Michael Nierenberg is an entrepreneur in the real estate industry. He's presently the CEO and president of New Residential Corporation. He previously spent several years working for Bear Stearns. He took over at New Residential after the credit crisis of the early 2000's. His company manages real estate investment trusts (REITs), through which investors can own many residential and commercial properties.
In addition to his previous work at Bear Stearns, Michael Nierenberg has also worked for Bank of America Merrill Lynch, JP Morgan and Lehman Brothers. His career began at Lehman Brothers where he was involved in their adjustable rate mortgage business. At Bear Stearns, Michael Nierenberg led its foreign exchange trading and interest rate business. He was the head of global securitized products at JP Morgan.
Michael Nierenberg first started working with REITs while at Bear Stearns. Reits are publicly traded funds through which investors in real estate to their financial portfolios. There is over $3 trillion invested in the global REITs market. REITs either invest in mortgages & properties or in residential or commercial real estate. Some specialize in certain markets such as healthcare facilities, office buildings and retail.
Investing in real estate can quickly become very complex and specialized. Just within residential real estate, Michael Nierenberg says asset classes include excess mortgage service rights, residential mortgage-backed securities, servicer advances and call rights. Investing in these is overwhelming for individual investors. Companies such as New Residential manage the complexity using teams of managers, advisors and analysts.