Paul Bunby is editor of Real Estate New York, from which this article is excerpted.

As participants in self-help groups--or anyone who watches Oprah--might attest, people today seem more willing to divulge the most intimate details of their lives in public forums. However, they're often less forthcoming with any information related to the size or composition of their paychecks. That shyness evidently extends even to anonymous online responses: none of the participants in the first-ever compensation survey conducted by Real Estate New York answered the question of how their compensation is divided, on a percentage basis, between base salary and bonuses or commissions.

The 75 men and women who took the time to address the survey's remaining questions were more forthcoming on issues such as their expectations for pay increases, the gap (perceived or otherwise) in compensation for men and women with comparable job titles and the importance of money in attracting and retaining talent. Many offered additional comments that provided some shades of grey to what otherwise might seem like black-and-white distinctions.

What those additional comments didn't suggest, by and large, was a downward cast to respondents' outlook in the face of uncertainty in the financial markets. While the president of an accounting firm noted, "The market is going down. Fewer sales and fewer transactions equals fewer raises," the overwhelming majority said they expect to start bringing home a bigger paycheck in the next 12 months, just as a comparable percentage reported receiving an increase in the past year.