Adrienne Berkowitz
The expected losses when loans go
bad could hit between $200 billion to $300 billion and threaten 3,000 small and
mid-size banks with a disproportionate share of commercial real estate assets on
their books, according to the panel.

The report is intended to "wave a
red flag" to the White House and Congress that the commercial real estate loan
market is going to get a lot worse before it gets better.

"We're at a
point where even as TARP is ramping down another major challenge in our economy
is ramping up," said Elizabeth Warren, the oversight panel's chairwoman. "We
need to start now, before the system is on the brink of collapse to figure out a
plan," she added.

The panel's research found that 2,988 banks are
heavily invested -- with more than three times their assets tied up -- in
commercial real estate loans. Of that number, 2,500 banks each have less than $1
billion in assets.

Indeed, many such smaller banks have already failed.
Small bank failures"will intensify sharply over the next few years," Warren
said.

"When commercial properties fail, the result is a downward spiral
of economic contraction, as these are the same small banks that create jobs and
boost economic activity," she said.

Solutions: The panel offers a number
of possible solutions for policymakers to head off a commercial real estate
crisis. For example, it says the Treasury Department should "stress test" banks
that are concentrated in commercial real estate loans.

If you've
decided to put your property on the market recently, it may not be a great time
to get the best price as the market appears to be saturated with the market
really being a buyers market at the moment. Some cities around the world are
saturated with apartments for sale, and this can be a mix of brand new
apartments, ready to be showcased with the cut of a ribbon, or second-hand
apartments with character and style, which maybe just need a bit of restoration
work. Either way, for a quick sale in the current climate, you need to be
offering something different - something that stands out from the crowds of
other apartments and noise within a busy city.

Typical big sellers are
those apartments which are difficult to come by - take for example attic
apartments with large terraces or big, sunny balconies in warm countries like
Spain and Portugal. These are obviously always going to be big sellers due to
the scarcity of them - you can only have one or maybe two attic apartments in a
building, compared to the rest of the block below. Take into consideration the
location of that building, such as a prime downtown location, and you have got a
great advantage over your competitors - even within the same building - and will
likely not have to lower your price in the current game to establish a decent
benefit on a likely quick sale.

If you're looking for a quick sale with
a historical property, for example, ensure the installations are all current and
comply with the legislation. There's nothing more of a put off for a potential
buyer than to think about having to overhaul the whole electrics of an
apartment. Another great selling point is an elevator. The historical old town
can be a draw, but trudging up a narrow six flight of stairs can soon take the
shine off the character and charm in an instant.

If your apartment is of
a decent size, and you have made any modifications to the original structure,
this can also help. Think of 3 or 4 bedroom apartments, which have used bedroom
space and transformed the kitchen into a huge cooking space, for example - these
kind of things make an apartment stand out, and offer a unique selling point, or
USP. Your USP could have nothing to do with the interior of your property,
either, for example.

A huge selling point in crammed urban spaces is
natural light, not only for the obvious benefits of saving on electricity bills
for example, but also for the beneficial properties that sunlight has on the
body and the person as a whole. It's quite common for a pretty dilapidated
apartment to be able to fetch way over the price of a neighbouring apartment -
even brand new works - just because its constructed geographical location makes
maximum benefit of the sunrise and daylight hours often until sunset. Find your
USP for your property to stay one step ahead of the rest!

Adrienne Aiken Berkowitz

Real estate investing in
2010 and beyond offers great opportunities, but investing in real estate
successfully will be no walk in the park. Real estate investing before the
financial crisis was smoke and mirrors. Now investing in this market is akin to
stock investing. There is no sure thing. Investing for beginners can be tricky,
so here's how I suggest you get up to speed before you invest money in
properties.

Many of us remember when most any investment property was
naturally expected to go up in price. Most of us remember when the stock market
was in trouble at the start of the new millennium and real estate investing was
making people rich. What few investors really understood at the time is that
real property is subject to market dynamics like stocks are. What goes up in
price eventually comes down; and what goes up like a rocket comes crashing down
to earth.

Financial leverage and easy money launched property values,
and reality (plus a financial crisis) brought prices crashing down. That's why
real estate investing in 2010 or later holds such opportunity for investors.
Both the residential and commercial sector were struggling to make a comeback as
2010 started to unfold, and property values looked cheap. Investing for
beginners involves getting a good start AND avoiding big mistakes that can bury
you financially.

