1 00:00:00,080 --> 00:00:02,440 Speaker 1: Hello, Odd Lots listeners, you were about to hear a 2 00:00:02,440 --> 00:00:05,400 Speaker 1: conversation about the troubles at New York Community Bank Corp. 3 00:00:05,559 --> 00:00:08,640 Speaker 1: We recorded this interview on February sixth, and his statement 4 00:00:08,720 --> 00:00:11,680 Speaker 1: to the market, NYCB said that his deposits have increased 5 00:00:11,720 --> 00:00:15,000 Speaker 1: since the end of last year and that liquidity remains ample. 6 00:00:15,480 --> 00:00:17,799 Speaker 1: A spokesperson for the company did not respond to a 7 00:00:17,840 --> 00:00:20,840 Speaker 1: separate quest for comment from Oddlots and now here's our 8 00:00:20,880 --> 00:00:34,360 Speaker 1: episode a New York Community Bank Corp. Hello, and welcome 9 00:00:34,400 --> 00:00:36,080 Speaker 1: to another episode of the. 10 00:00:36,040 --> 00:00:37,280 Speaker 2: Odd Lots podcast. 11 00:00:37,360 --> 00:00:39,680 Speaker 3: I'm Joe Wisenthal and I'm Tracy Allaway. 12 00:00:39,800 --> 00:00:43,479 Speaker 1: Tracy banking troubles again. Obviously, we had that little, I 13 00:00:43,479 --> 00:00:48,160 Speaker 1: don't know many mini crisis at the uffle Kerfuffle last 14 00:00:48,240 --> 00:00:52,519 Speaker 1: March with SVB and a couple other banks, and then recently, 15 00:00:52,600 --> 00:00:56,600 Speaker 1: I think just last week. We're recording this Tuesday, February sixth, another. 16 00:00:56,280 --> 00:01:01,760 Speaker 3: One, that's right. So we saw New York Community NYCB. 17 00:01:02,120 --> 00:01:06,000 Speaker 3: Their shares felt something like almost forty percent in a 18 00:01:06,040 --> 00:01:11,320 Speaker 3: single day after they released a bunch of announcements. So 19 00:01:11,400 --> 00:01:14,240 Speaker 3: let's see, I'm trying to remember all of them. So 20 00:01:14,280 --> 00:01:17,640 Speaker 3: they missed on earnings per share. They cut their dividend 21 00:01:17,880 --> 00:01:21,319 Speaker 3: and they increased their reserves for bad loans. So basically 22 00:01:21,319 --> 00:01:23,640 Speaker 3: the provisions are the amount of money they set aside 23 00:01:23,680 --> 00:01:27,800 Speaker 3: to cover souring credit. And of course this set off 24 00:01:27,880 --> 00:01:32,600 Speaker 3: a wave of conversation and analysis about how much of 25 00:01:32,680 --> 00:01:37,240 Speaker 3: that issue has to do with NYCB specifically, or whether 26 00:01:37,280 --> 00:01:41,560 Speaker 3: it's saying something broader about the outlook for these loans. 27 00:01:41,600 --> 00:01:44,560 Speaker 3: And I should just say that in its statement, NYCB 28 00:01:44,720 --> 00:01:50,520 Speaker 3: specifically cited commercial real estate and multifamily as well, which 29 00:01:50,600 --> 00:01:52,880 Speaker 3: is sort of the I always call it the forgotten 30 00:01:53,080 --> 00:01:57,880 Speaker 3: CRE because everyone focuses on offices, but multifamily also falls 31 00:01:57,880 --> 00:01:59,520 Speaker 3: into the CRE category. 32 00:02:00,120 --> 00:02:03,040 Speaker 1: Yeah right, we did that episode a few months ago. 33 00:02:03,160 --> 00:02:07,360 Speaker 1: I think in October we did an episode on multifamily 34 00:02:07,400 --> 00:02:10,160 Speaker 1: because we know that we know that there was just 35 00:02:10,200 --> 00:02:13,120 Speaker 1: this incredible boom right in twenty twenty one and social 36 00:02:13,160 --> 00:02:17,640 Speaker 1: media influencers. We're like raising money on Instagram for you know, 37 00:02:18,040 --> 00:02:20,760 Speaker 1: sun Belt cire and so there is this big question 38 00:02:20,840 --> 00:02:24,360 Speaker 1: about the category. More broadly, this is of course not 39 00:02:24,560 --> 00:02:27,720 Speaker 1: a sun Belt story. It's New York Community Bank Orp. 40 00:02:27,880 --> 00:02:29,840 Speaker 1: But it gets this question of like, oh, is this 41 00:02:29,919 --> 00:02:33,200 Speaker 1: something idiosyncratic to the bank, Where is this broader are 42 00:02:33,200 --> 00:02:36,600 Speaker 1: we gonna see multifamily problems elsewhere? It feels like each 43 00:02:36,680 --> 00:02:39,040 Speaker 1: one of these banks that's gotten into trouble over the 44 00:02:39,120 --> 00:02:42,359 Speaker 1: last couple of years, there is this furious debate. It's like, 45 00:02:42,480 --> 00:02:46,200 Speaker 1: it's just it's just idiosyncratic. It's just Silicon Valley, it's 46 00:02:46,360 --> 00:02:50,680 Speaker 1: just crypto exposure, it's just New York. But then eventually 47 00:02:51,000 --> 00:02:53,800 Speaker 1: you have enough idiosyncratics when people start to go worry. 48 00:02:53,960 --> 00:02:56,679 Speaker 1: They're like, are there things going wrong? Are there similarities 49 00:02:56,720 --> 00:02:57,400 Speaker 1: with other banks? 50 00:02:57,560 --> 00:03:00,600 Speaker 3: Yeah? And it's funny you mentioned the multifamily episode. I 51 00:03:00,639 --> 00:03:03,560 Speaker 3: think that was with Lee Everett. He was basically saying 52 00:03:03,760 --> 00:03:07,080 Speaker 3: that was the next shoe to drop in the troubled 53 00:03:07,240 --> 00:03:12,200 Speaker 3: cre category. But we did actually do an episode even 54 00:03:12,400 --> 00:03:16,959 Speaker 3: before then titled the NYC Landlord who says the golden 55 00:03:17,040 --> 00:03:18,880 Speaker 3: age of being a landlord is over. 56 00:03:19,560 --> 00:03:22,960 Speaker 1: That's right, So we did do a New York specific one. 57 00:03:23,200 --> 00:03:27,080 Speaker 1: Our guest then, Ben Carlos, type in local real estate 58 00:03:27,160 --> 00:03:30,440 Speaker 1: guy who owns residential real estate. He also does some 59 00:03:30,560 --> 00:03:33,000 Speaker 1: data stuff and other things, and he basically came on 60 00:03:33,120 --> 00:03:35,600 Speaker 1: He's like, look, my family has been in this business 61 00:03:35,600 --> 00:03:38,440 Speaker 1: of renting out apartments for a long time, and the 62 00:03:38,480 --> 00:03:41,320 Speaker 1: business is going bad. This is not a business I 63 00:03:41,360 --> 00:03:43,960 Speaker 1: really want to be in it anymore. He mentioned that 64 00:03:44,040 --> 00:03:46,440 Speaker 1: he would be selling off some or all of his 65 00:03:46,560 --> 00:03:49,040 Speaker 1: assets over time. I think he specifically said he wouldn't 66 00:03:49,040 --> 00:03:51,480 Speaker 1: be doing a fire sell or like a mass liquidation, 67 00:03:51,520 --> 00:03:53,240 Speaker 1: but that he wanted to get out of business. He 68 00:03:53,280 --> 00:03:55,800 Speaker 1: also said that he was interested in ways to essentially 69 00:03:56,160 --> 00:03:58,400 Speaker 1: not just get out of the business, not just remove 70 00:03:58,480 --> 00:04:01,760 Speaker 1: his defecto long position, but seeing if there were ways 71 00:04:01,800 --> 00:04:04,520 Speaker 1: to bet on the downside. It was this, there is 72 00:04:04,560 --> 00:04:08,080 Speaker 1: like a combination of like, okay, gimbiism in New York 73 00:04:08,160 --> 00:04:10,520 Speaker 1: seems to be on the rise, so there perhaps is 74 00:04:10,560 --> 00:04:13,400 Speaker 1: going to be more supply plus a sort of shifting 75 00:04:13,480 --> 00:04:16,599 Speaker 1: political landscape. But I think this is key, such that 76 00:04:16,720 --> 00:04:19,680 Speaker 1: regulations will make life harder for landlords. 77 00:04:19,960 --> 00:04:23,320 Speaker 3: Yes, this is the return to I mean it never 78 00:04:23,520 --> 00:04:27,880 Speaker 3: went away completely, but a newfound popularity of rent control 79 00:04:28,120 --> 00:04:31,880 Speaker 3: and the issues that maybe causes for landlords. And of course, 80 00:04:32,240 --> 00:04:34,360 Speaker 3: I mean the backdrop to all of this is that 81 00:04:34,440 --> 00:04:38,000 Speaker 3: interest rates have gone up spectacularly and so why deal 82 00:04:38,160 --> 00:04:41,480 Speaker 3: with tenants and policy when you can just put your 83 00:04:41,520 --> 00:04:43,920 Speaker 3: money in a money market fund and earn five percent? 84 00:04:44,240 --> 00:04:44,960 Speaker 2: Yeah, that's right. 85 00:04:45,000 --> 00:04:48,600 Speaker 1: And also you know, in New York specifically, we have 86 00:04:48,680 --> 00:04:52,599 Speaker 1: an affordability crisis, and we have an affordability crisis even 87 00:04:52,680 --> 00:04:56,520 Speaker 1: among individuals and families that make a lot of money. 