Speaking at the New York Commercial Real Estate Women Network's panel discussion on real estate finance in today's capital markets, Kim Diamond of Standard and Poors, noted that since Sept. 11 the industry has seen the demise of single-asset securitization and that larger loans were now being executed in diversified pool transactions.

As far as large loan transactions are concerned, said Cecilia Tarrant of Morgan Stanley, the need for terrorism insurance after the attacks became prohibitive to large projects, which then moved toward fusion transactions--or deals pairing larger loans with several smaller ones.

But this trend now adds a layer of complexity to an already complex process, contended Brenda Mixson of Island Capital Group. Her firm was recently involved in a deal with five large loans split among several trusts. The big question now becomes where does the control lie, she explained. "In some investments we have no control so we've required that we get the same information that those in control get," Mixson said. And knowledge, she added, is valuable.