Welcome to CDs CREds

The concept to do this site was a wake-up-in-the-middle-of-the-night idea. Those ideas typically do not fail me, so here we are! CD is for Christine Defilippis, my name and CREds, well its a play on 'street creds', while also borrowing the CRE acronym. This site evolved from a welcome change in my career. After 15 years of focusing only on multifamily, I am reverting back to all the real estate investment asset classes. I am passionate about real estate as an investment and find it to be the most tangible, comprehensive and manageable investment.

Historically, I have worked both in the capacity as a lender and an owner. Two very different sides of the table albeit invaluable exposure. I have sourced, underwritten and closed debt during the retail power center era when CMBS spreads were sub 100, grocery anchored and big box centers reigned supreme and development was plentiful (and fun). That iteration of my career saw its challenges with the gradual and then quick unfolding of the GFC. My lender glasses granted me a perspective only a lender would have, a different view of the same investment. More cautious and calculated. Most of my career was working on the owner side, for which I constructed retail opportunities for different developers. I worked on retail strip centers as well as big box anchored multiple use centers. The accumulated knowledge and experience has been accretive to my success and production throughout my career.

Like many who grew up in a real estate household and endured growing pain exposure at a young age, I decided that the stock market was where I wanted to spend my time. I willed my way into an investment position at a prestigious trust bank. There I had exposure into equity investments and equity portfolio construction. I quickly memorized all the relevant tickers and became very familiar with Bloomberg terminals. I thrived in that environment and relished meeting families and learning about their wealth building. And then, 9/11 happened and I watched as families, both client and employees, panicked and wealth was lost. It was that long week I learned that equity was way more fickle than real estate. So real estate it was from then on.

Ill be using CD's CREds to share concepts, facts, thoughts and opinions on current real estate developing stories and headlines. I look forward to evolving and engaging.