Brandon L. Raatikka, JD

Over the past several years, FactRighthas seen a trend in increased demand for residential real estate investment programs (e.g., multifamily, build-to-rent, single family residences).While our offering-level reports provide a market overview at the MSA-level, I wanted to goa few levels higher to the national scale. This blog primarily looks at the relationship of single-family home prices and income in the United States to answer the following question:What are the implications for residentialreal estate programs if housing is overpriced relative to historic norms?  

By now, you may be generally familiar with the recent collapse of FTX, and some of the reasons for its failures are obvious. But by examining FTX side-by-side with perhaps the most infamous investment fraud ever perpetrated, we can discover some keys as to why lapses in due diligence may never be a thing of the past. These two epic failures bear little factual resemblance to one another at first glance, but this post will look more closely at the more transcendent lessons they hold.

It should come as no surprise that the old investment adage about getting what you pay for holds true for preferred stock, too. Despite often being pitched as a bond alternative, especially lately, there are multiple factors beyond dividend yield to consider. Among the features, an investor needs to understand are the liquidity provisions, dividend policy, and preferred shareholder rights. Sponsors tend to get irritable when FactRight stress tests their pro forma model or highlights weak investor protections, dismissing the concerns as implicating scenarios highly unlikely to ever occur. However, sometimes the unlikely or improbable does occur. This post will focus on a real scenario involving several preferred securities that underscores the need for due diligence in these areas.

Affiliated transactions can be thorny. They raise conflicts of interest and create additional governance challenges and risks. The relative fiduciary duties (or lack thereof) that the manager owes to each side of the transaction complicates the picture. Investors are understandably apprehensive about the conflicts in such deals because there is a higher likelihood that value is being shifted to the affiliated party inappropriately.

One of the most prominent products in the alternative investment space in recent years have been DSTs/1031 Exchanges, which has grown to become an annual $8 billion to $10 billion industry. However, with recent trends in rising interest rates and cap rate compression for many asset classes, due diligence on DST programs in the market has never been more important. With that in mind, FactRight’s chief operating officer (and resident DST expert) Brandon Raatikka joined Ridgegate Financial’s Wallace Smith on the 1031 Show to discuss the importance of 1031 due diligence. The podcast, which you can check out below, covers several topics that broker-dealers and RIAs should consider when evaluating the 1031 space, including the following: The benefits of a third-party due diligence report Trends in the 1031 space An overview of DSTs and key benefits of DST investments Key differences between TICs and DSTs, including the Seven Deadly Sins A primer on 721 UPREITs Areas of focus for evaluating a DST sponsor