The time may soon be at hand...

It's a tough time to be in real estate. Financing is difficult to secure with a CMBS market that has locked up, cherry picking life companies, and increasingly risk adverse commercial banks as a result of increased regulatory scrutiny. The drone of the mainstream press is continually negative. What to do? It may soon be a great time to be investing in real estate. Prices have moderated with increasing cap rates, many industry participants expect to see price declines of 5 to 10% in 2008. So far it appears that sellers are holding the line and this has caused a marked slowdown in sales activity, but at some point soon the new realities may make sellers more willing to negotiate then they have been in many years. We all know one should buy low and sell high but investor psyche often dictates the opposite, they buy high and end up selling low in a panic or being forced due to deal economics. For those with access to capital (and despite the increased challenge securing financing it is still available), now may be the time to be hunting deals.