Saw this in today's paper, When the signs say 'walk'. A major commercial real estate speculator walked away from $4.4 BILLION in loans. Dropping that debt, ultimately, on all of us as part of the bank bailout. The speculator walks away with other investments worth $33 BILLION.
Essentially, the investors took a risk. Buying rent controlled property, with the idea that they could escape these controls and sell the properties at a large mark-up. Unfortunately, they overpaid for a fully rented, performing property. Paying more for the project than the rents could support, with the idea that they could quickly flip the housing for quick cash.
They lost the gamble, and we will all pay.
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