Donald Trump Jr, the rather uncharismatic son of reality television personality Donald Trump, is looking to set up his own fund to invest in India's until recently red hot real estate market.

The younger Trump told Bloomberg that "The fund will be for acquisitions of real estate in the high end, and across the spectrum. The market place is beginning to understand and appreciate luxury, so there is a great opening for us there, as well as in resorts.''

He's looking to raise $1 billion, but given how cheap investors have become of late, I'm skeptical. What exactly are his credentials? He's 30-years-old, works for daddy, was a judge on his father's reality show, and -- the icing on the cake -- he was ousted from the board of the condo association where he lives.

If this guy can raise a billion bucks, then the economy is considerably stronger than we're giving it credit for ... or investors are considerably dumber.

But for now, these are just "plans" to raise "up to" $1 billion. I wouldn't hold my breath waiting for the money to role in, and frankly, this looks like a publicity ploy designed to create the impression that Trump Jr. is someone to be taken seriously.

A government bailout of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac would cost U.S. taxpayers $25 billion over the next two years under a plan being proposed by the Bush administration, according to an analysis by the Congressional Budget Office.

The July 14th proposal by the administration would grant the Secretary of the Treasury temporary authority to purchase obligations and other securities issued by Fannie, Freddie and the Federal Home Loan Banks. Congress is expected to vote on the proposal soon.

CBO used historical data to estimate expected losses on the different types of credit risk the GSE's (government-sponsored enterprises) have in their portfolios.

Despite large and growing declines in both the commercial and residential real estate markets, one part of the real estate sector is having a good year. Self-storage companies, which are often structured as REITs, are posting some good numbers. Face it, American's have way too much stuff and not enough space to store it at home. Americans move, go away to college, get divorced, join the military and/or lose their homes in foreclosure with alarming regularity. All of these life events require short-term storage. According to a survey in Investment News, self-storage REITs have generated total returns of 20% or more YTD. This compares very favorably with the 5% or more drop in the S&P 500 stock index YTD.

A snapshot of the sector shows four of the largest self-storage companies on the upswing. Sovran Storage Incorporated (NYSE: SSS) at $40.88 is up 1.95% YTD. Most other self-storage REITs have more impressive returns. Extra Space Storage (NYSE: EXR) at $15.11, up 6.90% YTD. Public Storage Incorporated (NYSE: PSA) at $83.55 is one of the most expensive self-storage stocks. It is up 7.59% YTD. The bargain in the self-storage sector is U Store It Trust (NYSE: YSI). At $11.54 the stock is up a whopping 28.82% YTD. Investors should call around to self-storage companies in their areas. Chances are they will not find many vacant units.

With the real estate market in the toilet, most people would never dream of investing in property right now. "It's going down!" How do we know that? Because reputable sources like BusinessWeek tell us it is.

And then there are the people who have made fortunes in the industry, and they see it differently. In an interview with Portfolio, Related Companies founder, chairman, and CEO Stephen Ross explained his decision to make huge new investments in Manhattan real estate"

"Too many people believe that when things are bad, they don't know how they can get good and when they're good, they don't know how they can get bad."

Ross has ambitious plans for the next few years: a $3 billion mixed-use development in Los Angeles, a $3 billion Colorado ski resort, and a 144-acre development in Phoenix, one of the hardest hit real estate markets.

Maybe the naysayer journalists know something Ross doesn't, but I somehow doubt it: he's number 68 on the Forbes list.

Back in August of 1979, BusinessWeek ran a cover story proclaiming The Death of Equities, suggesting that the stock market was dead, and only a fool or old, out-of-touch person would invest there.

Needless to say, that article could not have been more wrong, and the bull market that began three years later was the longest in history.

Now, the good folks at BusinessWeek are back nearly 30 years later to declare that "the treat of a free fall is growing" for the housing market. There are some similarities. Like stocks in 1979, real estate has been a poor performer of late and it's hard to find anyone, except realtors of course, who is bullish.

But the question is whether sentiment has shifted too far to the negative side, versus the optimist of a few years ago. As Benjamin Graham wrote, the secret to successful investing is to be "greedy when others are fearful and fearful when others are greedy."

The BusinessWeek article is well-researched and has some valid points. But to the contrarian, it's hard to think of a better buy signal based on BusinessWeek's less than stellar track record with Chicken Little headlines.

