A real estate investor recently asked the following: “I’ve noticed that most if not all properties in my area offer a cap rate of 3.5%-5.5%, and when I ask the brokers why the cap rates are so low they say it’s ‘perfectly normal’ for this area. Am I missing something here?”
It was “perfectly normal” […]

We are witnessing more and more vacant commercial real estate space. How many office buildings or retail buildings with vacant space really have to be vacant? Too many asset managers expect to re-lease expired leases at the same or higher rent. This type of thinking is either the product of a masochistic, naive or foolish […]

Following is an electronic copy of the Friday 13th Wall Street Journal Review & Outlook, titled “Of Bernie and Bonuses.” The third paragraph states “At one end of his trail of victims are people of modest means who misplaced a natural instinct to trust. Their losses shock and madden everyone. At the other, among the […]

The latest in the line of businesses seeking government handouts is the commercial real estate industry (see following WSJ article “Knock on ‘Opportunity’: Sharp Losses”). Where should the government’s demarcation line be for underwriting the bad loans, mortgages and losses permeating the commercial real estate industry? How does it differentiate between who to help and […]