Identity Crisis or Marketing Strategy, REITs Change Names
In the past two days, we’ve seen two REITs decide to change the name of their firms. First up was Capital Lease Funding which now goes by CapLease. Today, Health Care Property Investors also decided to change its name. Health Care Property Investors is now known as HCP.
In both cases, I agree that the new names are more concise. HCP and CapLease also seem more modern and less technical than the old names. Could it be that REITs are becoming more market savvy? I think so.
Speaking of market savvy... Have you seen the Redwood Trust website (http://www.redwoodtrust.com)? It’s truly a beautiful website. Compare the Redwood Trust’s site to that of struggling American Home Mortgage Investment (http://www.americanhm.com). Both companies are Financial REITs. I know we shouldn’t judge a book by its cover, but obviously Redwood’s site looks better and the company seems to be in a better financial situation, too.
Share It: 
Bookmark It: 
Comments (0) 
Aug.01.2007. 22:35
NYSE Halted Trading for American Home Mortgage Investment Corp.
We all thought that Monday would be difficult for the shareholders and employees of American Home Mortgage Investment Corporation. However, pending significant news from the company that never arrived as of this posting, the NYSE halted trading.
The troubles for American Home Mortgage appear to be related to mounting problems in the home mortgage market. Late last Friday, AHM announced that the company’s Board of Directors decided to delay payment of a previously announced dividend.
I feel sad for the employees and shareholders of AHM. I wish them all the best, and I hope for them that the management can navigate these waters. We seem to forget that companies like AHM support many individuals and families, and that the company is much more than a stock price on our computer screens.
Share It: Bookmark It:
Comments (0) Jul.30.2007. 21:11
REIT Media is now more Del.icio.us, Digg It?
Things are really picking up at REIT Media. Yesterday we integrated our press release database with the most common social sharing and bookmarking services currently available. Now guests on reitmedia.com can share their REIT related finds with users of Digg, Netscape, Newsvine, and Reddit. In addition they can bookmark REIT Media resources on Del.icio.us, Google, Yahoo, and Technorati.
We feel that this integration takes our service to the next level, and we are now confidently leading the pack for REIT press release promotion and archiving. What’s next for us? With these new features you can help be part of the success and the promotion of REITs.
Share It: Bookmark It:
Comments (0) Jul.29.2007. 10:55
REIT eat REIT
After just 18 months as a public REIT, Republic Property Trust was acquired this week by Liberty Property Trust. This continues the shrinking of the public REIT investment market. At least this transaction involved another public REIT, and not a private equity firm.
In an article issued by Forbes about the acquisition, Wachovia Securities analyst Christopher Haley believes that Liberty’s purchase price equates to cap rates in the mid-6% range. However, based on comments in the article from Republic CEO Mark Keller the new owner’s may have the ability to raise rents in the tight Washington D.C. market.
Liberty Swallows Republic In Capital Affair (Forbes)
Share It: Bookmark It:
Comments (0) Jul.28.2007. 11:04
Graphing REITs
We here at REIT Media finally had some time to get our dynamic graphing software installed and configured. We are very pleased with the results. In addition, we hope that our use of this cutting-edge technology will illustrate our commitment to sharing REIT information in creative ways.
Let us know if you have a REIT data set that would be interesting converted to a visual format. If we have the data available, we will try to make it happen.
On deck we have a new logo coming soon.
Moving forward!
Share It: Bookmark It:
Comments (0) Jul.20.2007. 00:46
The Movie Transformers Starring Colonial Properties Trust 
For the past two weekends, Transformers has been the biggest movie at the US box office. The movie, based on the fantastically popular 80’s toy of the same name, has something in common this week with Colonial Properties Trust. In the movie, unassuming everyday items such as cars and fighter jets transform into intelligent and robust robots. In real life, Colonial Properties Trust just announced that their transformation is complete as well.
Colonial Properties Trust has transformed from a diversified collection of income generating assets into a lean mean multi-family dividend machine. However, I’m not entirely convinced that this transformation is not the beginning of an exit strategy for CLP management.
Say what? Well earlier this year we witnessed a similar but smaller BNP Residential acquired by the Australian firm Babcock and Brown. BNP’s former headquarters in Charlotte, NC, is now the US headquarters of Babcock and Brown Residential. Likewise, press releases filed by CLP indicate that the company already has entered into joint ventures with Babcock and Brown. It could be that BNP was simply the start of Babcock’s multi-family apartment empire, or maybe BNP was a trial-run with a smaller company to see if the Australian investment firm can successfully transition a public REIT into a private enterprise.
Share It: Bookmark It:
Comments (1) Jul.13.2007. 22:47
udr dot com
Obviously, I can't read every REIT press release that is indexed by REIT Media. However, yesterday, my two worlds, technology and REITs, collided.
UDR, formerly United Dominion Realty Trust, issued a press release about the new UDR.com. This little piece of PR contained all of the Internet buzzwords - Web 2.0, AJAX, and RSS. Well, not only did the press release deliver, but UDR's new website delivers too. Unfortunately, the press release was unable to illustrate the simplistic beauty of the site.
To me, it seems that most REIT websites are geared toward the potential investor, but UDR produced an extremely useful web product for their customers. Props to the UDR management team for thinking differently.
Share It: Bookmark It:
Comments (2) Jul.10.2007. 21:59