Here are three negatives associated with owning
properties, and how to get started as an investor while avoiding costly
mistakes. The first negative is poor liquidity. An investment with GOOD
liquidity can be sold quickly and easily at the market price with little
expense. This is not true of real property, especially today. Second, owning
properties involves active management and expenses. Third, the advantage of real
estate investing that made folks rich over the years is the same thing that put
many folks in the poor house... financial leverage... a fancy term for borrowing
a lot of money to invest with.

Here's how I suggest you get your feet
wet. Invest in a real estate mutual fund or ETF, which is a stock. If you have a
brokerage account you can do this in a matter of seconds on the internet. If not
call a discount broker and open an account. Search "discount broker" on the
internet to find one. Then, start following the financial news on TV, in the
newspaper, or on the internet.

Your mutual fund or ETF (exchange traded
fund) will be your starter investment that invests in companies that own and
manage commercial properties like office buildings, apartment complexes and
shopping malls. There is no active management on your part, because professional
money managers do it for you. You just buy shares and hold until you want to
sell; and you can sell shares in a matter of seconds for a commission of about
$10. There is no need to leverage or borrow money and you can invest as little
as a few hundred dollars, or as much as you like.

There's another reason
I suggest this as a great way of investing for beginners. As the market for
properties improves you'll be making money; but you'll also get a feel for real
estate investing as you follow the financial news. Who knows... when you see how
easy it is to make an investment online... you may never want to deal with the
hassles of owning real properties. Either way, you'll get yourself up to speed
as you get a handle on the market for real properties.

In any market,
not just the stock market, poor timing spells 'bad investment'. Another
advantage to investing in a fund vs. a physical property is that you can invest
over time to smooth out the risk. If prices fall you can add more shares at a
cheaper price while waiting for the recovery.

If you want to
check the ownership of any property then you would require finding any resource
on the Internet which offers finding out who owns a property. There are hundreds
of resources on the Internet which offer this kind of services. Mostly the
people who involve in the property business, they use online resources to ensure
that the person who is going to sell any property is the original owner of the
property and has right to make any decision about it. If you too have been doing
a property business then you should ensure who owns a property before making any
deal.

If you are professional property dealer then you may find any
resource which offers packages for bulk researches. These packages would save a
lot of money. Some resources would require buying membership and would allow
performing searches for specific time span. Most of the professional property
dealers use this option because it is the most cost effective way of performing
bulk research. However before planning to use any resource, you should ensure
that the resource is reliable and would be able to provide the right
information. You can verify the truthfulness of any resource by reading the
rules of the resource.

By finding out who owns a property, one would be
able to know about all the owners of the property. A property may have multiple
owners and sometimes one of the owners tries to sell the property which is
against the law. If you want to avoid in getting this kind of situation then it
would be obligatory to research on the Internet to find out who owns a property.
The government also recommends investigating about property before making any
kind of deal so that you could avoid doing any illegitimate thing. If you want
to verify your own property then you may perform a research to know about it.

Even some government based resources would offer registry certificate of
your property. So, if you want to get a copy of the registry of your property
then you may place an order online and the registry would be delivered to your
specified address. This is the quickest, simple and cost effective way of
verifying the ownership of your property and getting the registry of your
property. I personally whenever purchase any property; I verify it after a
couple of weeks to ensure that the property is transferred to my name.

Adrienne Berkowitz 6. Wait to make an offer

Homebuyers may be well served to wait before making an offer. Let the
house sit on the market for a few days, giving others a chance to set the
bidding tone. Then jump in.

"Talk to the agent selling the property,"
said Kelman. "The agent may tip his hand. Call up and ask, 'Should I make an
offer? What should I come in at?'"

The agent may tell you he has offers
at, say $300,000 and you should bid a bit higher, giving you an advantage over
earlier bidders.

Economy bouncing back

For example, as the
economy improves (it's hoped), businesses will expand production, hire new
workers and open new sales outlets. All that requires borrowing in capital
markets and the demand for lending will expand interest rates of all kinds.

A recovering economy also boosts corporate profits, making stocks a
better bet for investors.

"Stocks tend to do better when the economy
improves," said Stuart Hoffman, chief economist for PNC Financial Services.
"Mortgage rates will rise to attract investment."

Hoffman's forecast is
for rates to stay quite constant the rest of the winter and then elevate
gradually during the spring buying season, the busiest time of year for home
sales. He said they should hit about 5.5% by the end of June.

After
that, the increases will slow, according to Hoffman, but still approach 6%
toward the end of the year. He believes they'll cap at around 5.75% and are not
likely to fall back to the 5% level again.

For more information visit:
Jan Berkowitz or Adrienne Aiken Berkowitz