Ladies and gentleman of the jury, I present to you exhibit 424A in the case of The People v. Donald Trump. Florida developer Jorge Perez -- who built a billion dollar fortune as a Cuban exile starting with nothing -- recently came out with a book of real estate advice called Powerhouse Principles: The Billionaire Blueprint For Real Estate Success.

I'm only about 40 pages into it and so far it's nothing special. But after a foreword from Donald Trump, there was nowhere to go but up. Trump started his one-page foreword with praise that still managed to come across as self-aggrandizing: "The one person who could teach me something about real estate is Jorge Perez."

What? The one person? Did Donald Trump really just say that there is no one who can teach him anything except for Jorge Perez? There's no question that Donald Trump's an expert in the savvy selection of wealthy parents, losing money operating a casino, and resurrecting his career by playing a caricature of a mogul on a sitcom -- I mean, reality show. But real estate?

The clown prince of real estate -- Donald Trump, or The Donald, or Donald J. Trump when he wants to be extra pretentious -- is suing Crescent Heights Diamond (is it too early to nominate companies for worst name of the year?) for using his good name to promote a 70-story tower in Tel Aviv and then stiffing him on the royalties.

According to the New York Post, "Trump charges that after he tirelessly promoted the project, Crescent Heights stiffed him by selling the land for which it paid $44 million in April 2007 to another development company for $80 million -- a profit of $36 million."

Trump told "Page Six" that, "They announce with tremendous fanfare that Trump is their partner. Then, instead of building, they flip the site. They used my name to pump up the value, then made a big profit. We put this site on the map, and under the contract they are obligated to complete the project. They are not good representatives for the great state of Israel and they should be ashamed of themselves." Crescent said the lawsuit is without merit.

The U.S. housing slump is creating another negative ripple effect, this one by extension, or by association, if you will, as in condo/co-op association.

Owners in condo associations are having to chip-in to pay for unexpected association maintenance, tax, and related fees when other residents enter foreclosure or are substantially behind in payments, The New York Times reported Thursday.

The Times cited the case of condo owners in a 43-story Miami, Florida condo having to ante up more money after 1 in 6 residents battled foreclosure. The additional charge: an additional $1,000 assessment and $50 more a month for cable and internet fees, on top of the regular $450 monthly maintenance.

Connecticut-based appraiser Lawrence Schmidt, not a realtor but a former 15-year condominium owner with extensive knowledge of the sector, told BloggingStocks Thursday prospective buyers need to fully-research a condo association's membership status, including record of tax payments of individual members, in addition to the standard evaluation of the condo association's maintenance fees, contractor services, and quality-of-life issues, etc. Co-op buyers must do even more research on the co-op's balance sheet, monthly budget, cash flow, outstanding mortgage, and other related financials, he said.

Despite the weak housing market, not everyone is feeling the pain, including Donald Trump who recently made a killing selling a home in Palm Beach for a reported $100 million.

While Trump concedes that the housing market is still weak, he states that he thinks things are about to turn a corner. Trump said that what is most troublesome to him right now is that people are still pretty shy about investing in America, and is what he calls the "saddest part" of all concerning the current economic situation in the country.

Since the American economy is driven so much on oil, Trump admits that there are better investments that you can make by looking abroad.

April saw a 65% increase in foreclosures from the same month a year ago.

The numbers pretty much speak for themselves, with 243,353 receiving notices in April. This is a vast increase from April 2007, when "only" 147,708 homes received the same notice. This was also a 4% increase from March. The numbers are based on a report from RealtyTrac Inc.

Homeowners in California and Florida are among the hardest hit. The two states had 9 metropolitan areas that ranked in the top ten areas of the country in terms of foreclosures.

Could there be better times ahead for the share holders of Developers Diversified Realty (NYSE: DDR)? I took a look at what the analysts are indicating, and to me the chances for an upswing look pretty good. As the nation's largest holder of "strong in trade" shopping centers, the company is holding up quite well. We might even say exceptionally well, when you consider that it's sitting atop the real estate and retail double danger zone.

AOL Money and Finance indicates analyst consensus is to hold this stock. I see it just a bit differently. Out of 20 reported target prices for this stock, only one target is below current share price. To me that signals a reasonable expectation that the stock will move up. That is, unless you choose to believe that 19 of 20 brokerage targets are wrong.

