Until the onset of the current credit crisis, global real estate securities had enjoyed a long period of great absolute performance as well as relative performance vis-à-vis other asset classes, including global equities, global bonds and U.S.-only REIT portfolios.

Bicycle racing not only offers an instructive metaphor for 21st century investing, but the outcome of the 2008 Tour de France in particular offers lessons for the savvy investor. Investors can learn important lessons from the strategies that prevailed and those that did not, specifically, the thinking and principles behind those strategies, in the larger context of this greatest of all sporting events.

REIT analysts and real estate securities fund managers are logically leery of the slowing economy’s impact on FFO growth and in turn share prices and dividend distributions. Accordingly, it appears they’re paying more attention than ever to that old “location” adage.

Until the end of June, Dale Anne Reiss was global and Americas director of the real estate practice at Ernst & Young. She had responsibility for coordinating the firm’s activities across a broad array of related services around the world. Following her retirement, she is now a senior consultant to the firm. Reiss recently spoke with The Institutional Real Estate Letter contributor Loretta Clodfelter about her years in the commercial real estate and accounting industries, and the role of women in real estate.

When launching a new company, one of the first orders of business is coming up with a firm name. In a competitive marketplace, more companies are realizing the importance of establishing a recognizable, memorable name. In fact, during the past few decades, naming has become a big business in itself, with specialist firms charging clients $50,000 and much more to develop a company or product name.