Sunday, January 26, 2014

Delicious Gozzo Malbec Wine from Argentina

I was psyched to find this wonderful Malbec wine from Argentina and it just happens to bear my last name, Gozzo!

Friday, January 24, 2014

Rental-Home Bond Issues May Reach $20 Billion a Year! From Bloomberg

Bloomberg News

Rental-Home Bond Issues May Reach $20 Billion a Year, Stark Says

January 24, 2014

Wall Street may sell more than $20 billion a year of bonds backed by rental homes as investors become comfortable buying securities tied to loans to small landlords, according to Ryan Stark, a director who runs mortgage finance at Deutsche Bank AG.
“The numbers could be fairly staggering,” Stark said at a Structured Finance Industry Group conference in Las Vegas. “This could be a $15 billion or $20 billion-plus-a-year kind of an asset class. Certainly if those smaller shops get more volume, you’re going to see even more in growth in that area.”
Institutional investors, led by companies such as Blackstone Group LP (BX:US)’s Invitation Homes and American Homes 4 Rent, have bought as many as 200,000 homes in the last two years, Stark said. They are taking advantage of home prices that fell as much as a third from the 2006 peak and rising demand for rental homes among about 8 million former owners who lost property to foreclosure since 2007.
The big opportunity for debt is among smaller landlords who own most of the 14 million single-family homes occupied by renters, he said.
Deutsche Bank and Blackstone sold the first bonds backed by rental homes in November, a $479 million issue that was “about five times oversubscribed,” Stark said. American Homes 4 Rent (AMH:US), an Agoura Hills, California-based landlord with more than 21,000 homes, and Colony American Homes Inc., a Scottsdale, Arizona-based landlord with more than 15,000 homes, have announced plans to issue similar securities this year.
Lenders owned by Blackstone, Colony and Cerberus Capital Management LP are offering smaller landlords debt they plan to package into securities as soon as this year, Stark said. Attorneys and ratings companies are figuring out how to structure the pools of loans to make them appealing to investors concerned about an asset class with a limited history, the challenges of managing dissimilar properties and the risks of collecting rent.
“Over the next 60 to 90 days it will be worked out,” said Steve Blevit, an attorney with Sidley Austin LP in Los Angeles, who worked on the Deutsche Bank-Blackstone deal and other bonds.
To contact the reporter on this story: John Gittelsohn in Los Angeles at johngitt@bloomberg.net
To contact the editor responsible for this story: Kara Wetzel at kwetzel@bloomberg.net

Thursday, January 23, 2014

Wild Florida Berries and Snake!

Check out these delicious Florida berries...and their guardian snake!

25 Greatest Unscripted Scenes in Films from Paul Gozzo

Some classic movie scenes here, all unscripted...







from : Paul Gozzo

Tuesday, January 21, 2014

The Gozzo Sail Plan

This is the Gozzo sailplan

Sunday, January 19, 2014

Conrad Gozzo an American Trumpet Player

http://www.goldenage-wtic.org/BB-13.html


Music lovers, especially those of you who dig jazz, check out Tutti's Trumpets!





Conrad Gozzo





Saturday, January 18, 2014

Rental-Home-Backed Bond by Blackstone: How it works from Paul Gozzo

I (Paul Gozzo) thought this was a pretty good graphic illustration of how the Blackstone's new bond backed by rents on single family homes actually works.

Blackstone’s Big Bet on Rental Homes

The Blackstone Group LP, the world's largest private equity firm, became the largest owner of rental homes in the U.S. , acquiring 41,000 homes in the past two years. In October, Blackstone offered the first-ever "rental-home-backed" security on Wall Street. The bond is backed by just a fraction — 3,207 — of the rental properties owned by Blackstone. Monthly rent checks from the properties will be used to service the $479.1 million security.
PUBLISHED DEC. 20, 2013
Sources: Moody’s Investor Service, Deutsche Bank Securities, Bloomberg research
GRAPHIC: DAVE MERRILL / BLOOMBERG VISUAL DATA

Friday, January 17, 2014

Retaining The Best Renters

I recently read an interesting article from Brandon Turner about retaining renters. Brandon included the graphs and explanations you see below depicting the results from a 4,600 person survey where renters were asked about the incentives that they would like to see that would encourage them to renew their lease.

You can see the rest of the article at : http://goo.gl/C9QHdE

Monetary Discount or Special Upgrade?

To encourage tenants to renew their lease, is it better to offer some sort of “monetary” benefit… or something less tangible (like new appliances, upgraded, unit, etc?)
Overwhelmingly, tenants chose a monetary benefit:
chart-template-9_3.006

What Kind of Monetary Benefit?

So, 52% of tenants would prefer a “monetary benefit” – which is not too surprising. We all like money, right?
But… what exactly are we talking about? Handing a wad of cash over? Discounting rent?
According to the tenant’s surveyed…
chart-template-9_3.007

What About Unit Improvements?

Okay, maybe you are not able to offer discounts on rent or cash.. but perhaps you could improve the unit some. After all, according to the first graph I showed you, 27% of tenants would prefer a unit upgrade.
The great part about improvements as retention tools is that certain upgrades can actually increase the value of your property – so it’s often a win-win.  So, what could you improve, as an incentive, to retain the best tenants?
This is where it gets even more interesting.  According to the study, it’s a close three-way tie between “new carpet,” a “washer/dryer upgrade,” and “kitchen appliances.”
chart-template-9_3.009

Other Incentives

Finally, perhaps the most surprising part of this study. What if you wanted to get creative and offer another perk… something “off site?”  What would the tenant prefer?
According to the study – survey says… a Gym Membership!
chart-template-9_3.011

Saturday, January 11, 2014

LaxWax Keeping it Fresh in Philly

The LaxWax booth at the Philly #lacrosse convention

Saturday, January 4, 2014

Top 10 Goals of the 2012-13 NHL Season by Paul Gozzo preparing for Sochi

Paul Gozzo shares this highlight reel of #nhl #goals from 2012-13 in preparation for the Sochi games.

7 games in 12 days....let's go U.S.A.



#nhl #hockey #sochi #paulgozzo