Securities Lawyers Blog
The securities lawyers of Gana Weinstein LLP are investigating recommendations by brokerage firms for their clients to invest in Moody National REIT II (Moody REIT) – a non-traded real estate investment trust (non-traded REIT). According to secondary market quotes, Moody National REIT II has suffered massive losses and may only be worth less than 50 cents for every dollar purchased. In addition, Moody National REIT II no longer distributes a dividend. As is too common in the brokerage industry, firms fail to understand the flawed non-traded REIT business model and only recommend these products for their 7% commissions – not because they benefit investors.
Moody REIT has been particularly hard hit in the recent recession due to the nature of its investments properties. Moody National REIT II, Inc. was formed in July 2014 to acquire a portfolio of hospitality properties (a/k/a hotels and resorts) focusing primarily on the select-service segment of the hospitality sector with premier brands including, but not limited to, Marriott, Hilton and Hyatt.
According to the investments’ Fact Sheet, Moody REIT’s objectives are to “Preserve, protect and return stockholders’ capital contributions. Pay regular cash distributions to stockholders. Realize capital appreciation upon the ultimate sale of the real estate assets acquired by Moody National REIT II, Inc.”
However, according to filings with the SEC, on March 24, 2020, the Company’s board of directors approved the suspension of: (1) the sale of shares in Moody REIT; (2) the payment of distributions to the company’s stockholders; (3) reinvestments; and (4) the operation of the share redemption program.
Our firm often handles cases involving direct participation products (DPPs), private placements, Non-Traded REITs, and other alternative investments. These products are almost always unsuitable for middle class investors. In addition, the brokers who sell them are paid additional commission in order to hype inferior quality investments providing perverse incentives for brokers to sell high risk and low reward investments.
According to studies, non-traded REITs have historically have underperformed even safe benchmarks, like U.S. treasury bonds – meaning that non-traded REITs provide paltry investment returns considering the risk an investor takes. Alternative investment products like oil and gas partnerships, REITs, and equipment leasing programs are only appropriate for a narrow band of investors under certain conditions due to the high costs, illiquidity, and huge redemption charges of the products, if they can be redeemed at all.
However, due to the high commissions brokers earn on these products they sell them to investors who cannot profit from them. These products have become so popular among brokers without providing any benefit to investors that many states now limit investors from investing more than 10% of their liquid assets in Non-Traded REITs. Many states impose these limitations because its understood that that they provide virtually no benefit to investors in relationship to their risks.
Investors often fail to understand that they have lost money until many years after agreeing to the investment. In sum, for all of their costs and risks, investors in these programs are in no way additionally compensated for the loss of liquidity, risks, or cost.
The investment lawyers at Gana Weinstein LLP represent investors who have suffered investment losses due to allegations of wrongdoing. The majority of these claims may be brought in securities arbitration before FINRA. Our consultations are free of charge and the firm is only compensated if you recover.