(Next up on the national road show: RealShare Philadelphia, March 9 at the Marriott Philadelphia Downtown.)

WASHINGTON, DC-At the close of yesterday's RealShare Washington, DC, the roughly 500 local industry attendees walked away with a thorough assessment of the state and future of the local market. Sponsored by Real Estate Media Inc.--the New York City-based publisher of GlobeSt.com and Real Estate Forum--this local stop on the national traveling RealShare road show touched on a variety of critical issues, for Washington, DC, Northern Virginia and Suburban Maryland. But all basically reached the same conclusion: the Metropolitan Washington, DC region is hot and there's no tangible end in sight.

The day kicked off with opening remarks by Real Estate Media editor-in-chief Michael G. Desiato, followed by the Town Hall Meeting. Advantis/GVA president and CEO Petch Gibbons moderated the panel that included: Opus East LLC president and COO Jim Lee; Douglas Development president Doug Jemal; Monument Realty principal Jeff Neal; and Transwestern Commercial Services senior managing director Clifford Mendelson.

The panelists addressed questions posed by Gibbons and the audience ranging from relationships with their investors to their most notable deals. To the question, "What keeps you awake at night?", Jemal's reply was "interest rates." An increase in rates would ultimately curb development and sales. Alternatively, Neal responded by pointing to the possibility of what he called a "cliff mentality" among developers; a potential trend in which developers would begin to build too much, and even more developers would follow their lead. And Mendolson's response brought a dose of harsh reality about the world we live in today and the vulnerability of the market. "All the talk about dirty bombs; one in Downtown DC and all bets are off," he notes.