you and CorusFollower)that neither of these two scenarios is very enticing for people with purchase contracts now.
DowntownMakeoverDude
“Not all condominium projects have viable apartment fallback options (in fact, only a minority do), but obviously when such a fallback exists it adds a helpful level of security to our loan.”
To me it sounds like only a minority of their condo projects would be viable as rentals, and I bet the majority of those would be in Florida due to overall high rent one could fetch from ocean-front condos. What kind of rent could they command at the Montage? What kind of rent rates are at the Palladio for those that own units there and rent them out? Couldn’t they fetch more from even a $250,000 mortgage+hoa’s, than from trying to rent for $2000 a month? My guess would be since they are doing fire sales in Florida first before resorting to renting out the buildings, they would first try to sell the condos here at reduced prices. It’s a one shot deal. Kind of like Village at Idlewild…once they announced they were doing rentals as well as still selling units, I bet they have sold slim to no units since. But maybe rented a lot! Same with Montage…If Corus decides to turn it into rentals down the road, then they better be sure they never want to sell another unit in that building, because I doubt they would, even for $200,000. Am I right or wrong?
Also, it should be noted the choice to turn into rentals at Village at Idlewild was from the developer, the bank did not repossses that project to my knowledge, and the project originally started as apartment rentals then switched to condos midway through. Should have just stayed rentals.
Steve
Apartments: sure, maybe
Auction: I very much doubt that they will be onesy, twosy, these will be lots of properties for CASH.
Corus will want to cut it’s losses the only thing that talks right now is Cash or Treasury paper.
If they are to survive or at least pay Executive bonuses the must cash out for whatever they can get.
Oh and $170 sq ft not even likely.
DowntownMakeoverDude
Hopefully we’ll know soon what’s up.
downtownjunkie
Corus will not transition the Montage into a rental play. There would need to be another significant investment to make that feasible and most of the unit types won’t work anyway. I think they are in bad shape and need to get these projects off their books asap.
An auction will be the best way but I don’t think it will be open to “regular joes”. These investors will have cash and most likely buy multiple units.
I bet the original buyers would stay in the game if they were given the same opportunity. From a business standpoint, it’s not likely they will a shot. But from a “don’t throw me under the bus” standpoint it would be the right thing to do.
AlmostBought
Good comments. It really makes a person have to think critically. Downtown makeover dude – do you remember many announcements that brought on this constant onslaught of responses & counter responses? Just curious how this ranks with Reno.
DowntownMakeoverDude
hmmm on this blog? I remember a while back Diane used to post a series of links in a single post (many of those sent in by her blog readers) and those usually garnered the most discussion because the links tended to be a bit more controversial.
Any reason Diane you stopped doing those types of posts every so often?
Also, posts or articles on this blog that contain any sort of statement from the NAR will get people really riled up with good reason. And most posts from Mike.
DowntownMakeoverDude
I think 97 comments might be a record though for a post on RRB. What IS the highest number of comments you’ve receive for a post Diane?
bondstevenbond
Nice posts….and special thanks to Corusfollower. As others have said, it makes no difference whether these units are rented out or if they are auctioned off to institutional investors at cash-flow-positive-rental prices.
Nothing is worth more than it can produce.
Reno Ignoramus
I recall one thread where I posted my list of the ten best rock and roll bands of all time. It was comment number 100, and I wanted to get Diane over the century mark.
I do believe that 100 comments sets a record for a thread put up by Mike.