88 00:04:56,600 --> 00:04:59,960 Speaker 1: So plenty of New York City professionals who are rent 89 00:05:00,400 --> 00:05:05,320 Speaker 1: who make decent incomes still find this housing market very frustrating, 90 00:05:05,680 --> 00:05:08,000 Speaker 1: feel that they're paying way more than they should be 91 00:05:08,040 --> 00:05:11,000 Speaker 1: in getting squeezed. And of course, you know, people with 92 00:05:11,040 --> 00:05:14,160 Speaker 1: good money and professional jobs historically have had a lot 93 00:05:14,200 --> 00:05:17,320 Speaker 1: of political power, and so this idea that okay, there 94 00:05:17,360 --> 00:05:21,719 Speaker 1: is this very powerful renter class in New York City 95 00:05:21,760 --> 00:05:25,400 Speaker 1: specifically that politicians have to listen to, which sort of 96 00:05:25,920 --> 00:05:29,560 Speaker 1: tilts the dot, turns the dial more towards pro tenant 97 00:05:29,560 --> 00:05:33,000 Speaker 1: policies that landlords may not like. Well, on that note, 98 00:05:33,520 --> 00:05:37,880 Speaker 1: I'm very excited we have Ben back on the podcast. 99 00:05:38,000 --> 00:05:39,520 Speaker 2: Ben, thank you so much for joining. 100 00:05:39,320 --> 00:05:40,280 Speaker 4: Us, Thanks for having me. 101 00:05:40,400 --> 00:05:41,640 Speaker 2: Let's talk before. 102 00:05:41,320 --> 00:05:44,080 Speaker 1: We get into the conversation, because we want to talk 103 00:05:44,080 --> 00:05:46,920 Speaker 1: to you about this real estate market. We want to 104 00:05:46,960 --> 00:05:50,640 Speaker 1: talk to you about CB specifically and what's going on 105 00:05:50,680 --> 00:05:54,719 Speaker 1: with them. I mentioned in the intro that you said 106 00:05:54,880 --> 00:05:58,320 Speaker 1: on our episode early last year that you're not just 107 00:05:58,360 --> 00:06:00,960 Speaker 1: interested in getting out of the space selling off of 108 00:06:01,000 --> 00:06:04,520 Speaker 1: your assets, but also exploring ways to essentially shorten the space. 109 00:06:04,720 --> 00:06:08,480 Speaker 1: Of course, you've done some work on that, including on NYCB, 110 00:06:09,120 --> 00:06:11,400 Speaker 1: So I think we should start with a disclosure. 111 00:06:11,520 --> 00:06:13,880 Speaker 2: Where are you at right now with this? Sure? 112 00:06:14,080 --> 00:06:16,240 Speaker 4: So, you know, after our episode last year, and really 113 00:06:16,320 --> 00:06:19,080 Speaker 4: really before it, I was exploring, you know, the various 114 00:06:19,120 --> 00:06:23,159 Speaker 4: ways that one could approach shorting multifamily to you know, 115 00:06:23,200 --> 00:06:25,520 Speaker 4: express the thesis that I talked about on that podcast. 116 00:06:25,640 --> 00:06:27,360 Speaker 4: And you know, I found out a couple of things, 117 00:06:27,440 --> 00:06:29,960 Speaker 4: one of which shorting is very hard and requires a 118 00:06:29,960 --> 00:06:32,359 Speaker 4: lot of capital. But in doing so, I settled on 119 00:06:32,360 --> 00:06:34,800 Speaker 4: New York Comedy Bank as a target, and spoke to 120 00:06:35,240 --> 00:06:38,880 Speaker 4: and advised several hedge funds on New York Commedy Bank 121 00:06:38,960 --> 00:06:41,719 Speaker 4: being a good target based on you know, totally public information. 122 00:06:42,200 --> 00:06:45,720 Speaker 4: I can't speak to what trades, if any, they executed 123 00:06:45,760 --> 00:06:48,880 Speaker 4: on this. All I can say is that I neither 124 00:06:48,920 --> 00:06:51,320 Speaker 4: I nor my firm were or are short New or 125 00:06:51,360 --> 00:06:54,479 Speaker 4: Commedy Bank, and I have not received or are not not 126 00:06:54,640 --> 00:06:57,240 Speaker 4: entitled to any compensation tied directly or indirectly to the 127 00:06:57,240 --> 00:06:58,200 Speaker 4: performance of that stock. 128 00:06:58,920 --> 00:07:02,520 Speaker 1: But you were paid, yes, for your advisory services or 129 00:07:02,560 --> 00:07:05,960 Speaker 1: your consulting services to the hedge Fund. Correct, And just 130 00:07:06,000 --> 00:07:09,120 Speaker 1: to be clear, you said on the podcast last year 131 00:07:09,160 --> 00:07:12,280 Speaker 1: that you were planning on getting out of the residential 132 00:07:12,280 --> 00:07:14,400 Speaker 1: real estate business in New York City. 133 00:07:14,680 --> 00:07:16,680 Speaker 2: What's happened between then and now on that front. 134 00:07:16,840 --> 00:07:19,680 Speaker 4: We've sold one of our buildings, we still have a 135 00:07:19,680 --> 00:07:20,600 Speaker 4: few more to sell off. 136 00:07:22,040 --> 00:07:24,080 Speaker 3: So maybe just to begin with, can you talk a 137 00:07:24,080 --> 00:07:29,640 Speaker 3: little bit about NYCB's relationship to multifamily, Like what is 138 00:07:29,680 --> 00:07:34,160 Speaker 3: the exposure here? So they mention a multifamily portfolio, what 139 00:07:34,440 --> 00:07:36,840 Speaker 3: is that? How did they come to own it, and 140 00:07:36,880 --> 00:07:37,640 Speaker 3: what does it look like? 141 00:07:38,040 --> 00:07:42,360 Speaker 4: Yeah, so they are, by their own account, I think, 142 00:07:42,400 --> 00:07:45,960 Speaker 4: the second largest multi family lender in the country, and 143 00:07:46,720 --> 00:07:49,280 Speaker 4: multi family loans represent to forty four percent of their 144 00:07:49,400 --> 00:07:54,440 Speaker 4: entire loan book, not just real estate loans, and twenty 145 00:07:54,440 --> 00:07:57,080 Speaker 4: two percent of their entire loan book is a particular 146 00:07:57,120 --> 00:08:00,480 Speaker 4: type of multifamily loan, which is rent stabilized. It loans 147 00:08:00,480 --> 00:08:03,520 Speaker 4: on rent stabilized buildings in New York City, and this 148 00:08:03,640 --> 00:08:07,040 Speaker 4: is a business they've been huge in for five decades. 149 00:08:07,440 --> 00:08:11,440 Speaker 4: They are currently the biggest lender on rent stabilized buildings, 150 00:08:11,800 --> 00:08:15,680 Speaker 4: even more so than the now failed Signature Bank. And 151 00:08:16,360 --> 00:08:19,000 Speaker 4: the growth of New York comed Back as an institution 152 00:08:19,120 --> 00:08:22,520 Speaker 4: is really tied up in the fortunes and evolution of 153 00:08:22,520 --> 00:08:25,280 Speaker 4: the rent stabilized market over the past thirty years. So, 154 00:08:25,800 --> 00:08:28,000 Speaker 4: you know, let me ask the two of you if 155 00:08:28,040 --> 00:08:30,200 Speaker 4: you ever lived in an apartment in New York City 156 00:08:30,200 --> 00:08:33,000 Speaker 4: within a building that was built prior to nineteen seventy 157 00:08:33,000 --> 00:08:35,680 Speaker 4: four and contained six or more residential units. 158 00:08:36,000 --> 00:08:39,640 Speaker 3: Yes, but it hasn't been rent stabilized exactly. 159 00:08:40,080 --> 00:08:41,560 Speaker 4: And did you pay like, what it felt like, a 160 00:08:41,600 --> 00:08:42,560 Speaker 4: really high rent for it? 161 00:08:42,640 --> 00:08:44,880 Speaker 3: Oh my god, I am still paying a really high 162 00:08:44,920 --> 00:08:45,559 Speaker 3: rent for it. 163 00:08:45,600 --> 00:08:48,240 Speaker 4: Go on, Well, there was a time that all apartments 164 00:08:48,240 --> 00:08:51,000 Speaker 4: and buildings like that were rent stabilized, and the reason 165 00:08:51,000 --> 00:08:52,760 Speaker 4: that you paid a very high rent for that ancient 166 00:08:52,760 --> 00:08:54,520 Speaker 4: apartment is deeply tied up in the story of New 167 00:08:54,600 --> 00:08:56,160 Speaker 4: York Comedy Bank over these past thirty years. 168 00:08:56,440 --> 00:09:00,600 Speaker 3: Wait, so what is the allure of rent controlled apartments? 169 00:09:00,640 --> 00:09:03,040 Speaker 3: Because if I think about I want to be a 170 00:09:03,080 --> 00:09:07,079 Speaker 3: real estate developer or a lender in New York, you know, 171 00:09:07,200 --> 00:09:09,840 Speaker 3: I want some luxury building that's all shiny and new, 172 00:09:09,920 --> 00:09:12,360 Speaker 3: and I can charge an incredibly high amount for people 173 00:09:12,440 --> 00:09:15,040 Speaker 3: to live there. I don't necessarily think oh, I'm going 174 00:09:15,040 --> 00:09:17,679 Speaker 3: to go into rent stabilized properties. 