From left: Infinity at Brickell, Paramount Bay and Jade Ocean in Sunny Isles Beach

When ST Residential outbid seven possible suitors, including the Related Companies, for failed Corus Bank of Chicago’s national distressed loan portfolio, industry observers believed the firm overpaid for the loans as the market headed for collapse.

But the Miami Herald reported that ST Residential will pass its first test with the loans when it completes a $150 million payment to the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation. It can thank the buyers of 1,400 South Florida condominiums, many of whom were foreign, who accounted for about $650 million in sales, the Herald said. [more]

Douglas Dennison is the national sales coordinator for Georgia-based auction company Rowell Auctions, which he joined in February after serving as the COO of AmeriBid in North Miami. Dennison also announced that the firm has just opened a Florida office. Dennison has worked in the real estate auction business for more than 20 years, assisting in the sale of more than 12,000 properties, primarily in Florida.. Dennison, who has also worked as an auction project manager for the FDIC, the U.S. Marshals Service and the Small Business Administration, recently started the first national real estate auction radio show, broadcast weekly on Fridays from WFOY in St. Augustine, Fla. Dennison talked to The Real Deal about how the show, “The National Real Estate Auction Show,” came about and the increasing number of Florida real estate auctions.
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The Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. has made its first foray into the commercial mortgage-backed securities market, the Wall Street Journal reported, by selling off about $400 million worth of commercial loans divided into bonds. Real estate investor LNR Property scooped up the riskiest layers of the bonds, originally collected from 13 failed banks. Traditionally the FDIC sold loans mostly in the form of distressed mortgages but with increasing demands for CMBS the agency wants to get into the act. The federal government actually pioneered the CMBS market in the early 1990s when the Resolution Trust Corp. sold off commercial mortgage bonds in an effort to get rid of its portfolio. [WSJ]

While most banks nationally saw a recovery in the third quarter, those in Florida did not see the same level of success. Many local banks have been unable to shake out of the recession. According to data from the FDIC, Florida-chartered banks lost a total of $92 million in the third quarter, with 61 percent of them still in the red. While that was an improvement from a loss of $289 million in the previous quarter, it was still short of the national trend. Combined, only 19 percent of banks nationwide lost money, while jointly earning $14.5 billion in the third quarter. [SFBJ] Comments

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Two more U.S. banks failed last Friday, bringing the tally to 279 collapsed institutions since Sept. 25, 2008, when Washington Mutual went under in the largest bank failure ever recorded. During that time period, the financial industry’s assets have diminished by 4.5 percent. According to the Wall Street Journal, the effects of the wave of bank failures over the last two years — which Standard & Poor’s says is far from over — will have a lasting effect on credit, customers and the economy. In addition to lost jobs and tightened lending standards, fewer competitors means that the remaining banks have the freedom to offer lower interest rates on savings accounts, further squeezing struggling American consumers. “When we step back and look at this financial disaster 10 years from now, the destruction of capital in our economy as a result of what we’ve endured will be the single greatest lasting impact on recovery and how the economy performs in the future,” said Howard Headlee, president of the Utah Bankers Association. [WSJ]

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The Sterling Bank of Lantana became the 18th Florida bank to be shuttered and sold when it was closed by regulators Friday. Sterling, which had six branches and $407.9 million in assets as of March 31, will reopen as Iberiabank of Lafayette, La., which has assumed operations. The Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. acted as receiver in the deal and will share $244.3 million in loan losses. Florida has had the most bank failures of any state in 2010. [Sun Sentinel] 

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EverBank has taken over the former Bank of Florida

Federal regulators seized eight Florida banks with combined assets of
$6.3 billion in the second quarter of this year, according to a new
Condo Vultures white paper. The seizures generated a loss of almost $1
billion for the FDIC’s insurance recovery fund. There are now 14 Florida
banks that have failed in the first six months of 2010, according to
the report, which is based on FDIC data. Among the banks to fail was the
Bank of Florida in Fort Lauderdale, with approximately $595.3 million
in assets. Jacksonville-based EverBank has agreed to assume all
deposits, excluding certain brokered deposits. TRD

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U.S. Attorney’s Office sees new threat: short sale fraud

Silverstein was named chief of the Economic and Environmental Crimes unit last month

Joan Silverstein was named last month chief of the Economic and Environmental Crimes unit at the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of Florida under Wifredo Ferrer. Silverstein graduated from Georgetown Law School in 1992 and clerked for federal Judge Louis Pollak in the Eastern District of Pennsylvania. The Miami native returned to South Florida to join the U.S. Attorney’s office in 1996, and has worked in several departments, serving for the last five years as the deputy in charge of economic crimes. Silverstein spoke to The Real Deal about the office’s success in fighting mortgage frau [more]

U.S. Attorney’s Office sees new threat: short sale fraud

Silverstein was named chief of the Economic and Environmental Crimes unit last month

Joan Silverstein was named last month chief of the Economic and Environmental Crimes unit at the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of Florida under Wifredo Ferrer. Silverstein graduated from Georgetown Law School in 1992 and clerked for federal Judge Louis Pollak in the Eastern District of Pennsylvania. The Miami native returned to South Florida to join the U.S. Attorney’s office in 1996, and has worked in several departments, serving for the last five years as the deputy in charge of economic crimes. Silverstein spoke to The Real Deal about the office’s success in fighting mortgage frau [more]

From left: Nouriel Roubini, Sheila Bair, Bernie Madoff, Jamie Dimon

Nouriel Roubini ranks first among “scientists and thinkers” on Time magazine’s list of the most influential people of 2009, but columnist Joel Stein begs to differ. “You predicted the housing bubble before it happened?” he writes. “Well, that might make you the least influential person in the entire world. I predicted the Yankees need a set-up man. I guess I’m an influencer too.” Also of note on Time’s annual list: CEO Jamie Dimon of JPMorgan Chase, No. 13 among “builders and titans,” the FDIC’s Sheila Bair and Ponzi schemer Bernie Madoff, coming in at 14th and 20th, respectively, on the same list, and architects of Elizabeth Diller and Ricardo Scofidio of Diller Scofidio + Renfro,10th among “artists and entertainers. [more]