Ramesh Nyberg's Real Estate Blog

While the pulse of the residential market picks up every month, things in commercial real estate are taking a different turn, albeit a familiar one.

The latest edition of the South Florida Business Journal calls it the beginning of the "meltdown."
At a sales meeting this morning, Duff Rubin, the director of NRT Commercial for south Florida said the latest data for commercial sales is "sobering." He noted an 82%--yes, you read it right--82% decrease in sales compared to last year.

Rubin went on to tell us in detail that it looks like the commercial real estate market is entering a phase that the residential market started to experience a year and a half ago. Phrases like "short sale" and "REO" were virtually unknown to commercial Realtors before, and now, Rubin pointed out, they are becoming household words. Sound familiar?
Last week, I met a commercial broker who has an agent in his office who does solely foreclosures.

So, what does all this mean? It means that if the commercial market is following in the footsteps of the residential market, then opportunities will abound. Remember, when residential sales began to drop, and the inventory began to swell with foreclosures, some people moaned and wrung their hands. Others started to gather their funds, and went on the hunt. Those people today are buying at what could be the bottom of the residential market (or at least near the bottom, with remarkably low interest rates).

If the SFBJ and Rubin are right (and others have echoed the same forecast), then there is no reason to believe that the commercial market won't morph into a "buyer's market."

Nobody likes to hear that sales are decreasing. But keep the faith, and remember those "silver linings." And remember one of my favorite definitions: "Luck" is when preparation meets opportunity.