175 00:09:17,880 --> 00:09:21,559 Speaker 4: Right. So, historically, up up until the early nineteen nineties, 176 00:09:21,960 --> 00:09:25,559 Speaker 4: the allure of these properties was a lot less than 177 00:09:25,600 --> 00:09:28,240 Speaker 4: it became, and it was largely based on, you know, 178 00:09:28,280 --> 00:09:30,320 Speaker 4: the solidity of it as a business. You know, the 179 00:09:30,400 --> 00:09:34,440 Speaker 4: rents are low, so the occupancy always stays high, and 180 00:09:34,840 --> 00:09:37,280 Speaker 4: it's a it was a bond of business. And what 181 00:09:37,520 --> 00:09:40,839 Speaker 4: changed in the early nineties is, you know, New York 182 00:09:40,880 --> 00:09:43,200 Speaker 4: City at that time was in really bad shape. There's 183 00:09:43,240 --> 00:09:46,280 Speaker 4: a lot of high budget deficits, high crime, all these 184 00:09:46,280 --> 00:09:50,280 Speaker 4: foreclosed buildings costing city hundreds millions dollars in property tax revenue. 185 00:09:50,640 --> 00:09:54,880 Speaker 4: And in response to that, dynamic landlords claimed that the 186 00:09:54,920 --> 00:09:57,600 Speaker 4: foreclosures and the blight were the faults of rent regulations. 187 00:09:57,679 --> 00:09:59,640 Speaker 4: And if you think about this doesn't really make sense 188 00:09:59,720 --> 00:10:02,920 Speaker 4: because you know, it's a self serving argument and sort 189 00:10:02,920 --> 00:10:05,480 Speaker 4: of gets the causality backwards. Like every city in the 190 00:10:05,520 --> 00:10:10,920 Speaker 4: country was having major problems resulting from deindustrialization, white flight, 191 00:10:11,360 --> 00:10:14,480 Speaker 4: and these other you know, mega trends, most of which 192 00:10:14,520 --> 00:10:16,840 Speaker 4: did not have any form of rent regulation. So the 193 00:10:16,880 --> 00:10:18,920 Speaker 4: real estate industry's claim was like, all right, if you 194 00:10:19,320 --> 00:10:22,480 Speaker 4: let us raise the rents then we'll fix up the buildings, 195 00:10:22,520 --> 00:10:25,679 Speaker 4: property taxes will go up, et cetera. Politicians and the 196 00:10:25,679 --> 00:10:29,360 Speaker 4: New York City Council bought that and implemented a policy 197 00:10:29,400 --> 00:10:34,760 Speaker 4: called vacancy decontrol, which allowed apartments to be deregulated in 198 00:10:34,800 --> 00:10:37,679 Speaker 4: the buildings that we talked about. Once they once the 199 00:10:37,760 --> 00:10:41,080 Speaker 4: legal rents breached a threshold of at the time was 200 00:10:41,080 --> 00:10:43,920 Speaker 4: two thousand dollars. That was later raised several times, and 201 00:10:43,920 --> 00:10:46,400 Speaker 4: I think before it went away it was the highest 202 00:10:46,440 --> 00:10:49,680 Speaker 4: was twenty seven hundred dollars. So, you know, at the time, 203 00:10:50,280 --> 00:10:53,640 Speaker 4: legislators from places like Bushwick, which were very poor, where 204 00:10:53,760 --> 00:10:55,280 Speaker 4: you know, the highest rent in the neighborhood was five 205 00:10:55,360 --> 00:10:58,480 Speaker 4: hundred dollars. They could never imagine that a rent could 206 00:10:58,480 --> 00:11:00,559 Speaker 4: get to two thousand dollars, so. 207 00:11:00,520 --> 00:11:02,840 Speaker 3: They thought they had a long way to go until 208 00:11:02,880 --> 00:11:03,880 Speaker 3: they would reach that cap. 209 00:11:04,080 --> 00:11:04,440 Speaker 2: Yeah. 210 00:11:04,679 --> 00:11:09,800 Speaker 4: So you know, incidentally, that's in nineteen ninety four. A 211 00:11:09,960 --> 00:11:13,240 Speaker 4: little bank known as Queens County Savings Bank goes public 212 00:11:13,280 --> 00:11:15,400 Speaker 4: the year before in nineteen ninety three, that later becomes 213 00:11:15,440 --> 00:11:19,400 Speaker 4: New York Community Bank. So what happens between nineteen ninety 214 00:11:19,400 --> 00:11:23,840 Speaker 4: four and twenty nineteen New York City's economy booms. Like 215 00:11:24,280 --> 00:11:28,000 Speaker 4: many other urban markets around the country, population growth job 216 00:11:28,040 --> 00:11:31,120 Speaker 4: growth far up housing construction, which then sends rents on 217 00:11:31,200 --> 00:11:34,600 Speaker 4: existing housing soaring. So this makes for a very good 218 00:11:34,720 --> 00:11:38,680 Speaker 4: combination for landlords. The apartment value of apartment buildings increases, 219 00:11:38,880 --> 00:11:41,240 Speaker 4: liquidity in the debt and equity markets for a apartment 220 00:11:41,240 --> 00:11:43,920 Speaker 4: buildings in New York sty increases, and New York Community 221 00:11:44,000 --> 00:11:47,400 Speaker 4: Bank really grows along with its landlord clients. Becomes the 222 00:11:47,400 --> 00:11:51,040 Speaker 4: biggest lender on these rent stabilized buildings, provides acquisition loans 223 00:11:51,040 --> 00:11:55,120 Speaker 4: for the landlords to expand, It provides refinancing after refinancing, 224 00:11:55,480 --> 00:11:58,240 Speaker 4: allowing their clients to take money out of these buildings. 225 00:11:58,640 --> 00:12:02,960 Speaker 4: And you know, during this process, where like the BET 226 00:12:03,000 --> 00:12:07,880 Speaker 4: is basically all right, market rents are, it's worth deregulating 227 00:12:07,920 --> 00:12:10,280 Speaker 4: these buildings all over the city. Because the spread between 228 00:12:10,280 --> 00:12:13,840 Speaker 4: market rents and the regulator rents is so high, the 229 00:12:14,040 --> 00:12:17,600 Speaker 4: pricing on these assets gets totally out of whack. The 230 00:12:17,600 --> 00:12:21,040 Speaker 4: spread between buildings that are selling in the Bronx which 231 00:12:21,080 --> 00:12:24,360 Speaker 4: have a very weak credit profile, and buildings that are 232 00:12:24,360 --> 00:12:29,360 Speaker 4: selling in Manhattan really narrows. And that continues for the 233 00:12:29,400 --> 00:12:30,439 Speaker 4: next twenty years. 234 00:12:30,520 --> 00:12:33,600 Speaker 1: Sorry, just to back up, I'm just because I want 235 00:12:33,679 --> 00:12:38,640 Speaker 1: to be precise. What specifically did the New York City 236 00:12:38,679 --> 00:12:40,680 Speaker 1: Council do in the early nineties. When you say that 237 00:12:40,720 --> 00:12:42,520 Speaker 1: twenty seven hundred, what happens then? 238 00:12:42,559 --> 00:12:45,840 Speaker 4: Okay? So up until that point, rents on a rent 239 00:12:45,840 --> 00:12:48,360 Speaker 4: on a regular department like the one that Tracy lived in, 240 00:12:48,800 --> 00:12:50,640 Speaker 4: could only be raised a certain. 241 00:12:50,400 --> 00:12:52,760 Speaker 3: Amount of I didn't live in a regulated apartment. Well 242 00:12:52,800 --> 00:12:56,800 Speaker 3: it was, yes, sorry, yes, it's previous life. 243 00:12:56,920 --> 00:13:00,280 Speaker 4: Yes. And up until that point, the rents could only 244 00:13:00,320 --> 00:13:02,800 Speaker 4: be raised by a certain amount based on what the 245 00:13:02,840 --> 00:13:07,120 Speaker 4: Rent Guidelines Board issues each year. Okay, and starting there 246 00:13:07,200 --> 00:13:10,280 Speaker 4: was some erosion of that system prior to nineteen ninety four, 247 00:13:10,559 --> 00:13:13,080 Speaker 4: but the big change in nineteen ninety four was that 248 00:13:13,600 --> 00:13:17,520 Speaker 4: the apartment could become completely deregulated once once it breaches 249 00:13:17,520 --> 00:13:21,120 Speaker 4: that two thousand dollars threshold, So instead of being able 250 00:13:21,120 --> 00:13:23,000 Speaker 4: to only go up three percent a year, it could 251 00:13:23,040 --> 00:13:26,800 Speaker 4: go from two thousand to four thousand. And there's also 252 00:13:26,840 --> 00:13:30,480 Speaker 4: a bonus for when an apartment goes vacant, so every 253 00:13:30,480 --> 00:13:32,720 Speaker 4: time an apartment turns over from tenant to tenant, the 254 00:13:32,760 --> 00:13:35,440 Speaker 4: rent could be increased twenty percent, as opposed to just 255 00:13:35,520 --> 00:13:36,920 Speaker 4: the rent guidelines board amount. 