I am just back from our 2009 Backshop user conference in New York. Bank of America hosted it in a beautiful board room overlooking Bryant Park. About 10 clients invested the day with us to go over our accomplishments from last year and help set priorities for next year.
Backshop User Conference
We unveiled our new look for Backshop that we undertook as part of converting Backshop from a ASP/ASP.NET hybrid application to a 100% .NET application.
The new look and feel was really well received, and we got some good feedback on some additional design tweaks. Check out the Backshop web site in the near future as we will be adding a Software Tour section featuring the new design.
We also had time for informal discussions on customers’ outlooks for 2010 and beyond. I would say no one expects 2010 to be a good year as far as originations go. The belief is a few low leverage deals will get done, but traditional conduit origination will be small.
Asset management and deleveraging were much more the talk than originations. However, for the first time in a while people were talking about some allocation of capital for 2010 new loans, so we will see.
Into the belly of the beast.
Metallica!
The real fun started on Saturday night when a group of 16 of us met at Stout Bar (on west 33rd street) for a pre show dinner.
We got to the Metallica show right when the house lights dimmed and watched them kick off the show. As usual (this was my 7th time seeing this show), they were awesome. Sellout crowd, downtown New York City, flames, lasers and 20,000 outlets of energy.
While I was cruising around back stage, I ran into John McEnroe getting a drink in the green room. Last time I had seen him was at a Metallica show a few years ago out in the Meadowlands. He is a big fan.
The after party was at Del Posto, a great restaurant owned by Joe Bastianich and Mario Batali on 10th Avenue at 16th street.
We arrived with about half the crew still standing and all got in and had a great time. I went to Boston College with Joe and we played rugby together (I was the hooker, he was a prop) so it was good to see him also.
I got to spend a few minutes with Lars and could not thank him enough for the hook up. Food, drink and famous people. Not a bad way to spend an evening.
Robert and Lars rock the bass and beat.
Metallica plays “Turn the Page” at Madison Square Garden:
— — —
Jim Flaherty is CEO of CMBS.com and the creator of the Backshop loan origination system. He is a trained credit professional with experience installing enterprise underwriting systems for commercial real estate lenders, rating agencies and investors.
https://www.cmbs.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/03/cmbslogo030619.png00jimflahertyhttps://www.cmbs.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/03/cmbslogo030619.pngjimflaherty2009-11-17 20:36:562020-09-16 20:39:59Backshop user conference and Metallica show
It has been a busy week around here: ULI Conference, Leads Release, MISMO Progress, preparing for the Backshop User conference and listening to Julian Marley.
As an aside: The asset highlighted in the Asset Summary Report – CVS Holliston Mass. (PDF) is a property my brother and Dad own that has CMBS debt on it. It’s interesting seeing your own loan in the database.
ULI Conference in San Francisco
Last week we had a booth at the Urban Land Institute Conference in San Francisco. The 5,500 registrants included a wide range of equity players including developers, REITS, funds, architects and city planners. There were not as many lenders as in the past, but attendance was strong and the exhibit hall sold out.
While the attendance numbers were good, the frozen debt markets, rising cap rates, and detiorating fundamentals were affecting most people. The bright spots were 1) the few REITs that have accessed the capital markets and 2) the funds with dry powder looking to buy into the downturn. I did some promoting for transparency but spent most of my time selling Backshop, Leads and our bond tools.
Leads Release
We upgraded the CMBS Leads product by adding a new PDF report at the asset level and adding expanded data to our download features.
The MISMO rent roll and operating statement committee, which I chair, had a call this week to go over the proposed XML schema we came up with at the end of August.
It took us a bit longer than we had hoped to get the structure integrated into the core data model, but we are moving again. We have another call set up for next week to finalize the schema, then it will be ready for its the 30-day public review period. Hopefully there will be a lot more on that in the coming weeks.
Backshop User Conference
Julian Marley rocks The Independent in San Francisco.
We are having our annual user conference in New York this Friday. The last two years, we have hosted two-day conferences in San Francisco. This year, given the markets and travel budgets, we decided to have the meeting in New York instead. Our good friends at Bank of America are contributing the meeting space, and we have more than 10 clients coming in for a day of updates and priority setting.
We have traditionally had a music theme at the conference. The first year we went to see Willie Nelson at the Fillmore. Last year we saw Dark Star Orchestra at the Great American Music Hall. This year, we are going to the Metallica concert Saturday night at Madison Square Garden. We have a crew of 16 going and, as always, I am looking forward to a rocking night!
Speaking of rocking, I saw Julian Marley play last night at The Independent in San Francisco. Julian, a son of Bob Marley, is touring with his brother Stephen in support of Julian’s new album, “A Time and Place.”
It is an awesome album and a great show. If you see this show pop up in your city, consider going for great taste of some current reggae.
I’ll report in after the user conference and Metallica show with some cool pics/video.
— — —
Jim Flaherty is CEO of CMBS.com and the creator of the Backshop loan origination system. He is a trained credit professional with experience installing enterprise underwriting systems for commercial real estate lenders, rating agencies and investors.
Washington, DC – This morning I attended the House Financial Service Committee markup/debate meeting for the Accountability and Transparency in Rating Agency Act — House Bill 3890.
https://www.cmbs.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/03/cmbslogo030619.png00jimflahertyhttps://www.cmbs.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/03/cmbslogo030619.pngjimflaherty2009-10-27 20:42:362020-09-16 20:44:12House Bill 3890
Backshop user conference and Metallica show
/0 Comments/in Company history, What's going on /by jimflahertyI am just back from our 2009 Backshop user conference in New York. Bank of America hosted it in a beautiful board room overlooking Bryant Park. About 10 clients invested the day with us to go over our accomplishments from last year and help set priorities for next year.
