This is an interesting post from the National Apartment Association blog, particularly some of the reasoning behind the lack of deals in multi-family housing:

"'There are going to be deals out there,' he said. But companies should not expect a large-scale clearance reminiscent of the U.S. government’s Resolution Trust Corporation that liquefied many non-performing assets in the late 1980s and early 1990s, he said. 'I don’t see that happening.'

Part of the issue is that special servicers, which represent multiple lenders in commercial mortgage-backed security (CMBS) loans, have little incentive to sell properties at a discount right now, said Christy Freeland, who was recently named Chairman of Riverstone Residential Group, which manages 185,000 apartments across the country. 'Servicers can wait three or four years and see if the property’s value or NOI goes up,' she said."

Seth Godin's post about some people being better customers/prospects has this interesting tidbit:

"Walmart and other mass marketers are now offering top bestsellers for $9 or less each, about $5 less than their cost. Why? Why not offer toasters or socks as a loss leader to get people in the store? I think the answer is pretty clear: people who buy hardcover books buy other stuff too. A hardcover book is a luxury item, it's new and it's buzzable. This sort of person is exactly who you want in your store."

I think he makes an excellent point and it's something to remember as you consider premiums and giveaways for boosting sales: make sure they attract the right kind of customer.

Mark Cuban argues that TV execs should be praising DVRs instead of trying to kill them.

Once again Fec provides a compendium of information about a pressing financial issue. This time it's commercial real estate. Here's my favorite quote-of-a-quote:

"The problem for the industry is that between now and 2013, more than $2 trillion in commercial mortgages, which typically have a five- to 10-year term, will need to be refinanced, according to a July report by Richard Parkus, head of commercial mortgage-backed securities at Deutsche Bank AG. It is not turmoil in the capital markets that is causing the bottleneck, but rather the fact that properties are not worth enough to retire the old debt in a refinancing, Parkus said."

As Scooby says: "Ruh, roh."

"Even with the credit slowdown and recession, the Triangle’s banking market grew by 10 percent in the dozen months ending June 30, according to new federal data."

Depending on what time Erin's team has to be in Burlington for State Cup this Saturday we might be hitting this for breakfast.

Lex points to the RH Donnelly bankruptcy case as more proof that our economic system is rigged. Here's a part of a quote that Lex pulls from a Zero Hedge post: "There is one simple reason: The CEO will make more money bankrupting the company than keeping it alive. It takes a year or more for shareholders to elect new board members who in turn elect the CEO. As a result, when the CEO and board of a company feel threatened they may lose their jobs; they can wipe out current equity at any time regardless of the company’s financial condition by declaring bankruptcy. David Swanson, R.H. Donnelley’s CEO, cut a deal with bondholders to keep his job and have management acquire a 10% stake of the Company when it emerges from bankruptcy."

Once again I think Fred Wilson is SO right:
"And this past week was a big one for the mobile web. We got three big things we've needed badly:

1) A real competitor to the iPhone – the Droid

2) A scalable business model for mobile apps – in app transactions in free apps

3) A standard for broadcasting video (and audio) to mobile devices"

The case study for this piece was a bordello in Germany:

"But Maison d’Envie has seen its business begin to return since it began offering the euro 5 ($7.50) discount in July, Goetz said.

To qualify, customers must show the receptionist either a bicycle padlock key or proof they used public transit to get to the neighborhood. That knocks the price for 45 minutes in a room, for example, to euro 65 from euro 70."

The author of the blog post points out that this is probably a classic case of someone using green as a cover for price discrimination.

A game maker did a limited time "pay what you want" offer for a game: "A survey taken by some of the customers on the game’s website reveals the top two reasons customers chose to pay what they did: It’s all they felt they could afford, and they wanted to support the PWYW model. Few paid the amount they thought the game was actually worth."

A bunch of condo owners in Barefoot Landing have been hosed by the failure of Premier Resorts. Bad times in North Myrtle.

Yes! Weekly blog post details a lot of legal problems for Chuck Woolard, the Republican candidate for the Southeast Ward council seat in Winston-Salem. The cases include criminal (forgery in 1991 and marijuana possession verdict in 2001) and civil judgments against him and/or his construction company (lots of homeowners complaining he took their money and didn't complete the work). I'm thinking voters can deal with the marijuana thing, but forgery and poor business practices are another matter. Whatever chances he might have had before this news hit have flown out the window.

Someone posted this item on PlanetMinis.com about setting up an indoor racing facility in a 40,000 sf warehouse in downtown Winston-Salem. I'm thinking he should talk to the folks at Dell to see if they want to go in with him on his venture in February. I think they'll have some space available.

A Lewisville woman who has battled and survived cancer has built her own spiritual retreat in her yard.

Gotta love politicians: NC Republicans sent out a survey and get responses; they then delivered the surveys to Democratic Gov. Bev Perdue's office as a publicity stunt; the Governor's staff actually read the surveys and found all kinds of interesting stuff, including a donation check to one of the Republicans, which of course begs the question, "Did the Republicans actually read the survey responses themselves?" One comment written by a survey respondent: "Stop wording questions so geared up to get the answers you want and start wording them to actually find out the people's opinion, not just confirm your own. There are probably only three questions on here that are legitimate."

Dana Blankenhorn lets PR flacks know what they need to do to help professional bloggers get their stories out.

Dennis Leyden, a UNCG professor of economics, writes about NC legislators' efforts to reform NC taxes. The most likely change is applying sales taxes to services.

Dan Collins looks past the next five or six games and starts looking at Wake Forest football's future without Riley Skinner at the helm.

I don't think this article gives the full story on the water lien issue in Greensboro. For one it doesn't mention that Greensboro is the only city in the state that puts a lien on a property for an unpaid water bill. A point the article does make is that landlords feel it's unfair to have a lien on their property for a renters unpaid bill.

The Vatican appears prepared to change its ground rules in order to convert some Anglicans who are ripe for the picking given that they aren't happy with the whole idea of gay clergy: "A newly created set of canon laws, known as an 'Apostolic Constitution,' will clear the way for entire congregations of Anglican faithful to join the Catholic Church. That represents a potentially serious threat to the already fragile world-wide communion of national Anglican churches, which has about 77 million members globally."

The full text of the 'Apostolic Constitution' isn't out yet, but some folks seem to think that they'll relax some of the requirements for priests to enable the (likely un-gay) Anglican priests to do their thing for the Catholics:

"The pope wants to make it easier to welcome these priests as Catholics," he said. "What I don't know is what will happen to future generations" of priests who might be ordained under the new system."

My favorite sentence from this Krugman op-ed in the NYT: "After all, the lesson from the last few months has been very clear: When bankers gamble with other people’s money, it’s heads they win, tails the rest of us lose. "

Lex provides a nice compendium of financial news, otherwise known as depression inducing information.

Every passing week seems to bring more news of political ne'er-do-welling in NC. This time it's news that Gov. Easley's country club got lots of water to keep the greens, well, green during a major drought. Oh, and said club waived dues for the Guvna to the tune of $50k which he never reported.

This article will pretty much tick you off and/or make you feel like you need to take a shower. H/T to Fec for the link.

Piece in the NYT explaining why it's bad that people are reacting with anger to an earlier piece that said something like "rich people are losing sleep too in this recession". Not sure all the lights are on in the NYT writer's attic

Fec points to some interesting pieces/comments that hint at the possibility that Bear Stearns was thrown under the bus by folks at JP Morgan Chase who were trying to forestall their own demise. Interestinger, and interestinger.