256 00:13:37,040 --> 00:13:41,440 Speaker 3: So the obvious question here is that would seem to 257 00:13:41,559 --> 00:13:46,280 Speaker 3: create an incentive structure for landlords to basically try to 258 00:13:46,360 --> 00:13:49,559 Speaker 3: get to the twenty seven hundred or twenty eight hundred 259 00:13:50,360 --> 00:13:53,560 Speaker 3: threshold so that they could then raise the rent to 260 00:13:53,640 --> 00:13:56,559 Speaker 3: whatever the market can bear. Did we see that behavior 261 00:13:56,640 --> 00:14:00,000 Speaker 3: and how exactly do they try to speed up that process? 262 00:14:00,200 --> 00:14:02,840 Speaker 4: Yes, so there are three ways that they try to 263 00:14:02,840 --> 00:14:08,080 Speaker 4: speed up that process. One is buyouts, offering people money 264 00:14:08,120 --> 00:14:13,400 Speaker 4: to leave, which is legal. Others are harassment of tenants 265 00:14:13,400 --> 00:14:16,920 Speaker 4: out of buildings and using all sorts of means. And 266 00:14:16,960 --> 00:14:21,200 Speaker 4: the third is inflating the cost of renovations that they're 267 00:14:21,240 --> 00:14:24,560 Speaker 4: doing that are used to justify increases, because that was 268 00:14:24,560 --> 00:14:27,200 Speaker 4: always another way to increase rents. Was like, if you 269 00:14:27,240 --> 00:14:29,640 Speaker 4: need to put in a new boiler in the building, 270 00:14:29,680 --> 00:14:33,280 Speaker 4: you could amortize the cost of that improvement across all 271 00:14:33,320 --> 00:14:35,640 Speaker 4: the rents and the buildings in the building. If you 272 00:14:35,680 --> 00:14:40,080 Speaker 4: need to redo the plumbing in a particular apartment, you 273 00:14:40,080 --> 00:14:41,360 Speaker 4: could amortize the cost over that. 274 00:14:42,880 --> 00:14:46,560 Speaker 1: Sorry, something I'm still confused by, even post nineteen ninety four, 275 00:14:46,800 --> 00:14:50,080 Speaker 1: and I've only lived in New York almost twenty years now, 276 00:14:50,240 --> 00:14:51,920 Speaker 1: But every once in a while you like hear some 277 00:14:52,080 --> 00:14:55,440 Speaker 1: story about so and so has an apartment on the 278 00:14:55,520 --> 00:14:58,720 Speaker 1: Upper east Side and they're living in it and their 279 00:14:58,760 --> 00:14:59,840 Speaker 1: grandmother is still there. 280 00:15:00,040 --> 00:15:02,440 Speaker 3: It is still like crazy, this is a friend's plot line. 281 00:15:02,240 --> 00:15:03,360 Speaker 2: Right, yeah, something like that. 282 00:15:03,720 --> 00:15:06,480 Speaker 1: How did those stories exist in a post ninety four world? 283 00:15:06,560 --> 00:15:10,240 Speaker 4: Sure, so one, there's still the very old system of 284 00:15:10,240 --> 00:15:13,120 Speaker 4: rent control, so like that is a very small number 285 00:15:13,160 --> 00:15:16,360 Speaker 4: of units, but also does represent some of those situations. 286 00:15:16,360 --> 00:15:18,120 Speaker 1: So we're talking about a difference between rent. 287 00:15:17,960 --> 00:15:20,040 Speaker 2: Control rent staabilized. I see, I see. 288 00:15:20,040 --> 00:15:22,200 Speaker 1: So the rent control like they're just like this is 289 00:15:22,240 --> 00:15:24,640 Speaker 1: it and this is the price where someone is That 290 00:15:24,680 --> 00:15:27,880 Speaker 1: actually was not changed. What changed was these was the 291 00:15:28,000 --> 00:15:30,120 Speaker 1: units that were designed to just go very slowly. 292 00:15:30,200 --> 00:15:32,360 Speaker 4: Correct. Well, I mean rent control is also designed to 293 00:15:32,360 --> 00:15:33,840 Speaker 4: go out very slowly in a way. But once a 294 00:15:33,880 --> 00:15:36,160 Speaker 4: rent control, once a tenant at this point, once a 295 00:15:36,200 --> 00:15:39,280 Speaker 4: tenant in a rent control unit vacates that it becomes 296 00:15:39,280 --> 00:15:41,760 Speaker 4: rent stabilized and it sort of enters into the new system. 297 00:15:41,920 --> 00:15:42,360 Speaker 2: I see. 298 00:15:42,720 --> 00:15:45,360 Speaker 4: But to answer your broader point, which I think speaks 299 00:15:45,360 --> 00:15:49,360 Speaker 4: to this dynamic here is post ninety four. You know 300 00:15:49,440 --> 00:15:52,960 Speaker 4: this trade of you know, improving the apartment either actually 301 00:15:53,120 --> 00:15:55,720 Speaker 4: or on paper in order to get the rent above 302 00:15:55,760 --> 00:16:01,280 Speaker 4: the deregulation threshold. Really only works in strong submarkets, So 303 00:16:02,560 --> 00:16:06,040 Speaker 4: there was a time every apartment a building of a 304 00:16:06,080 --> 00:16:10,960 Speaker 4: certain size in below below ninety sixth Street was rent stabilized. 305 00:16:10,960 --> 00:16:13,560 Speaker 4: But Manhattan is the highest rent market in New York City, 306 00:16:13,880 --> 00:16:16,600 Speaker 4: so all of those apartments are excuse me, a huge 307 00:16:16,640 --> 00:16:19,720 Speaker 4: portion of those apartments were deregulated because there was enough 308 00:16:19,720 --> 00:16:22,280 Speaker 4: spread in there for the landlord to be able to 309 00:16:22,440 --> 00:16:24,440 Speaker 4: for it to be worth doing the work. Same thing 310 00:16:24,480 --> 00:16:28,520 Speaker 4: in places like Park Slope and sort of Western Brooklyn Queens, 311 00:16:28,640 --> 00:16:32,680 Speaker 4: you know, the gentrifying areas of the city, whereas in 312 00:16:32,720 --> 00:16:36,440 Speaker 4: the non gentrifying areas. The ways this policy mainly manifests 313 00:16:36,480 --> 00:16:39,920 Speaker 4: itself was in just increasing the rents higher than they 314 00:16:39,960 --> 00:16:44,280 Speaker 4: otherwise could be. But rents never are much more rarely 315 00:16:45,120 --> 00:16:46,360 Speaker 4: reached the threshold. 316 00:16:45,920 --> 00:16:46,960 Speaker 2: To be able to deregulate it. 317 00:16:47,640 --> 00:16:49,760 Speaker 3: Can you talk to us a little bit about the 318 00:16:49,800 --> 00:16:55,040 Speaker 3: financing picture. To what degree did this dynamic become, I 319 00:16:55,040 --> 00:16:59,800 Speaker 3: guess well known in the fundraising side of this whole thing. 320 00:16:59,840 --> 00:17:04,320 Speaker 3: So was it pretty easy to get loans an additional 321 00:17:04,400 --> 00:17:08,359 Speaker 3: capital in order to either buy more properties on the 322 00:17:08,400 --> 00:17:11,879 Speaker 3: assumption that you could eventually get to that threshold and 323 00:17:12,000 --> 00:17:15,920 Speaker 3: raise the rent or to fund renovation to try to 324 00:17:15,960 --> 00:17:16,960 Speaker 3: get to that threshold. 325 00:17:17,280 --> 00:17:20,840 Speaker 4: Yes, it was pretty easy and became particularly so in 326 00:17:20,920 --> 00:17:24,320 Speaker 4: the early two thousands, early to late two thousands, you know, 327 00:17:24,359 --> 00:17:27,800 Speaker 4: with sort of the broader sheends in real estate of institutionalization, 328 00:17:28,000 --> 00:17:30,720 Speaker 4: more private equity, and you know, became a more sophisticated 329 00:17:30,720 --> 00:17:34,000 Speaker 4: business that was putting more capital in more places. So 330 00:17:34,280 --> 00:17:38,000 Speaker 4: prior to let's say two thousand, the rent stabilized business 331 00:17:38,080 --> 00:17:41,199 Speaker 4: was a pretty sleep still a pretty sleepy business in 332 00:17:41,280 --> 00:17:43,520 Speaker 4: so far as like what type of capital played in it. 333 00:17:43,800 --> 00:17:46,840 Speaker 3: So like mom and pop, mom and pop and apartment building. 334 00:17:46,560 --> 00:17:49,879 Speaker 4: Okay, And you know there were certainly large landlords at 335 00:17:49,880 --> 00:17:51,760 Speaker 4: that point that it accumulated a lot of these properties. 