MBANow: Mark Fisher of StanCorp Mortgage on Commercial Real Estate Ecosystem

The Mortgage Bankers Association released a new MBANow video featuring Mark Fisher, Vice President and Managing Director at Stan Corp Mortgage Investors, who discusses the commercial real estate finance ecosystem and MBA engagement/advocacy.  

The video can be viewed at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S6CCriUKswk&feature=em-uploademail.              

Fisher is outgoing Vice Chair of the MBA Commercial Board of Governors (COMBOG); he announced his retirement this summer. He started his career at Stan Corp as a property manager in shopping centers, later rising to managing the real estate department, then as head of the company’s mortgage loan unit. During that time the company’s portfolio grew to more than $10 billion.  

“The mortgage business is very important to Stan Corp,” Fisher said. “We hold 40 percent of our assets in commercial mortgage loans, so that makes MBA very important to us.”  

MBA recently published a White Paper on the role of life companies in commercial real estate lending. Fisher said the biggest evolution he’s seen in his career is the liquidity in the space today, “even for whole loans, which we previously thought of as illiquid asset. But there’s a very dynamic market for them and they’re traded every day.” He called commercial real estate “a great asset class that provides great diversification against corporate bonds, so most life insurance companies maintain an active commercial mortgage lending operation.”  

Other videos in the MBANow series can be viewed at the MBANow website: https://www.mba.org/get-involved/stay-connected/mba-now.