Dan posted a comment that reads:
"I spent a few hours at our office today along with a handful of folks from accounting. It is very comfortable. The air conditioning, lights, kitchen, equipment, everything appears to be working and in order. New drywall has been installed in the reception area, while part of research has been opened up awaiting new drywall. Otherwise our office home feels like, well, our old office home.We will keep a close eye on things and make a final confirmation of office status sometime after noon tomorrow.Enjoy a well-deserved restful weekend."
Saturday, September 20, 2008
FYI, and for the historical record
This just in, courtesy of John Enerson:
"At approximately 10:30 am today (Saturday), the servers at 100 Waughwill be switched back to the main power. This will require a shortshut-down that should last between 30 and 60 minutes. The phones,blackberries and VPN will not be available during the switchover. E-mail will stii be accessible through the Owa2.lionstonegroup.com/owaaddress."
"At approximately 10:30 am today (Saturday), the servers at 100 Waughwill be switched back to the main power. This will require a shortshut-down that should last between 30 and 60 minutes. The phones,blackberries and VPN will not be available during the switchover. E-mail will stii be accessible through the Owa2.lionstonegroup.com/owaaddress."
Thursday, September 18, 2008
It's the End of the World as we know it, and I feel fine
Those of you who have access to financial news are probably wondering what the nationalization of AIG, the bankruptcy of Lehman Brothers, the acquisition of Merrill Lynch by Bank of America, and a thousand point drop in the Dow, all in the space of three days, mean for us. Here is my view on that, after our daily 9:00 officers' call, in which Scott Galloway of HFF updated us on the status of the financial markets.
Scott said that for the last couple of days there has been an absolute flight to safety and away from risk to the point where short-term Treasuries are trading at no yield. This means people were buying Treasuries just because they felt certain they would get their capital back at maturity. This is very unusual to say the least.
He also said that with best-in-class sponsorship and conservative underwriting, 50-60% LTV debt is available for commercial real estate, probably on terms that are more painful than borrowers would like. The key to accessing debt capital today is to make sure we are being completely open and frank with our lending relationships because people are very chary about risks they can't identify and understand.
None of us old timers has ever seen a market quite like this, but all of us old timers have seen markets before that we said at the time we'd never seen the likes of- 20% interest rates in the late '70s, 20% drop in the stock market in 1987, the capital crunch in real estate in the late '80s, and the Russian ruble crisis in '98- and in every one of them, people who kept their heads about them, who understood their immediate market environment, and who were careful about the risks they took and how they underwrote them, did fine.
Which leads me to what Glenn has been saying for some time now, and it is more true today than ever- Lionstone's strategies were designed specifically to weather these very sorts of storms in the financial marketplace and come out in good shape.
That's why, although it may be the end of the capital markets world as we know it, we'll be well positioned for whatever takes its place. So I, for one, feel fine.
Scott said that for the last couple of days there has been an absolute flight to safety and away from risk to the point where short-term Treasuries are trading at no yield. This means people were buying Treasuries just because they felt certain they would get their capital back at maturity. This is very unusual to say the least.
He also said that with best-in-class sponsorship and conservative underwriting, 50-60% LTV debt is available for commercial real estate, probably on terms that are more painful than borrowers would like. The key to accessing debt capital today is to make sure we are being completely open and frank with our lending relationships because people are very chary about risks they can't identify and understand.
None of us old timers has ever seen a market quite like this, but all of us old timers have seen markets before that we said at the time we'd never seen the likes of- 20% interest rates in the late '70s, 20% drop in the stock market in 1987, the capital crunch in real estate in the late '80s, and the Russian ruble crisis in '98- and in every one of them, people who kept their heads about them, who understood their immediate market environment, and who were careful about the risks they took and how they underwrote them, did fine.
Which leads me to what Glenn has been saying for some time now, and it is more true today than ever- Lionstone's strategies were designed specifically to weather these very sorts of storms in the financial marketplace and come out in good shape.
That's why, although it may be the end of the capital markets world as we know it, we'll be well positioned for whatever takes its place. So I, for one, feel fine.
100 Waugh Update
CenterPoint replaced the blown fuse this morning and so the building has power once more; however, no one wants to run the risk that we have another setback with a building full of Lionstone personnel so the game plan is to watch it for 24 hours to see if we think the power will stay on. Bottom line, we're all working from our remote locations through the end of the week, although the lunch at Dan's that is planned for tomorrow is still on, as are the plans to end the work week with that lunch. And don't forget tomorrow morning's Firm-wide conference call.
Every Little Bit Helps
A tip of the hat to David Ho for bringing this to our attention:
According to a new release from the Attorney General of Texas, Greg Abbott, Gov. Rick Perry has suspended the collection of state and local hotel and motel taxes for victims of Hurricane Ike. Consumer who are charged these taxes in affected areas should inform the hotel or motel that they are evacuees and ask that the fees be removed from their bill. If the charges are not removed, customers should sav their receipts and file a complaint with the Office of the Attorney General's Consumer Complaint Hotline at 800-252-8011.
According to a new release from the Attorney General of Texas, Greg Abbott, Gov. Rick Perry has suspended the collection of state and local hotel and motel taxes for victims of Hurricane Ike. Consumer who are charged these taxes in affected areas should inform the hotel or motel that they are evacuees and ask that the fees be removed from their bill. If the charges are not removed, customers should sav their receipts and file a complaint with the Office of the Attorney General's Consumer Complaint Hotline at 800-252-8011.
Where to Find Stuff
KHOU's website and its broadcast team have impressed me greatly since last Friday with their attention to the storm and its effects on the community and as respects providing resources and information. Here for example is a compilation of open locations, grocery stores, restaurants, bank branches, home supply stores, liquor stores. Maybe even especially liquor stores.
http://www.beloblog.com/KHOU_icefoodwater/
The one thing I cannot seem to find anywhere, try though I might, is a compilation of professional tree people, which a couple of our folks could really, really use. Does anyone have a line on a good tree guy?
Thanks.
http://www.beloblog.com/KHOU_icefoodwater/
The one thing I cannot seem to find anywhere, try though I might, is a compilation of professional tree people, which a couple of our folks could really, really use. Does anyone have a line on a good tree guy?
Thanks.
Uhhhh, no it doesn't
The morning report seems to be two steps forward, one step back. No power at headquarters this morning after all. Everyone keep plugging away from your respective remote locations and maybe the gods of Centerpoint will smile on us 'ere the day is through.
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