336 00:17:51,760 --> 00:17:54,160 Speaker 4: But you know, private equity firms were not a big 337 00:17:54,200 --> 00:17:57,520 Speaker 4: player at that time. But in particularly in the two thousands, 338 00:17:58,040 --> 00:18:02,320 Speaker 4: the private equity and both on and also private credit 339 00:18:02,400 --> 00:18:05,960 Speaker 4: and New York coming back to the world really put 340 00:18:06,000 --> 00:18:09,920 Speaker 4: a lot of capital into this sector, and largely based 341 00:18:09,960 --> 00:18:12,200 Speaker 4: on the premise that they would be able to raise 342 00:18:12,240 --> 00:18:13,480 Speaker 4: these rents a lot more. 343 00:18:30,000 --> 00:18:32,600 Speaker 1: Let's talk a little bit more about that, because Tracy 344 00:18:32,760 --> 00:18:36,280 Speaker 1: mentioned in the beginning like setting aside everything you know, 345 00:18:36,359 --> 00:18:38,840 Speaker 1: it doesn't seem like rent control or rent stabilized buildings 346 00:18:38,920 --> 00:18:41,320 Speaker 1: or any of these buildings are like a particularly exciting 347 00:18:41,400 --> 00:18:44,720 Speaker 1: place to lend in. But if everyone thinks the place 348 00:18:44,800 --> 00:18:47,080 Speaker 1: is not an exciting place to lend and then intuitively 349 00:18:47,520 --> 00:18:51,320 Speaker 1: there's sort of like above market opportunities for the one 350 00:18:51,440 --> 00:18:53,560 Speaker 1: player that goes in. And we see this all the 351 00:18:53,600 --> 00:18:56,560 Speaker 1: time and all kinds of markets where like, yes, like 352 00:18:56,600 --> 00:18:58,600 Speaker 1: you can make a lot of money in distressed assets 353 00:18:58,600 --> 00:19:00,439 Speaker 1: of all sorts because most people don't want it. So 354 00:19:00,440 --> 00:19:02,560 Speaker 1: if you put in a new legwork to make it work, 355 00:19:02,600 --> 00:19:04,840 Speaker 1: you can make a lot of money. Talk to us 356 00:19:04,880 --> 00:19:08,439 Speaker 1: a little bit more about like the relationship that New 357 00:19:08,480 --> 00:19:12,439 Speaker 1: York Community Bank Corp. Had with a fellow landlords in 358 00:19:12,520 --> 00:19:15,640 Speaker 1: your world, why landlords liked working with them, why they 359 00:19:15,760 --> 00:19:18,760 Speaker 1: liked working with landlords, and why this was you know, 360 00:19:18,800 --> 00:19:21,000 Speaker 1: the profits that they accrued during the good times. 361 00:19:21,160 --> 00:19:25,680 Speaker 4: Sure, so the New Yor Community Bank really, like many 362 00:19:25,720 --> 00:19:28,800 Speaker 4: community banks, it's a relationship bank, and clearly as part 363 00:19:28,800 --> 00:19:32,560 Speaker 4: of its strategy it was building relationships with rand stabilized landlords. 364 00:19:32,720 --> 00:19:36,200 Speaker 4: So this has several benefits them. Obviously, making loans is 365 00:19:36,480 --> 00:19:39,720 Speaker 4: what a bank does. But also these community banks typically 366 00:19:39,720 --> 00:19:43,400 Speaker 4: require anyone getting a commercial mortgage from them to have 367 00:19:43,600 --> 00:19:46,560 Speaker 4: deposits at this bank as well, saying and also like 368 00:19:46,600 --> 00:19:49,480 Speaker 4: the deposits from tenant security deposits held in these buildings 369 00:19:49,800 --> 00:19:52,480 Speaker 4: excuse me, at New York Commedy Bank. So it became 370 00:19:52,960 --> 00:19:55,280 Speaker 4: a way for the New York community banks of the 371 00:19:55,280 --> 00:19:58,439 Speaker 4: world to really build their deposit bases and their loan 372 00:19:58,520 --> 00:20:03,480 Speaker 4: books on a product type in which there's a lot 373 00:20:03,480 --> 00:20:05,040 Speaker 4: of product. You know, there's a lot of these buildings 374 00:20:05,080 --> 00:20:07,560 Speaker 4: that need loans, and it's also kind of complicated. So 375 00:20:07,640 --> 00:20:10,600 Speaker 4: like lenders from out of town you know there, you know, 376 00:20:10,640 --> 00:20:13,720 Speaker 4: which were coming to land on office buildings and you know, 377 00:20:13,720 --> 00:20:17,840 Speaker 4: all sorts of other assets were less inclined to land 378 00:20:17,920 --> 00:20:20,840 Speaker 4: on rent stabilized buildings, not because of any sort of 379 00:20:20,880 --> 00:20:24,080 Speaker 4: accurate assessment of risk, but just because like it's easier 380 00:20:24,080 --> 00:20:27,080 Speaker 4: for some for some French bank to you know, loan 381 00:20:27,160 --> 00:20:30,560 Speaker 4: on an office building then figure out the rent stabilization code. 382 00:20:31,080 --> 00:20:35,160 Speaker 3: So if we're looking at all the headwinds that are 383 00:20:35,359 --> 00:20:40,000 Speaker 3: facing this particular segment, in addition to things like the 384 00:20:40,040 --> 00:20:42,800 Speaker 3: fact that rates have gone up enormously, I think there 385 00:20:42,880 --> 00:20:46,560 Speaker 3: was a more recent change to policy in twenty nineteen. 386 00:20:46,760 --> 00:20:50,080 Speaker 3: Can you walk us through what exactly that was and 387 00:20:50,119 --> 00:20:52,320 Speaker 3: how it sort of changed the picture for multifamily. 388 00:20:52,640 --> 00:20:56,680 Speaker 4: Sure, So, prior to twenty nineteen, you know, the bad 389 00:20:56,720 --> 00:20:59,600 Speaker 4: behavior that we talked about earlier of harassment, the lack 390 00:20:59,640 --> 00:21:03,600 Speaker 4: of houses construction, and you know, the general dynamics in 391 00:21:03,600 --> 00:21:07,360 Speaker 4: New York Cities housing market had really produced a terrible situation. 392 00:21:07,480 --> 00:21:10,480 Speaker 4: We have, you know, rent housing burden for tenants across 393 00:21:10,480 --> 00:21:14,080 Speaker 4: the city is way up record levels, homelessness is way up. 394 00:21:14,520 --> 00:21:19,200 Speaker 4: And twenty nineteen, a finally unified statewide coalition of tenant 395 00:21:19,240 --> 00:21:23,119 Speaker 4: groups called Housing Justice for All capitalized on the post 396 00:21:23,200 --> 00:21:26,800 Speaker 4: Trump progressive resurgence to pass the Housing Stability and Tenant 397 00:21:26,800 --> 00:21:29,399 Speaker 4: Protection Act of twenty nineteen, which is now known as 398 00:21:29,440 --> 00:21:33,480 Speaker 4: the HSTPA. This bill did many things, but for the 399 00:21:33,480 --> 00:21:35,880 Speaker 4: purpose of this conversation, the most important things it did 400 00:21:35,960 --> 00:21:38,199 Speaker 4: is it ended vacancy de control, so you can no 401 00:21:38,280 --> 00:21:40,840 Speaker 4: longer deregulate rent stabilized apartments. 402 00:21:40,520 --> 00:21:44,520 Speaker 1: So that reduced as your incentive to harass your tenants. 403 00:21:43,920 --> 00:21:48,520 Speaker 4: Theoretically, and it removed the twenty percent vacancy bonus. Can't 404 00:21:48,560 --> 00:21:51,080 Speaker 4: you know, you can't raise the regulated rent by twenty 405 00:21:51,080 --> 00:21:54,879 Speaker 4: percent on turnover, and it also severely curtailed the degree 406 00:21:54,920 --> 00:21:59,919 Speaker 4: to which landlords could recapture the renovation costs in rents. 407 00:22:00,680 --> 00:22:03,359 Speaker 1: It's funny, So I I want to go here actually 408 00:22:03,400 --> 00:22:07,359 Speaker 1: at some point in the conversation because right around the corner, 409 00:22:07,440 --> 00:22:11,200 Speaker 1: little did we know in twenty nineteen that a couple 410 00:22:11,280 --> 00:22:14,280 Speaker 1: years later we'd have like the worst inflation in forty years. 411 00:22:14,320 --> 00:22:17,080 Speaker 1: And we know that it was like a real headache 412 00:22:17,440 --> 00:22:21,160 Speaker 1: and a very costly headache for landlords to get contractors 413 00:22:21,200 --> 00:22:24,639 Speaker 1: in and renovate and floors and air conditioners and anything 414 00:22:24,640 --> 00:22:26,919 Speaker 1: else that landlords would have to deal with. So I 415 00:22:26,960 --> 00:22:28,800 Speaker 1: was sort of curious about that. Okay, it sort of 416 00:22:28,840 --> 00:22:34,440 Speaker 1: like curtails the ability to recapture renovation costs, but objectively, 417 00:22:35,240 --> 00:22:36,679 Speaker 1: the cost of renovation did. 418 00:22:36,560 --> 00:22:38,200 Speaker 2: Explode, right two years later? 419 00:22:38,480 --> 00:22:40,639 Speaker 1: Can you talk a little bit more about the intersection 420 00:22:40,720 --> 00:22:43,760 Speaker 1: of these regulations with just the reality that you don't 421 00:22:43,760 --> 00:22:46,560 Speaker 1: even have to not even for like sort of nefarious 422 00:22:46,560 --> 00:22:49,440 Speaker 1: purposes or purposes of raising the rent, like renovation costs 423 00:22:49,480 --> 00:22:49,840 Speaker 1: really did. 424 00:22:49,840 --> 00:22:54,200 Speaker 4: Explode, right, So I think you know, the regulations inflation 425 00:22:54,560 --> 00:22:59,440 Speaker 4: and interest rates changing are really accelerants to what was 426 00:22:59,480 --> 00:23:02,879 Speaker 4: sort of an evitable trend on these buildings. So you know, 427 00:23:03,080 --> 00:23:07,560 Speaker 4: post HSTPA, the liquidity in the market for these buildings 428 00:23:07,600 --> 00:23:11,600 Speaker 4: just dries up. There's no price discovery. Most sellers don't 429 00:23:11,600 --> 00:23:14,239 Speaker 4: want to crystallize their losses. Most buyers don't know how 430 00:23:14,240 --> 00:23:16,520 Speaker 4: to price the assets, you know, in a large part 431 00:23:16,520 --> 00:23:21,159 Speaker 4: because the issues that we just discussed, and brokers in 432 00:23:21,200 --> 00:23:24,040 Speaker 4: the sector are buying large like indulging their client's delusion. 