Michael Hobbs's (michaelhobbs) Blog

The squeeze play on the net lease private real estate investor seems to be making quite a stir.   In a market where properties are up for grabs many investors want a piece of the pie.  Large investment groups like hedge funds, pension funds, and REIT’s (real estate investment trusts) are racing i...

The Chicago Bulls just unveiled their plan for a new $25 million practice facility to be built on the existing grounds of the United Center.  Last summer the Bulls announced that their plan is to build a new facility on parking lot J, right off Madison Street. After their meeting with the Chicago...

Investopedia described Robo Signing fiasco as, “In the third and fourth quarters of 2010, a robo-signing scandal emerged in the United States involving GMAC Mortgage and a number of major U.S banks. Banks had to halt thousands of foreclosures in numerous states when it became known that the pape...

If anyone could find a way to profit on the new bank regulations, it’s the world’s largest and well known private equity firm, Blackstone Group LP.   Banks are under new regulations regarding credit risk, which limits the amount they can lend.  Two anonymous sources reported that Blackstone insur...

The negative equity bubble is only one of the results of the Housing bubble…bursting.  Negative equity is when someone owes more on their mortgage than the value of their property or could sell their property for, also known as underwater.  The “bubble” is the effect it has on the market. Here is...

Three of the largest private equity firms in the country have included non-listed real estate investment trusts in their partnerships.  The purpose of these mergers are so they can go public and begin to sell shares on the open market as they near the time when they are obligated to pay out divid...

As the housing market continues to trudge along, the consensus is that it is getting more and more difficult to find substantial deals with foreclosures.  According to FNC, a real estate analytics firm says that the average discount for a foreclosed property used to be 25% and that is no longer. ...

Have you ever walked into your bathroom and thought, “Oh my!  My bathroom needs a serious upgrade!”   Remodeling bathrooms ranked the highest from 2009 to 2011 on most popular rooms to remodel in the home.  In Remodeling magazine’s 2011 Cost vs. Value Report, they documented that 62% of the renov...

Downtown has always been the place to be for most large cities, but as time has passed the face of many “downtown” areas need a makeover.  For a developer, that means you may want to find out which cities have companies relocating or new companies moving in.  As companies are searching for cities...

The Ricketts Family has proposed a Wrigley Field make over.  However this proposal is way more than just a makeover for the stadium, it’s an entire complex.  Once you’re in there is no getting out, it will literally be a Cubs-A-Palooza. Renovations to the stadium are just one part of this entire ...