Pent-up demand to deploy capital during the pandemic has driven a surge in new investment activity, with record amounts of capital raised in 2021. Now, pension funds are striving to hit their target allocations to commercial real estate, as real estate is considered a diversifier against market volatility within institutional portfolios, a source of durable…

Faster inflation and strong U.S. economic growth are sending the 10-year U.S. Treasury rate up. The 10-year Treasury is now above 3 percent — the highest since 2018.  Historically, the 10-year yield is also as a proxy for mortgage rates.  Meanwhile, the Federal Reserve raised its target federal funds rate by a half point in May…

The California legislature passed a statewide eviction moratorium extension on March 31, 2022 for certain tenants who have applied for rental assistance on or before that date. The moratorium is set to expire on June 30th.  In late April, the San Diego City Council followed suit when it voted to enact an eviction moratorium that…

During the recent Mortgage Bankers Association’s CREF22: Commercial/Multifamily Real Estate Finance Convention & Expo in San Diego, California, Freedom Financial Funds CEO Michael Klein sat down for a discussion with Charles Williams, founder and CEO of Pioneer Realty Capital and host of financial podcast The Capital Playbook.  Klein shared a glimpse of his professional journey,…

LAI International, through its global initiative, is engaging members in a series of webinars on affordable housing. ​ Opening the series on 2021-12-03 was a webinar featuring Howard Husock, New York chapter member and author of a recent book ‘The Poor Side of Town, and why we need it’, in conversation with Phoenix member, and…

Following the devastating Almeda Fire that swept through the Rogue Valley on the morning of September 8, 2020, developer Fortify Holdings partnered with the Oregon Department of Human Services (ODHS), Rogue Community Health and ACCESS to create affordable housing for displaced families. While the ODHS provided short-term shelter to survivors after the fires, long-term solutions…

Michael Klein, CEO of Freedom Financial Funds, explains how they provide debt and equity funding for Real Estate funding.  Raising capital from investors, FFF provides First Trust Deed loans for 12-18 months for bridge, build to suit, construction projects by Real Estate professionals.  In a world of low yield, any investor looking for cash flow…

The close of 2021 signaled the completion of 12 years without a single loss for the leaders of Freedom Financial Funds, LLC. The firm’s investor yield for 2021 was 7.93%, with no problem loans in its portfolio. According to Freedom Financial Funds Principal and CEO Michael Klein, as a unleveraged REIT Freedom’s tax equivalent yield to…

Portland’s housing crisis is nothing new, and it isn’t just a local phenomenon. Since the turn of the millennium, the number of housing units built across the nation totaled 1.2 million annually, down from 1.5 million annually before 2000.  Before the Great Recession, Portland was already well behind on housing stock and unable to satisfy…

When the pandemic began, no one knew for sure what the economic impact would be. Many worried that it would mean a repeat of the dark days of the 2008 credit crisis. And although a post-crisis period is usually a time when borrowers are defaulting, economists have observed that default rates have instead dropped sharply…