433 00:23:25,040 --> 00:23:28,600 Speaker 4: So you know, this puts people like excuping lenders near 434 00:23:28,720 --> 00:23:31,240 Speaker 4: community Bank in a difficult position because, like, in addition 435 00:23:31,320 --> 00:23:34,840 Speaker 4: to not wanting to mark down the value their collateral 436 00:23:34,880 --> 00:23:37,240 Speaker 4: like I need lender wouldn't in this case doing so, 437 00:23:37,320 --> 00:23:39,159 Speaker 4: would you know, put some of their posits at a 438 00:23:39,200 --> 00:23:42,480 Speaker 4: lot of the deposits at risk as well. And they don't 439 00:23:42,680 --> 00:23:45,640 Speaker 4: know what the future holds. Like everyone in this world 440 00:23:45,800 --> 00:23:47,760 Speaker 4: of rend stabilized buildings is sort of engage in this 441 00:23:47,840 --> 00:23:51,200 Speaker 4: collective delusion. They're waiting for the Supreme Court to overturn 442 00:23:51,240 --> 00:23:55,920 Speaker 4: rank control, They're waiting for the legislature to weaken the AHASTPA. 443 00:23:56,200 --> 00:24:01,359 Speaker 4: And I think this is where they really miscalculated, and 444 00:24:01,440 --> 00:24:05,960 Speaker 4: I really sort of bought into their own propaganda from 445 00:24:06,119 --> 00:24:08,560 Speaker 4: you know, thirty years ago, which is that you know, 446 00:24:08,600 --> 00:24:11,240 Speaker 4: they think that real estate investment drives economic conditions, but 447 00:24:11,280 --> 00:24:14,400 Speaker 4: really economic conditions tend to drive real estate investment. And 448 00:24:14,800 --> 00:24:16,440 Speaker 4: they would have known this if they had looked at 449 00:24:16,480 --> 00:24:19,480 Speaker 4: the data from the rent stabilized building sector, which showed 450 00:24:20,040 --> 00:24:23,080 Speaker 4: that this trade really started to taper off before the 451 00:24:23,160 --> 00:24:27,800 Speaker 4: HSTPA in twenty seventeen, the amount of rent stabilized buildings 452 00:24:27,800 --> 00:24:30,359 Speaker 4: being traded. So the question is why, and the reason, 453 00:24:30,520 --> 00:24:32,359 Speaker 4: I think is pretty simple. If you look at the 454 00:24:32,400 --> 00:24:35,520 Speaker 4: history of this the deregulation, there were fewer and fewer 455 00:24:35,520 --> 00:24:39,879 Speaker 4: buildings in which this deregulatory trade actually worked because you know, 456 00:24:40,160 --> 00:24:42,040 Speaker 4: if market rents are not high enough, it doesn't make 457 00:24:42,040 --> 00:24:43,760 Speaker 4: any more, it doesn't make sense to invest all this 458 00:24:43,800 --> 00:24:46,960 Speaker 4: money in these buildings. So, after all the deregulation that 459 00:24:47,040 --> 00:24:50,000 Speaker 4: happened over those preceding twenty five years, the vast majority 460 00:24:50,040 --> 00:24:53,199 Speaker 4: of events stabilized stock and therefore collatter on near community 461 00:24:53,240 --> 00:24:58,040 Speaker 4: bank loans remains concentrated in lower income submarkets. So this 462 00:24:58,119 --> 00:25:01,600 Speaker 4: is always subprime real estate. And the buildings are you know, 463 00:25:01,640 --> 00:25:04,600 Speaker 4: they're century old, they're expensive to maintain, The tenants have 464 00:25:04,600 --> 00:25:07,040 Speaker 4: a weak credit profile. So even if the laws did 465 00:25:07,080 --> 00:25:09,800 Speaker 4: allow for higher increases than they do now, at some 466 00:25:09,800 --> 00:25:12,160 Speaker 4: point you can't pull blood from a stone. Big rent 467 00:25:12,200 --> 00:25:15,800 Speaker 4: increases are going to increasingly show up and increase collection costs, 468 00:25:16,080 --> 00:25:19,680 Speaker 4: legal fees, et cetera, all while operating costs, to your point, Joe, 469 00:25:19,720 --> 00:25:22,800 Speaker 4: are increasing on these ancient buildings. And if you think about, 470 00:25:22,840 --> 00:25:25,359 Speaker 4: like the other buildings in these neighborhoods, the vast majority 471 00:25:25,400 --> 00:25:28,560 Speaker 4: of other multi family buildings once built after nineteen seventy 472 00:25:28,560 --> 00:25:32,280 Speaker 4: four in places like the South Bronx, literally require subsidies 473 00:25:32,280 --> 00:25:32,719 Speaker 4: to operate. 474 00:25:33,960 --> 00:25:38,000 Speaker 3: What's the future of these buildings now? So one thing 475 00:25:38,040 --> 00:25:41,320 Speaker 3: that you see landlords say nowadays is because of the 476 00:25:41,480 --> 00:25:45,920 Speaker 3: changes to rent control that they aren't motivated to get 477 00:25:46,119 --> 00:25:49,400 Speaker 3: new tenants in. So, you know, why spend a load 478 00:25:49,440 --> 00:25:53,000 Speaker 3: of money renovating an apartment getting it up to standard 479 00:25:53,280 --> 00:25:55,440 Speaker 3: if you're not going to be able to make up 480 00:25:55,640 --> 00:25:59,280 Speaker 3: that investment by charging market rent. Just leave it empty. 481 00:26:00,080 --> 00:26:01,399 Speaker 3: So are we just going to end up in a 482 00:26:01,400 --> 00:26:04,919 Speaker 3: situation where apartments are empty? Or at some point do 483 00:26:05,440 --> 00:26:09,439 Speaker 3: landlords maybe crystallize their losses and start saying, you know what, 484 00:26:09,520 --> 00:26:11,480 Speaker 3: I'm just going to sell this off. Maybe a developer 485 00:26:11,480 --> 00:26:15,680 Speaker 3: can knock down the building, build something new. What actually happens, So. 486 00:26:17,280 --> 00:26:19,800 Speaker 4: It's obviously going to vary a lot between landlords and landlord. 487 00:26:19,840 --> 00:26:23,320 Speaker 4: Some are in better financial positions than others. But to 488 00:26:23,359 --> 00:26:25,840 Speaker 4: your point, Tracy, it doesn't really make sense to invest, 489 00:26:26,119 --> 00:26:29,040 Speaker 4: you know, conventional for profit capital in these buildings, certainly 490 00:26:29,080 --> 00:26:33,040 Speaker 4: at anywhere approaching the values of the past. So I think, 491 00:26:33,320 --> 00:26:35,840 Speaker 4: you know, broadly speaking, we're sort of in the standoff 492 00:26:36,000 --> 00:26:39,760 Speaker 4: between these rents stabilise building donors their lenders, and on 493 00:26:39,800 --> 00:26:43,879 Speaker 4: the other side, the government because these buildings need subsidies 494 00:26:44,119 --> 00:26:47,400 Speaker 4: to survive. But if I'm the government, and I guess 495 00:26:47,400 --> 00:26:49,840 Speaker 4: we're all the government away as tax payers, we don't 496 00:26:49,880 --> 00:26:53,159 Speaker 4: want to subsidize buildings at above market value. But on 497 00:26:53,240 --> 00:26:55,960 Speaker 4: the other hand, you don't want buildings to degrade to 498 00:26:56,040 --> 00:26:59,159 Speaker 4: a point where subsitdy becomes way more expensive, and not 499 00:26:59,200 --> 00:27:01,720 Speaker 4: to mention, the tenants living in the buildings increasingly suffer. 500 00:27:02,080 --> 00:27:04,960 Speaker 4: So doesn't seem like we're at the point politically where 501 00:27:05,280 --> 00:27:08,440 Speaker 4: that people can come to an agreement on injecting capital 502 00:27:08,440 --> 00:27:10,920 Speaker 4: into these buildings. But I think that's an inevitability. 503 00:27:10,960 --> 00:27:14,720 Speaker 1: But just going back, your basic argument here is that 504 00:27:15,160 --> 00:27:18,280 Speaker 1: you know, okay, like you bet on this deregulation trade, 505 00:27:18,280 --> 00:27:21,600 Speaker 1: maybe the Supreme Court will one day say all rent 506 00:27:21,640 --> 00:27:25,880 Speaker 1: control or something is illegal, or rent stabilization regimes are legal, 507 00:27:25,960 --> 00:27:29,560 Speaker 1: or maybe the government will water down some of the 508 00:27:29,640 --> 00:27:32,239 Speaker 1: twenty nineteen the New York State government or something will 509 00:27:32,280 --> 00:27:35,479 Speaker 1: water down the twenty nine teen policies. But your basic 510 00:27:35,640 --> 00:27:39,879 Speaker 1: argument is that even if that were true, that gap 511 00:27:39,920 --> 00:27:42,159 Speaker 1: between what these building the fair market value of these 512 00:27:42,200 --> 00:27:44,800 Speaker 1: buildings today under current law, and the sort of dream 513 00:27:44,920 --> 00:27:48,640 Speaker 1: legal changes aren't that big or aren't as big as 514 00:27:48,680 --> 00:27:52,080 Speaker 1: some of the call option embedded is not as great 515 00:27:52,119 --> 00:27:53,760 Speaker 1: as some of these investors imagine. 