Most of the time when you hear about Seattle, a few things come to mind…rain, coffee/Starbucks, the Space Needle, rain, Tom Hanks/Meg Ryan, Frasier, rain, and possibly for you sports fans, the Seattle sports teams…Seahawks, Sonics and Mariners. Well, I am just finishing up a much needed vacation in Seattle (even though it was on an Aerobed at my in-laws) and here is my assessment of the week.    No rain. In fact, the weather was hot and sunny this week ma ...     Read entire post

Based on my recent discussions with community bankers and environmental consultants throughout the country, there continues to be much confusion in the industry about how banks should conduct proper environmental due diligence on commercial real estate.  Yes – I said how TO conduct due diligence, not how to AVOID it, which was the way it used to be.                    There are so many ou ...     Read entire post

In March, the Small Business Administration announced its proposed revisions to its Standard Operating Procedures (SOP 50-10).  In its release, SBA touts the new SOP as streamlined and easier to understand. With regards to the Environmental portion of the SOP, I definitely agree that it is.  The new SOP brings the SBA in line with what we at EDR have been following for some time...tiered due diligence based on loan amounts and risk levels of properties.  However, it appears ...     Read entire post

Last week I met with numerous lenders and consultants in Texas during the educational programs that EDR consistently provides to the industry.   It was an eye-opening one for me regarding the state of the industry and the economy in general.  Until last week, I had been hearing and seeing that the largest banks and consultants and those that were involved in Wall Street deals were pretty much responsible for the CRE market struggles.  However, it now appears that sm ...     Read entire post

I was at the RTM Communications conference last week, which is always one of the finest run Brownfield/Contaminated Property Transaction forums out there.  The conference is always well attended by the industry leaders in the real estate field (attorneys, developers, environmental consultants, lenders, insurance companies, corporations) and this one was no exception.  One interesting fact was that a year ago, the attorneys in particular were begging folks to do more environmental due ...     Read entire post

Welcome to my blog, Risky Business.  The intent of this blog is to discuss things that I see and hear as I travel throughout the country meeting with consultants and financial companies discussing the risk management issues that they face each day. Ironically, I am writing this first post at Bradley International Airport in Connecticut after my flight was delayed through Philadelphia. (Note to self, if it can be avoided, do not fly through Philadelphia or Chicago ever.) The big n ...     Read entire post