Right now, it appears that DDR could be at the leading edge of it's next growth cycle. It's five-year return is pegged at just over 75.5% and it has returned over 16% YTD after losing more than 31% over the past year. This might be a good long term play if we are ready to claim that real estate and the general economy have stabilized. I'd be tempted to grab some of this company, if even just as a show of confidence.


Gary Sattler is a freelance blogger with no stock picking credentials. He does not knowingly have interest in the companies mentioned in this blog post.

Since 1992, the The Blackstone Group L.P. (NYSE: BX) has been a top real estate investor with 229 transactions for over $132 billion. With lots of firepower remaining, the firm is striking yet more deals.

The latest is for Synergy, a major real estate development and management firm in India.

The investment amount comes to $18 million, relatively low for the folks at Blackstone, but it's a highly strategic deal.

Synergy has developed a variety of projects – spanning 100 million square feet -- for office buildings, hospitals, hotels and so on. In other words, the firm should be a nice way to source lucrative deals in the fast-growing Indian market.

Tom Taulli is the author of various books, including The Complete M&A Handbook (www.mergerbook.com) and is also a principal in Averiware, which provides an ERP system to small and midsize businesses.

A lot of Americans are watching their homes decline in value, and many families are finding themselves upside down on their mortgages -- owing more than the home is worth.

But don't worry: if you were wealthy enough to afford New York City's sky-high real estate in the first place, you're doing quite well. New York apartments hit record highs in the first quarter -- an average of between $1.63 million and $1.72 million, depending on which data source you believe. That's a year-over-year price increase of more than 19%.

Manhattan real estate rose 13% to between $855,000 and $945,276, depending on which source you believe. But some experts say that that number is inflated by a disproportionate number of high-end properties and that prices on lower-end units are flat to negative.

In a related story, Italian businessman Luigi Zunino is looking to sell a Park Avenue apartment he hasn't yet closed on for $100 million.

According to the Wall Street Journal (subscription required), the 1907 Plaza Hotel where the unit is located is also home to Bear Stearns Chairman James Cayne and developer Harry Macklowe -- both of whom are suffering (or rather their investors are suffering) in the wake of the falling housing market.

But as long as executives who destroy value still reap large paydays, high end real estate will probably continue to do fine.

Given the headlines that have been streaming across every media outlet, most people wouldn't guess that real estate investment trusts (REITs) were relatively strong performers for the first quarter of 2008.

But that's exactly what happened. According (subscription required) to the Wall Street Journal, "a Dow Jones index of U.S. equity REITs posted a 1.4% gain in total return for quarter, out pacing the 9.4% decline in the Standard & Poor's 500-stock index."

Self-storage REITs were up 20% for the quarter. Huh? Who would have thought that self-storage would get hot!

The point is that it is impossible to beat the market based on following the news. Everyone knew real estate was going to be lousy -- and it was. But markets are a discounting mechanism, and the stocks had already been sold off to reflect the predicted weakness.

What will REITs do in the second quarter? I couldn't tell you. But for what it's worth, Ben Stein thinks they're a buy, telling investors in a speech that "I'm buying all [the REIT units] I can get my little paws on. These are God's gift to retirees."

Since 1992, Blackstone (NYSE: BX) has been a big player in the real estate business, striking over 200 deals amounting to about $103 billion. Some of its transactions include Hilton ($26.9 billion), Equity Office Properties Trust ($38.6 billion) and Trizec Properties, Inc. ($9.2 billion).

Well, it looks like Blackstone is ready for more dealmaking as the firm has raised $10.9 billion for its next fund (Blackstone Real Estate Partners VI).

But isn't there a credit crunch? That's true. What's more, there are signs of problems in the commercial real estate sector.

However, it looks like Blackstone is going to focus on global markets. Something else: with the dislocations in the U.S. financial markets, there may be some good valuations.

A key advantage with Blackstone is that it has leverage across a large portfolio of existing real estate, as well as operating companies. In other words, I suspect the firm will have little trouble putting the billions to work.

In today's trading, Blackstone's stock is up 2.58% to $16.29.

Tom Taulli is the author of various books, including The Complete M&A Handbook and The Edgar Online Guide to Decoding Financial Statements. He also operates DealProfiles.com.