The Real Estate Think Tank: Commentary on Real Estate and Real Estate Finance

Thursday, January 30, 2025

TRET the Podcast: Market Report 1/29/25

Join TRET for its market report for 1/29/25

Should Fannie and Freddie Leave Conservatorship?

Recently much has been written about the fate of the Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) and its role as conservator over Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. Since 2009 the FHFA has been both Fannie and Freddie’s regulator and has overseen the direction of both organizations. During that time, the FHFA has ensured that the primary function of both Fannie and Freddie is not profit maximation, but instead facilitation of the secondary mortgage market. The FHFA has set portfolio retention limits, set volume caps for lenders and determined guarantee fees, among other things. Under the oversight of the FHFA, both government-sponsored entities (GSE’s) repaid their debts and once again became profitable. Additionally, both organizations have lowered their respective risk portfolios. In light of a 2021 Supreme Court decision in Collins v. Yellen and the advent of a second Trump presidency, there is some renewed rhetoric around the two GSE’s leaving conservatorship and the oversight of the FHFA.

5 Reasons Why It Seem Like Commercial Real Estate Is Less Popular

In most jurisdictions in the United States, all real estate sales license are the same. This means that although there may be special designations and certificates that indicate that a real estate professional specializes in a certainty type of real estate sales, there is no difference in the type of a license that a commercial real estate salesperson obtains that distinguishes it from the licenses of a residential agent. It is for this reason that most commercial real estate brokerages have extensive training programs and some require up to a year of mentoring before an agent to attempt to pursue a listing on their own. In contrast, licenses for a real estate attorney or a real estate appraiser are distinct and require different types of training. So, if most real estate sales license holders can sell both commercial and residential real estate, why do most choose to only sale residential real estate? Some of the reasons are presented below.

The Party City Liquidation: Lessons from the Retail Market

2024 ended with surprising news—Party City filed for bankruptcy for the second time in under 2 years. This time, however, it was liquidating. On December 21, 2024, Party City filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy, looking to liquidate its assets. This happened after the company sent home all of its employees nationwide on December 10, 2024 and closed its corporate headquarters in New Jersey to everyone but executives on December 11, 2024. The resultant liquidation plan seeks to close all Party City locations by this February.

Onto 2025, What Have We Learned?

2025 is in full swing and despite a busy holiday season and our chief editor undergoing a very bad case of the flu, The Real Estate Think Tank continues in full swing as it embraces the beginning of the New Year. With all that said, 2024 has been another year of improvement and growth here at TRET and this time of the year causes us to reflect on some of its highlights.