Entries by jimflaherty

MBA — Serious about reform — Not that depressed, but certainly humble

My takeaway from this week’s conference was the Mortgage Bankers Association is absolutely serious about enacting reform at every level. The words transparency, standards and credibility were used over and over. Because of the massive losses and the government’s long-term commitment to providing financing for homes, the pressure to standardize is greater than ever. However, […]

Metallica Death Magnetic Private Show

Last night we were privileged to see Metallica play a final practice show before starting the Death Magnetic World Tour. I am friends with the band through our kids, so I was able to secure a group of passes to the show. About 1,000 people got into the Cow Palace in South San Francisco to […]

Blue Angels: Burning fuel and pulling Gs

Seeing the Blue Angels perform over San Francisco Bay makes me proud to be a taxpayer! In the world of multi-billion dollar government bailouts and endless deficits, seeing the US Military burning some fuel and pulling Gs seems to make things feel better. The market up 11 percent helps a bit too. Enjoy the pics.

The Mother of All RFPs

Politics and the CMBS industry have become sudden (and strange) bedfellows, but recent developments may help bring open transparency to both parties. The Department of the Treasury recently issued an RFP titled “Notice to Financial Institutions Interested in Providing Whole Loan Asset Management Services for a Portfolio of Troubles Mortgage-Related Assets.” This is a huge […]

What a Week to be in San Francisco

This week is one of my favorites. The Blue Angels are coming to town, and the weather is looking nice. The Blue Angels fly starting on Thursday through Sunday. We will be on the boat later this week and will post some cool pics as we get them. Speaking of cool pics, the Maltese Falcon […]

What a Week to be in New York

I had four days at the Tribeca Grand this week, and it has felt a little bit like September 11, 2001. Except this time the crisis is in the economy. The TV set (at least mine) has been glued to CNN and WSJ Online to see the latest on the bailout. The UN is in […]

What’s in a name?

In May at the MBA tech conference in Chicago, I laid out the CMBS.com master plan to Mike Lipson of Capmark, a major master servicer and traditional mortgage broker. I have known Mike since GMAC bought Hanford/Healy in 1996 (where I worked before founding GateCapital) but he had not heard of the CMBS.com name (we […]

Black Monday and champagne?

Two major events today: Lehman Brothers filed for bankruptcy, and Bank of America went live on Backshop. — — — September 15, 2008 – Lehman Brothers filed for bankruptcy today. In 2000, I sold my first company (GateCapital) to Lehman Brothers. My partner, Jim Kehoe, ran a $5 billion primary servicing portfolio for them consisting […]