Great article in the Wall Street Journal about the challenging environment for REITS

An article in the WSJ focuses on the tough environment for REITS that is just around the corner. challenging

--tons of debt coming due over the next two years
--lower commercial property values
--dwindling occupancy
--lack of buyers

Major REIT players have staggering debt levels. Maguire Properties, has 94% debt to capital. Despite the 60% run up in the REIT share market, they are still more than 65% off the highs of February 2007.

This will clearly lead to a buyers market for the typical property that a REIT owns....Class A office towers, shopping malls, etc. The advantage to us is that it will trickle to our target markets, where there are very few buyers like us. Most of the large real estate buyers will be cherry picking the portfolios of distress REITS, not paying any attention to our target market....$2 million to %15 million. We're flying below the radar screen