Colliers International and Wendel Rosen Sponsor "Fool's Gold: Real Worth Versus Perceived Worth in Today's Economy"
March 12, 2010 - Colliers International and Wendel, Rosen, Black & Dean LLP sponsored an event titled "Fool's Gold: Real Worth Versus Perceived Worth in Today's Economy," held on March 11, 2010 at the Walnut Creek Marriott Hotel. Attendee reservations exceeded 135 people. The majority of attendees were from local and community banks, other financial institutions, special servicers, receivers, and investors.
Keynote speaker Gary Steven Findley of The Findley Group provided an overview of the outlook for the community banking industry, including specific analysis of the Federal Reserve 12th District and Northern California. He offered commentary on the impact of stress testing and bank failures on the industry and suggested that we will see recession pressures on the industry well into 2011.
The evening also included two concurrent breakout sessions. The first, geared toward lenders included speakers Jeffrey Cantor of The Debt Exchange and Charles Hansen of Wendel, Rosen, Black & Dean. The panel covered pitfalls and mistakes often made by lenders in the foreclosure process, a discussion of the benefits of sale of debt versus foreclosure, and a discussion of the elements of workout agreements and foreclosure bidding strategies.
The second panel, which was geared toward investors, included panelists Steven Morger of Wendel, Rosen, Black & Dean; Jay Stein of Sand Capital, and Ed Rusky of First American Title Company. The panelists discussed the business and legal issues involved in purchasing debt verses the underlying real estate, title issues and title insurance, and locating where the opportunities are hiding in today's market.
Henry Englehardt, senior vice president Colliers International, introduced the program. Edward F. Del Beccaro, senior managing partner of Colliers International and Michael Dean, partner of Wendel, Rosen, Black & Dean served as co-moderators, introducing the break out sessions.
"As predicted, 2010 is proving to be a challenging time for the commercial real estate industry. The purpose of this program series is to help guide our clients through these challenges, in the hope that when all is said and done they will come out a little healthier than they would otherwise," said Del Beccaro.
"We know lenders are currently struggling to make sense of the real estate loan portfolios that they never had any intention of managing. The concepts and tools discussed in this seminar series will help them make the most out of what could be a bad situation for some," commented Dean. "At the same time, there are opportunities to be had for those investors with capital. Future recovery will depend on these folks making smart plays now and going forward."
About Colliers International
Colliers is one of the largest commercial real estate firms in the world with 294 offices in 61 countries in the Americas, Europe, the Middle East and Africa, and Greater Asia. Colliers International manages more than 1.1 billion square feet of commercial property and has revenue in excess of $1.6 billion. Colliers International is a worldwide affiliation of independently owned and operated companies. Colliers Parrish International, Inc., dba Colliers International, is headquartered in San Jose and has 11 offices in California and Nevada.
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