During the last several years, investors in many unlisted real-estate-related investments have lost a significant percentage of their principal. Those investment include Behringer Harvard, Inland Western, and Desert Capital real estate investment trusts (REITs) and the IMH Secured Loan Fund, which is a fund comprised of commercial real estate loans that were made to borrowers who could not qualify for traditional bank loans. After being told that these investments were safe, income-producing products that would provide a stable source of long-term income, investors now find that these investments were very risky have declined substantially in value.
These investments do not trade on a public securities exchange and only can be sold through private transactions. For example, investors attempting to sell their Behringer shares have received offers of less than 20 cents on the dollar, Inland investors have received offers of less than 40 cents on the dollar, and IMH investors have received offers of less than 5 cents on the dollar. Not only have the values of these investments plummeted, but the income paid by these investments also has decreased significantly and ceased entirely in some instances.
If you lost money in a Behringer, Inland, IMH, or other unlisted REITs Dimond Kaplan & Rothstein, P.A. may be able to help you recover your investment losses. Dimond Kaplan & Rothstein, P.A. has represented several hundred investors who have lost money in risky REITs and other unlisted securities.
The Financial Regulatory Authority (FINRA) recently announced that it is investigating the sale of REITs and, in particular, the ways in which brokerage firms marketed and sold the products to investors. Notwithstanding the risks of REIT investments, many brokers and brokerage firms marketed these investments as safe and secure. These investments often pay high commissions to brokers, which can explain why some brokers would misrepresent the safety of these products when making a recommendation so that they can secure a hefty commission for themselves.
