Two weeks ago Don attended the Tenant in Common Association (TICA) 3 day conference in Las Vegas. This conference was focused on the TIC industry, which is generally comprised of investors who do IRS tax deferred 1031 exchanges into large, institutional grade commercial properties. General forum sessions consisted of economists attempting to read the “tea leaves” of our economy, credit crunch issues, volatility in the financial markets, and the like.

Last week Don and I were in Florida for another conference that focused on the REO (Real Estate Owned, ie, bank foreclosures) market and the implications of how the loose lending standards led to our current real estate meltdown. Again, general sessions had economists trying to read the “tea leaves”.  A lot of speculation with others from around the country centered on the upcoming election and what that might mean for next year.

What we couldn’t believe was the massive continuing construction of huge condo projects (like the Trump condo project just up the street from our conference center in Hollywood, north of Miami) even though everyone knows that market in Florida has collasped. We guessed that the time line for these projects is so long, you simply can’t stop them, no matter what…