U.S. Real estate markets are not so-healthy as they were for decades. First the residential property sector was plagued by the foreclosure crisis and is yet to recover from the devastation. Arising out of the foreclosure crisis, there were many cyclic reactions in the financial market. The cash-crunch spread fast to other areas of financial activities – like auto loans; credit card purchases; hotel room occupancy; business revenues in shopping malls; renting office complexes and so on. Commercial new construction projects were either put off or abandoned totally, aggravating unemployment problem etc.The commercial real estate market is inevitably inter-related with all the above businesses. As such the depletion in business revenues is reflected in foreclosure of commercial properties also. How? For example, if a big hotel losses heavily on revenue by the non-occupancy of its rooms, ultimately financial commitments, including the mortgage repayments get hard-hit. The situation of default in mortgage repayment, consecutively for months, eventually leads to foreclosure and distress sale of the commercial property concerned. Needless to mention a distress sale will bring the market value of the property deep down.Which branch of commercial properties is most affected? We have come across news reports about the commercial foreclosures – particularly in the hotel sector – the affected hotels of luxury located in the tourist industry hot-spots of Las Vegas in Nevada, Florida, and California etc.What is strikingly different in residential foreclosures and commercial foreclosures is – when a residential property is foreclosed, the amount in loss of money is about few thousands of dollars, whereas in a commercial foreclosure, the amount involved runs into millions of dollars.It is for this reason, the lending institutions extending financial supports for commercial property projects are dragging their feet in coming forward to extend new loans. In the situations of default and foreclosure also, they are not rushing into the decision of foreclosure of the property immediately, but consider all possible alternative outlets and compromises with the borrowers.Obviously, rather than individuals, mostly institutions and LLCs are involved in commercial foreclosures and in dire situations of foreclosures, they tend to select the insolvency route, to escape foreclosures.In this context, it is pertinent to take into consideration what the experts in the Industry say about the present status of commercial property sector and foreclosures. While the predictions about the future of commercial real estate vary from person to person, there is unanimity among them about the density of the problem of commercial foreclosures, presently.According to James Lockhart, vice chair of WL Ross & Co. New York, there are a lot of distressed commercial properties facing foreclosures with small commercial banks as of date. The problem institutions holding commercial properties in their business have increased to 775, whereas there were only 50 of them, just a few years back.The impact of commercial foreclosures has led to closing of financial institutions in huge numbers. Of a total of 8,000 U.S. banks dealing in commercial property finances, already 250 have been closed; 1300 banks have been advised by the regulators, to reduce concentration of Commercial Real Estate property loans; and many of them are expecting closure or taken by stronger competitors.However, in the Real Estate industry circles, it is reported that in a “Sentiment Survey” conducted among 100 senior real estate personnel by the Real Estate Round Table, during the second quarter of this year, 82% of the participants expressed satisfaction that the commercial real estate market is better than last year.
Commercial Real Estate – What is the Present Status?
Black and White Photography As a Statement in the Art World
Black and white photography, or monochrome photography, occupies a unique place in the world of art and the visual media. It has been around for almost two centuries now, and it still has a little bit of down-looking from the art world. Even though the monochromatic tradition has been around for a couple of centuries, it can be traced back to 6000 years in history when we start to take ink and carbon works into the wider frame. In terms of art itself, photography is very young, so it is just a mere matter of time for it to be excelled into a greater state in the art world.Here is a great fact that will help answering the question why many people diverge between choosing color or monochrome in their work: monochrome photography enhances composition, therefore it gives a stronger message by subtracting the distraction that color inherently has.Composition is a much more complex concept that goes beyond the very well-known rule of thirds. Elements in composition include the following:· Lines· Shapes· Forms· Simplification· Negative space· RhythmAll of these elements aid the photographer to compose a message into a much more pleasant or aesthetic view of reality. The message is something that only exists in the fraction of a second the photographer decides to include into his camera settings. The message is part of the moment that the photographer decides to capture. Therefore, the message is presented better rather the realism that accurate color can render. Color photography is great for many purposes, but when talking about message, its instant punch is quite softer than when it is presented to the viewer in a monochromatic format. The much accepted theory behind this statement, is that color pretends to achieve a greater grade of realism, and that black and white turn apart and pretend to see things differently, and by removing color we have:
Something different from reality
A greater message by removing the distraction that color gives
Another magnificent aspect about black and white photography, is that it has been a very democratic and almost generous medium. Developing black and white film is a work of art and creativity in a much larger scale if compared to color film. The thing is that black and white film can resist much more severe changes in the development procedure (temperature, time of development, time of fixation, etc.) and color film is much more precise work, it is a more delicate chemistry if you like to view into the chemical line. And this was somehow inherited in the digital format by allowing black and white photography to endure more extreme settings when contrasting than color photography. Color photography starts to get weird looks much earlier than black and white when cranking up the controls in RAW development. Even with printing, black and white photography has a richer history than color photography thanks to papers and printing processes.