The
key to understanding the parallels between Darwin and the crisis facing
the commercial real estate industry is not in the "survival of the
fittest" or "King of the Mountain" sense, but in understanding
Darwin's concept of
adaptation. Adaptation is defined as "a combination
of successive, small, random changes in
traits, and natural selection of the variants best-suited for their
environment."
We need to accept that
systemic changes have occurred in our industry and we need to immediately make changes in our business plans and find
new, creative and out of the box solutions. For some this has meant leaving the real estate industry altogether. Many have found success through a shift from new construction to renovations, while others have chosen to redirect their focus from troubled markets to more stable geographic markets, or have changed their focus on product type (ie from retail to industrial). Those who refuse to address the new realities will likely go the way of the
woolly mammoth.For Bison adaptation means broadening our
focus from the origination of commercial real estate loans
through a network of banks and Wall Street Lenders to expanding relationships with non-traditional lenders (FHA, FannieMae, SBA, USDA, pension funds, credit unions, hedge funds & hard money lenders). We are also ramping up our loan sale advisory business by arranging the sale of performing, sub-performing and non-performing notes as well as helping clients renegotiate their debt for a fraction of
the unpaid principal balance.
