Publications

- March 1, 2015: Vol. 9, Number 3

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Rules is rules: And the first rule of holes is stop digging!

by Jack Rodman

In 2011, Crosswater met with senior officials at the Bank of Spain and the newly-formed SAREB (Spain’s version of a central bad bank for restructuring and distressed loan sales) to share “international best practices” on how best to “kick-start” the Spanish real estate market. We offered many internationally-proven practices gained from having worked the distressed markets for more than 25 years in the United States, Asia and Europe.

As the subtitle for this article states … the first rule of holes is to stop digging! Former US Resolution Trust Corp chairman William Seidman, who presided over the most successful government-led effort to “restore confidence” and start the US real estate market on the road to recovery following the devastating savings and loan crisis in the late 1980s (where 757 savings and loans were closed and taken over by the government), told sceptical banks and an even more sceptical US Congress that “your first loss is your best loss”

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