apartment management fees – Fortress Investment posts wider 3rd-qtr loss – Yahoo! News

Sunday, November 29th, 2009 at 2:41 pm

Fortress Investment posts wider 3rd-qtr loss - Yahoo! News

NEW YORK – Alternative asset manager Fortress Investment Group LLC said Friday its third-quarter loss deepened as it cut expenses and recorded a big gain on affiliate investments.

For the three months ended Sept. 30, the company posted a loss of $58.6 million, or 43 cents per share, compared with a loss of $57.4 million, or 66 cents per share in the year-ago period. The latest quarter's results reflect 12 percent more shares outstanding.

Pretax distributable earnings, which exclude charges such as a special compensation agreement for principals of the firm, totaled $57 million, or 11 cents per share.

Fortress allotted $240 million in the second quarter as part of the compensation agreement.

Analysts polled by Thomson Reuters, on average, expected profit of 9 cents per share. Analysts do not always include special charges in their estimates.

Revenue slid 22 percent to $143.7 million from $185.1 million last year. Wall Street had forecast revenue of $123.2 million.

The revenue drop reflected a 31 percent decline in management fees to $106.9 million. Incentive income from affiliates, however, jumped more than tenfold, to $7.6 million, from $718,000 in the year-ago quarter. Expense reimbursements from affiliates doubled, to $25 million, from $12.5 million last year.

Fortress cut expenses by 3 percent to $397.6 million, including the principal's compensation payout.

Net realized losses narrowed to $408,000, from $2.5 million last year, and the company recorded a net realized gain from affiliate investments of $315,000, versus a $671,000 loss last year.

Fortress' loss also narrowed because of $20.3 million gain from affiliate investments. During the same quarter last year, Fortress recorded a $7 million loss from affiliate investments.

Assets under management fell 7 percent to $32 billion from $34.3 billion last year.

Customers redeemed $766 million in cash during the quarter, primarily from hedge funds managed by Fortress.

Fortress shares slipped 36 cents, or 7.9 percent, to $4.21 in afternoon trading. The stock has changed hands between 77 cents and $8.30 in the past 52 weeks, and has more than tripled since the start of the year.

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At times like this, it can be a good idea to look for a management company to do your landlord responsibilities for you. These people can do advertising, represent you in open houses, fill-up vacancies, collect rent, take care of the up keeping of your properties and perform other services required of a landlord.

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1. Get your prospects from the list recommended by your landlord's association. You can also get your potential service providers by checking out recommendations from Institute of Real Estate Management. Another great source would you trustworthy real estate agent. They may also have connections with good managing companies.

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It is also important to know how their charge. Choose only those who are transparent with their charges.

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Finding a good management company should not be that difficult. However, you have to know what makes them a good management company and include them to your criteria. Moreover, application of these tips will surely help.

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