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Blaine Bronson's avatar

Look forward to your weekly articles! What percentage of real estate loans are non recourse?

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Mark Howard's avatar

A very thorough and sensible analysis, Ben. Thanks for taking us back to GFC for important context. One additional piece of this narrative that has played out to a greater degree outside of Maine is the role of "professional" RE investors. When the GFC flushed out banks and builders as you described, unregulated funds seized an opportunity to buy developments in FL, AZ, NV and other hard hit areas. After flipping these properties for huge gains a few years later, these financial firms re-deployed their investors' funds across the country and became key determiners of rental rates. Their investment goals, horizons and practices differ greatly from traditional landlords - in many cases to the detriment to tenants, IMO. This is a big (and powerful) business now and may have changed the game for good in many places.

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