have hair

v. phr. (of a financial transaction or investment) to be less than ideal; to be risky; to have complications. Subjects: English, Money & Finance, Slang

Editorial Note: Two common meanings of “to have hair” well-covered elsewhere are “to be old” and “to be manly, robust, or substantive.”

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Citations: 1987 Terry McDermott Seattle Times (Washington) (May 31) “The Sale That Never Happened—In The End, Argyros Couldn’t Bring Himself To Sell The M’s” p. A1: Others were critical of the offer, however, saying it wasn’t solid. “That $37 million had a lot of hair on it, a lot of paper involved,” another bidder said of it. 1998 Peter Slatin Barron’s (Mar. 2) “The Ground Floor: Opportunity Funds Vie With REITs in Hot Market” p. 28: Our strategy is to be aggressive sellers in three to six years, whether through a sale of an asset or a spinoff of a business. We’re not just buyers and holders.…Because we deal with things that have hair, we’ll outperform people purely playing the cycle. 2001 Adam Feuerstein TheStreet.com (Sept. 26) “Four Stocks That Stand Out in Biotech’s Bargain Bin”: Now, before you call your broker, a healthy dose of caution is in order. All of these companies have some hair on them—they wouldn’t be oversold if they were gems. 2002 Charles Haddad, Heather Timmons BusinessWeek (July 23) “WorldCom: Take My Assets, Please”: TOO HAIRY. Perhaps the biggest potential woe in a WorldCom asset deal: A new owner would still be liable for any fines levied by the government. And a large fine or indictment of senior management or the company as a whole could quickly sink WorldCom’s prospects. That’s what happened at Arthur Andersen, where customers bailed out when the government sued. Says one Bell executive: “WorldCom has too much hair on it right now.” 2002 Michael Dumiak US Banker (Oct. 1) “After only 10 years, Kerry Killinger’s firm has stores on both coasts. Maybe it’ll even work” vol. 112, no. 10, p. 57: It had to be pretty cloak-and-dagger because the buy was for Pacific First, Wamu’s cross-town rival.…By this time Pacific First also, as they say, had hair on it. 2004 Fair Disclosure Wire (Jan. 15) “Prentiss Properties at Deutsche Bank Securities Real Estate Outlook Conference—Final”: This is the one sector where cap rates seem to be all over the place, in terms of—if it’s leased through, it’s no expression near-term, you have a great price, and if this there’s any hair on it, heavily discount it. 2006 National Mortgage News (Feb. 20) “Small Balance Market Heats Up” vol. 30, no. 20, p. 10: Mr. Miklos believes that “oftentimes some of the loans that are overlooked have hair.” 2006 Matt Hudgins National Real Estate Investor (New York City) (Aug. 1) “Mesmerized by Mezzanine”: Mountain Funding, for example, has responded to increased competition by seeking investments “with some degree of hair on them,” Nevid says. The company has found less competition in land development and construction, which may be too speculative for some institutional investors. 2007 REI Research Online (Jan. 15) “Buybacks Creating Opportunities for Some Investors”: The assets that bid include both nonperforming subprime and performing mortgages that Mr. Roth says “have hair on them.” (A loan that has “hair” has been kicked out because of underwriting or guideline problems.) 2007 Dan Seymour Fortune (Apr. 2) “Mortgage Woes Spread Up Credit Ladder”: M&T Bank also said the investors who buy the bank’s mortgage debt are taking advantage of contractual clauses to force M&T to buy loans back, sometimes because of payment defaults. The bank set aside $6 million anticipating that more investors will force M&T to repurchase Alt-A loans at a loss.…“Buyers are getting very edgy right now.…Anything that shows any hair on it is going to get put back to the lenders.”

Posted 19 Apr 07 | Permalink | Tell a Friend

Reader comments:

Pure speculation, of course, but I wonder if this could be related to the informal term “hairy” meaning (according to wordnet) “hazardous and frightening; ‘hairy moments in the mountains’” (I would personally add some implication of complexity to much of the usage). I could imagine someone in the financial industry using “having hair” as a jocular variant of “hairy” to describe a “hazardous and frightening” investment and having the phrase catch on as jargon.

by Topher Cooper 20 Apr 07, 0327 GMT

Perhaps. It calls to my mind food with hair on it. Something you could go ahead and eat, since hair isn’t poisonous, just disgusting.

by Grant Barrett 20 Apr 07, 0331 GMT