Backshop User Conference
We unveiled our new look for Backshop that we undertook as part of converting Backshop from a ASP/ASP.NET hybrid application to a 100% .NET application.
The new look and feel was really well received, and we got some good feedback on some additional design tweaks. Check out the Backshop web site in the near future as we will be adding a Software Tour section featuring the new design.
We also had time for informal discussions on customers’ outlooks for 2010 and beyond. I would say no one expects 2010 to be a good year as far as originations go. The belief is a few low leverage deals will get done, but traditional conduit origination will be small.
Asset management and deleveraging were much more the talk than originations. However, for the first time in a while people were talking about some allocation of capital for 2010 new loans, so we will see.
Into the belly of the beast.
Metallica!
The real fun started on Saturday night when a group of 16 of us met at Stout Bar (on west 33rd street) for a pre show dinner.
We got to the Metallica show right when the house lights dimmed and watched them kick off the show. As usual (this was my 7th time seeing this show), they were awesome. Sellout crowd, downtown New York City, flames, lasers and 20,000 outlets of energy.
While I was cruising around back stage, I ran into John McEnroe getting a drink in the green room. Last time I had seen him was at a Metallica show a few years ago out in the Meadowlands. He is a big fan.
The after party was at Del Posto, a great restaurant owned by Joe Bastianich and Mario Batali on 10th Avenue at 16th street.
We arrived with about half the crew still standing and all got in and had a great time. I went to Boston College with Joe and we played rugby together (I was the hooker, he was a prop) so it was good to see him also.
I got to spend a few minutes with Lars and could not thank him enough for the hook up. Food, drink and famous people. Not a bad way to spend an evening.
Robert and Lars rock the bass and beat.
Metallica plays “Turn the Page” at Madison Square Garden:
— — —
Jim Flaherty is CEO of CMBS.com and the creator of the Backshop loan origination system. He is a trained credit professional with experience installing enterprise underwriting systems for commercial real estate lenders, rating agencies and investors.
www.cmbs.com
www.backshop.com
Busy week: Checking in
/0 Comments/in Industry news, Industry standards, What's going on /by jimflahertyIt has been a busy week around here: ULI Conference, Leads Release, MISMO Progress, preparing for the Backshop User conference and listening to Julian Marley.
As an aside: The asset highlighted in the Asset Summary Report – CVS Holliston Mass. (PDF) is a property my brother and Dad own that has CMBS debt on it. It’s interesting seeing your own loan in the database.
ULI Conference in San Francisco
Last week we had a booth at the Urban Land Institute Conference in San Francisco. The 5,500 registrants included a wide range of equity players including developers, REITS, funds, architects and city planners. There were not as many lenders as in the past, but attendance was strong and the exhibit hall sold out.
While the attendance numbers were good, the frozen debt markets, rising cap rates, and detiorating fundamentals were affecting most people. The bright spots were 1) the few REITs that have accessed the capital markets and 2) the funds with dry powder looking to buy into the downturn. I did some promoting for transparency but spent most of my time selling Backshop, Leads and our bond tools.
Leads Release
We upgraded the CMBS Leads product by adding a new PDF report at the asset level and adding expanded data to our download features.
Here are two sample reports:
CMBS Leads report – Alaska Hotels (Excel)
Asset Summary Report – CVS Holliston Mass. (PDF)
MISMO
The MISMO rent roll and operating statement committee, which I chair, had a call this week to go over the proposed XML schema we came up with at the end of August.
It took us a bit longer than we had hoped to get the structure integrated into the core data model, but we are moving again. We have another call set up for next week to finalize the schema, then it will be ready for its the 30-day public review period. Hopefully there will be a lot more on that in the coming weeks.
Backshop User Conference
Julian Marley rocks The Independent in San Francisco.
We are having our annual user conference in New York this Friday. The last two years, we have hosted two-day conferences in San Francisco. This year, given the markets and travel budgets, we decided to have the meeting in New York instead. Our good friends at Bank of America are contributing the meeting space, and we have more than 10 clients coming in for a day of updates and priority setting.
We have traditionally had a music theme at the conference. The first year we went to see Willie Nelson at the Fillmore. Last year we saw Dark Star Orchestra at the Great American Music Hall. This year, we are going to the Metallica concert Saturday night at Madison Square Garden. We have a crew of 16 going and, as always, I am looking forward to a rocking night!
Speaking of rocking, I saw Julian Marley play last night at The Independent in San Francisco. Julian, a son of Bob Marley, is touring with his brother Stephen in support of Julian’s new album, “A Time and Place.”
It is an awesome album and a great show. If you see this show pop up in your city, consider going for great taste of some current reggae.
I’ll report in after the user conference and Metallica show with some cool pics/video.
— — —
Jim Flaherty is CEO of CMBS.com and the creator of the Backshop loan origination system. He is a trained credit professional with experience installing enterprise underwriting systems for commercial real estate lenders, rating agencies and investors.
www.cmbs.com
www.backshop.com
House Bill 3890
/0 Comments/in Industry news, Industry standards /by jimflahertyWashington, DC – This morning I attended the House Financial Service Committee markup/debate meeting for the Accountability and Transparency in Rating Agency Act — House Bill 3890.
Read more