516 00:27:53,760 --> 00:27:57,560 Speaker 4: Correct. In some cases, the call option is very valuable, 517 00:27:57,600 --> 00:28:00,359 Speaker 4: Like if it's a fully rent stabilized building on the 518 00:28:00,440 --> 00:28:04,280 Speaker 4: Upper West Side, you know, they're basically you're buying the land. 519 00:28:04,359 --> 00:28:06,760 Speaker 4: That land there is very valuable. But the if it's 520 00:28:06,760 --> 00:28:11,160 Speaker 4: a fully renstabilized buildings in Eastern Queens or the South Bronx, 521 00:28:11,760 --> 00:28:14,080 Speaker 4: that land is not very valuable. So the idea that 522 00:28:14,119 --> 00:28:17,080 Speaker 4: they're going to demolish it anytime soon doesn't really hold up. 523 00:28:17,119 --> 00:28:20,040 Speaker 4: So I think, you know, we're dealing with a disconnect 524 00:28:20,080 --> 00:28:25,280 Speaker 4: between what the market in its collective delusion valued these 525 00:28:25,320 --> 00:28:29,480 Speaker 4: buildings at before and what they're fundamentally valued at based 526 00:28:29,520 --> 00:28:31,960 Speaker 4: on you know, cash flow and fundamentals of these buildings, 527 00:28:32,400 --> 00:28:36,840 Speaker 4: and a change in law doesn't change that very much 528 00:28:37,160 --> 00:28:40,200 Speaker 4: simply because of where the real estate is located and 529 00:28:40,760 --> 00:28:42,320 Speaker 4: the credit profile that tends in the. 530 00:28:59,480 --> 00:29:04,360 Speaker 1: Setting side the investor upside potential from a regulatory change. 531 00:29:04,480 --> 00:29:07,760 Speaker 1: One of the arguments that the anti rent control argue 532 00:29:07,800 --> 00:29:10,120 Speaker 1: people make is like, and you sort of did touch 533 00:29:10,160 --> 00:29:13,600 Speaker 1: on this, that it is a perverse or bad situation 534 00:29:14,120 --> 00:29:17,200 Speaker 1: for people living in a building if their owner has 535 00:29:17,240 --> 00:29:22,600 Speaker 1: either no interest or financing capacity to keep that building up. 536 00:29:22,840 --> 00:29:25,760 Speaker 1: So then essentially the person is living in an asset 537 00:29:25,800 --> 00:29:29,880 Speaker 1: that continually gets degraded or does it get fixed that often, 538 00:29:29,920 --> 00:29:31,959 Speaker 1: and the building is falling apart. How real is that 539 00:29:32,000 --> 00:29:33,840 Speaker 1: for some people in some buildings that phenomenon. 540 00:29:33,880 --> 00:29:37,120 Speaker 4: I think it's very real. But it's I think that 541 00:29:37,120 --> 00:29:40,200 Speaker 4: that argument from landlords really tends to fall on to 542 00:29:40,320 --> 00:29:43,600 Speaker 4: fiars because people were living in conditions like that under 543 00:29:43,600 --> 00:29:46,400 Speaker 4: the old rehip. It's not like all the money that 544 00:29:46,440 --> 00:29:48,240 Speaker 4: was being made in this business was being plowed back 545 00:29:48,240 --> 00:29:51,240 Speaker 4: into investing these buildings. These buildings are the least well 546 00:29:51,320 --> 00:29:53,680 Speaker 4: kept in the entire city. They were before and they 547 00:29:53,680 --> 00:29:57,200 Speaker 4: are now. So it's certainly a very real dynamic that 548 00:29:57,840 --> 00:30:01,600 Speaker 4: you know, these buildings require capital, and they have owners 549 00:30:01,600 --> 00:30:07,400 Speaker 4: that for both rational economic and moral reasons or ideological reasons, 550 00:30:07,680 --> 00:30:10,640 Speaker 4: don't want to invest capital in those buildings. However, a 551 00:30:10,720 --> 00:30:12,880 Speaker 4: lot of the problem goes back to having a really 552 00:30:12,920 --> 00:30:17,400 Speaker 4: inept regulatory app apparatus for housing, because in many cases 553 00:30:18,000 --> 00:30:20,920 Speaker 4: these landlords are legally obligated to provide to make these 554 00:30:21,240 --> 00:30:23,840 Speaker 4: or make sure these buildings aren't good prepare, and have 555 00:30:23,920 --> 00:30:25,320 Speaker 4: not been doing so for quite some time. 556 00:30:25,520 --> 00:30:28,160 Speaker 1: So ben obviously people are going to need a place 557 00:30:28,200 --> 00:30:30,800 Speaker 1: to live. This real estate isn't going away. Are these 558 00:30:31,000 --> 00:30:34,480 Speaker 1: investible assets? Is there a play here for some of 559 00:30:34,520 --> 00:30:35,200 Speaker 1: this real estate? 560 00:30:36,080 --> 00:30:38,000 Speaker 4: I don't want to leave listeners with the impression that 561 00:30:38,040 --> 00:30:43,240 Speaker 4: these are like uninvestable buildings. They're fundamentally depreciating assets. But 562 00:30:43,320 --> 00:30:46,760 Speaker 4: like as many Bloomberg listeners would know, like there's plenty 563 00:30:46,760 --> 00:30:49,560 Speaker 4: of financial assets out there that have depreciating cash flows, 564 00:30:49,840 --> 00:30:52,560 Speaker 4: what really needs to happen here is these buildings need 565 00:30:52,600 --> 00:30:56,960 Speaker 4: to be valued at a values that reflect their fundamentals. 566 00:30:57,160 --> 00:30:59,360 Speaker 4: We're starting to see previews of this where like some 567 00:30:59,440 --> 00:31:03,760 Speaker 4: of these stabilized buildings are leased entirely to city programs 568 00:31:04,160 --> 00:31:07,440 Speaker 4: or entirely to tenants with Section eight vouchers. So there's 569 00:31:07,440 --> 00:31:10,959 Speaker 4: gonna be various forms through which capital isn't injecting these 570 00:31:10,960 --> 00:31:14,160 Speaker 4: buildings to stabilize them, whether it's providing boucher's to tenants, 571 00:31:14,400 --> 00:31:17,680 Speaker 4: city leasing it directly, nonprofits taking them over and getting 572 00:31:17,800 --> 00:31:21,600 Speaker 4: you know, government financing, and every possible formation in between them. 573 00:31:21,600 --> 00:31:24,760 Speaker 4: There's no civil serviable fixing these buildings because they're all 574 00:31:24,760 --> 00:31:27,680 Speaker 4: in their unique situation and you know, we have so 575 00:31:28,560 --> 00:31:31,280 Speaker 4: little open housing that it's not like the tenants have 576 00:31:31,600 --> 00:31:36,400 Speaker 4: anywhere that they can go. So it's a very live issue. 577 00:31:36,120 --> 00:31:38,840 Speaker 1: All right, Ben Carlos Taipan, thank you so much for 578 00:31:38,960 --> 00:31:41,880 Speaker 1: coming on to odd Laws. Fascinating sort of like New 579 00:31:41,960 --> 00:31:43,840 Speaker 1: York City real Estate and history. 580 00:31:43,960 --> 00:31:46,560 Speaker 2: That did a great job of clearing up how we 581 00:31:46,600 --> 00:31:47,400 Speaker 2: got in this position. 582 00:31:47,720 --> 00:32:02,320 Speaker 1: Thanks roving us, Tracy. I thought there were a lot 583 00:32:02,320 --> 00:32:05,120 Speaker 1: of interesting points in there. One thing in particular I 584 00:32:05,240 --> 00:32:09,280 Speaker 1: just start on and it's not directly related to the regulation. 585 00:32:09,600 --> 00:32:12,680 Speaker 1: This idea like the relationship lenders. You know, it reminds 586 00:32:12,720 --> 00:32:15,560 Speaker 1: me of SVB. It's like you have this expectation that 587 00:32:15,560 --> 00:32:18,840 Speaker 1: that's where you hold the security deposits, et cetera. And 588 00:32:18,880 --> 00:32:21,440 Speaker 1: it kind of brings me down. It depresses me a 589 00:32:21,480 --> 00:32:23,040 Speaker 1: little bit because the idea. 590 00:32:23,040 --> 00:32:25,200 Speaker 3: On a relationship with your bank, well, I. 591 00:32:25,240 --> 00:32:28,280 Speaker 1: Like the idea of financial institutions that actually get to 592 00:32:28,320 --> 00:32:31,640 Speaker 1: know a space that like build up a specific needs 593 00:32:31,720 --> 00:32:35,480 Speaker 1: rather than like pure commodity lending, or. 594 00:32:35,560 --> 00:32:39,040 Speaker 3: It seems counterintuitive because you think they should be developing 595 00:32:39,280 --> 00:32:43,360 Speaker 3: expertise and good risk management skills in a particular sector, 596 00:32:43,480 --> 00:32:46,280 Speaker 3: but instead, so far, what we've seen is it tends 597 00:32:46,320 --> 00:32:48,000 Speaker 3: to lead to I guess over exposure. 