Scheduling

• Business as Usual, Mostly

  Fannie Mae is still providing debt financing for affordable housing, despite a capital markets meltdown and its placement in a conservatorship in early September.

   

• Smoking Ban Good for Business

  Most residents are happy with the ban on smoking imposed by Portland, Ore.-based Guardian Management, LLC.

   
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  Be Brutally Realistic and Focus on Management, Multifamily Leaders Say

  Flat is the new up. Management matters.

   

• Under Conservatorship, the GSEs Focus on Securitization Programs, Business as Usual

  Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac have made securitization programs their No. 1 priority this year, according to the panelists of “The GSEs in the Age of Conservatorship” session at the 2009 Apartment Finance Today Conference

   

• Capmark Staves Off Bankruptcy, Employees Flee

  Capmark Financial Group has completed a financial restructuring designed to keep the wolves away from its door for another year or two.

   

• Alliance Residential Heads to Windy City

  Alliance Residential has opened a new office in Chicago, marking the Phoenix-based firm’s entrance into the Midwest.

   

• Distressed Asset Prodigy: Hard Work, Homework, and Relationships

  Two years ago, Carlos Vaz arrived in Dallas with no local contacts and less than $100,000 to start his multifamily investment business.

   
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  Freddie's Mike May: 2010 Will Be A Tough Year

  It’s been a turbulent year for the multifamily industry, but not nearly as turbulent as it could’ve been.

   

• People

  Tom Szydlowski, executive vice president of Wells Fargo Multifamily Capital, has retired after 34 years in the real estate finance industry.

   
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  Business: Track Your Business With a Dashboard (Subscriber content)

  Track your business with a dashboard

   

• Weathering the Downturn (Subscriber content)

  Small construction companies are relying on diverse strengths to survive in a dismal economic climate.

   

• Business: Surviving the Recession

  Surviving the recession

   

• Business: Defining Your Niche Can Help in Downtimes (Subscriber content)

  Defining your niche can help in downtimes

   

• Legal: Employee Drinking on the Job

  Employee drinking on the job

   
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  How Hills Tamed HUD

  WASHINGTON, D.C.— When Carla Hills took over the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) in 1975, nobody expected her to be a hero for housing.

   

• Buyers, Sellers Look To Deal On Distressed MF Assets

  A burgeoning roster of opportunity funds and related investment vehicles are poised to pounce on distressed assets, including debt secured by struggling apartment properties and failing condo development and conversion ventures.

   

• Virtual Filing Cabinets

  While the promise of a truly paperless office is still many years away, property management companies are getting one step closer through document management applications.

   

• Hits & Misses

  Fresh Meadows, N.Y.—Devices created by U.S. Energy Group, an energy services company headquartered here, helped area apartment investor Metropolitan Property Management (MPM) cut the fuel it uses to heat hundreds of apartments by more than 25 percent.

   

• Eden Park Illumination Announces Management Team

  Eden Park Illumination has announced the appointment of its new management team.

   

• PEOPLE

  Kimberly Latimer-Nelligan has been hired as the chief operating officer for the Low Income Investment Fund (LIIF).