I recent spoke with Lisa Leiter at Crain's Chicago Business about commercial property cash-outs. Using a refinance situation as an opportunity to cash-out equity is not a new practice to many property owners and investors, who most times would use the equity to further enhance their real estate portfolios. After all, traditionally equity has a higher cost of capital compared to debt.

In the current market, with many properties experience a drop in value, these cash-out situations have caused problems for many lenders, as well as, the property owners who may be upside down in their investments with a maturing loan on the horizon.

You can watch the video segment of our discussion to learn more about how these situations affect the capital markets today. I invite you to share your thoughts on cash-outs.

By Christopher Carroll
September 22, 2010