598 00:32:48,320 --> 00:32:51,040 Speaker 1: I guess one thing also that is maybe unique and 599 00:32:51,120 --> 00:32:53,960 Speaker 1: very different from an SVB other than the you know, 600 00:32:54,000 --> 00:32:57,280 Speaker 1: one thing that's in similarity obviously is the expectation of 601 00:32:57,280 --> 00:33:00,280 Speaker 1: holding deposits, the focus on one industry. But that's one 602 00:33:00,320 --> 00:33:02,840 Speaker 1: thing that's different and interesting is and I thought it 603 00:33:02,880 --> 00:33:05,880 Speaker 1: was a fascinating point that I hadn't thought of because 604 00:33:05,920 --> 00:33:09,920 Speaker 1: of the sort of complexity of New York City housing law. 605 00:33:09,960 --> 00:33:12,960 Speaker 1: And I'm sure we basically just scratch the surface that 606 00:33:13,040 --> 00:33:17,600 Speaker 1: it sort of naturally repels most capital like, as you said, 607 00:33:17,600 --> 00:33:20,160 Speaker 1: a French bank isn't going to sort of like really 608 00:33:20,200 --> 00:33:22,880 Speaker 1: like take the time to really deal with like a 609 00:33:22,960 --> 00:33:25,760 Speaker 1: post nineteen seventy four houses, pre nineteen seventy four houses, 610 00:33:25,800 --> 00:33:28,560 Speaker 1: all that, and so it sort of creates the situation 611 00:33:28,760 --> 00:33:33,080 Speaker 1: where one type of bet ends up being concentrated in 612 00:33:33,120 --> 00:33:35,120 Speaker 1: the hands of one or a small number of players 613 00:33:35,120 --> 00:33:37,960 Speaker 1: that actually put into the legwork to understand the market. 614 00:33:38,160 --> 00:33:41,000 Speaker 3: Yeah, the other thing I thought was interesting about that 615 00:33:41,080 --> 00:33:46,120 Speaker 3: particular dynamic was it kind of leads to a situation where, Okay, 616 00:33:46,200 --> 00:33:50,120 Speaker 3: there's not a big natural body of capital in this 617 00:33:50,320 --> 00:33:53,080 Speaker 3: space for you know, the various reasons that we laid out, 618 00:33:53,120 --> 00:33:56,040 Speaker 3: But if you do the work, do your due diligence, 619 00:33:56,200 --> 00:33:59,120 Speaker 3: put that effort in, you can get in and then 620 00:33:59,640 --> 00:34:02,040 Speaker 3: make a lot of money because the dynamic almost becomes 621 00:34:02,040 --> 00:34:07,000 Speaker 3: self reinforcing. Right. It's like you have this business model 622 00:34:07,040 --> 00:34:11,799 Speaker 3: that's basically predicated on the value of your building going up, 623 00:34:11,880 --> 00:34:14,239 Speaker 3: and then you have lenders who are very into that 624 00:34:14,440 --> 00:34:17,640 Speaker 3: dynamic as well, and you have more money coming in 625 00:34:17,719 --> 00:34:21,640 Speaker 3: vis private equity, private capital, which Ben also mentioned. It 626 00:34:21,640 --> 00:34:25,040 Speaker 3: feels like it almost becomes this little like tiny feedback 627 00:34:25,080 --> 00:34:29,320 Speaker 3: loop feeding on itself. The other thing that this is related, 628 00:34:29,360 --> 00:34:31,920 Speaker 3: but the other thing that interested me was the idea that, well, 629 00:34:32,080 --> 00:34:36,680 Speaker 3: these were always subprime assets, right. But again, that ecosystem 630 00:34:36,800 --> 00:34:41,600 Speaker 3: of players were sort of telling themselves a different story, 631 00:34:42,080 --> 00:34:45,239 Speaker 3: and everyone agreed on that story at the same time. 632 00:34:45,280 --> 00:34:47,960 Speaker 3: And that's fine as long as everyone can keep agreeing. 633 00:34:47,960 --> 00:34:50,600 Speaker 3: But then when the environment starts to change, when interest 634 00:34:50,680 --> 00:34:53,560 Speaker 3: rates start to go up, operational costs go up, it 635 00:34:53,640 --> 00:34:55,160 Speaker 3: kind of falls apart totally. 636 00:34:55,239 --> 00:34:57,799 Speaker 1: I thought that was a really fascinating point that even if, 637 00:34:57,880 --> 00:35:01,920 Speaker 1: like you got the dream free market wish list, that 638 00:35:01,960 --> 00:35:04,600 Speaker 1: many of these buildings just do not have the embedded 639 00:35:04,680 --> 00:35:07,839 Speaker 1: value that a lot of the investors sort of assumed 640 00:35:07,960 --> 00:35:10,600 Speaker 1: or imagined that they would. That's like a really interesting 641 00:35:10,800 --> 00:35:13,040 Speaker 1: debate there. I also thought it was interesting, you know 642 00:35:13,440 --> 00:35:16,640 Speaker 1: that in the old old days that rent stabilized billance. 643 00:35:16,680 --> 00:35:18,880 Speaker 1: As he described it, it's a bond business, and so 644 00:35:18,920 --> 00:35:20,720 Speaker 1: it's almost like when it got out of the business 645 00:35:20,719 --> 00:35:23,319 Speaker 1: of being a bond business, where suddenly people started maybe 646 00:35:23,400 --> 00:35:26,280 Speaker 1: thinking of it as like an equity business. Yes, Upside 647 00:35:26,320 --> 00:35:30,480 Speaker 1: exactly showed the seeds of its eventual demise because you 648 00:35:30,600 --> 00:35:32,920 Speaker 1: keep pushing to try to get out of the bond 649 00:35:32,920 --> 00:35:35,600 Speaker 1: asset class to get something more like equity market. 650 00:35:35,680 --> 00:35:38,680 Speaker 3: Right, and that's when the story becomes really important, the 651 00:35:38,719 --> 00:35:40,759 Speaker 3: story being like, well, we're getting close to the twenty 652 00:35:40,760 --> 00:35:43,480 Speaker 3: eight hundred threshold and we're going to renovate and eventually 653 00:35:43,480 --> 00:35:45,320 Speaker 3: get over it, and then we'll make tons of money 654 00:35:45,360 --> 00:35:48,080 Speaker 3: because this is going to be a shiny new designer 655 00:35:48,120 --> 00:35:51,560 Speaker 3: apartment or something like that. On that happy note, shall 656 00:35:51,560 --> 00:35:52,040 Speaker 3: we leave it there? 657 00:35:52,080 --> 00:35:52,719 Speaker 2: Let's leave it there. 658 00:35:52,760 --> 00:35:56,000 Speaker 3: Okay, this has been another episode of the All Thoughts podcast. 659 00:35:56,080 --> 00:35:58,960 Speaker 3: I'm Tracy Alloway. You can follow me at Tracy Alloway. 660 00:35:59,120 --> 00:36:01,960 Speaker 1: I'm Joe Why Isn't? You can follow me at the Stalwart. 661 00:36:02,280 --> 00:36:05,640 Speaker 1: Follow our guest Ben Carlos type and he's at so Bendito. 662 00:36:05,960 --> 00:36:09,520 Speaker 1: Follow our producers Carmen Rodriguez at Carmen Arman, dash Ol 663 00:36:09,520 --> 00:36:13,319 Speaker 1: Bennett at Dashbot and Kelbrooks at kel Brooks. And thank 664 00:36:13,360 --> 00:36:16,520 Speaker 1: you to our producer Moses Ondem. From our Odlots content, 665 00:36:16,680 --> 00:36:19,359 Speaker 1: you can check out Bloomberg dot com slash odd lots, 666 00:36:19,360 --> 00:36:22,440 Speaker 1: where you have transcript, a blog and the newsletter, and 667 00:36:22,680 --> 00:36:24,600 Speaker 1: check out the discord twenty four to seven. You could 668 00:36:24,680 --> 00:36:27,960 Speaker 1: chat with fellow listeners on all these topics, including plenty 669 00:36:28,040 --> 00:36:32,640 Speaker 1: of conversation about New York City real estate discord dot gg, Slash. 670 00:36:32,239 --> 00:36:35,640 Speaker 3: Odlots and if you enjoy adlots, if you like it 671 00:36:35,680 --> 00:36:39,440 Speaker 3: when we do deep dives into multifamily, the Forgotten cre 672 00:36:39,960 --> 00:36:42,880 Speaker 3: then please leave us a positive review on your favorite 673 00:36:42,920 --> 00:36:47,239 Speaker 3: podcast platform. And remember, if you are a Bloomberg subscriber, 674 00:36:47,360 --> 00:36:51,520 Speaker 3: you can listen to all our odlots episodes absolutely AD free. 675 00:36:51,560 --> 00:36:54,520 Speaker 3: All you have to do is connect your Bloomberg subscription 676 00:36:54,760 --> 00:37:00,680 Speaker 3: with Apple Podcasts. Thanks for listening in