Initially Leider and Clarke, along with Jarod King, who will be operating as an agent, will be the only brokers in the Santa Barbara office, but they have plans to add more brokers in the coming months.

Since March, Lee & Associates has opened new offices in Palm Desert and Boise, Idaho and continue to solidify its California presence in commercial real estate with plans to open new offices in the state as well as nationwide.

Leider and Clarke say taht one reason for the change was to take the opportunity to join a firm that's expanding while many others are shrinking. "That's exactly the reason we are excited about it," Leider says, referring to their pairing with Lee.

Because development in the Central Coast is difficult to get off the ground, the massive construction that went on during the real estate boom hasn't hurt the area as much as other portions of Southern California because building was slower in the area, Leider says.

"There are extremely high barriers to entry, development construction, so we never got into an overbuilding mode," he adds. "And the premium properties, the well-located properties, are still trading at agressive cap rates, although they are not nearly as low as they were a couple years ago."

Clarke adds, "We're still experiencing a slowdown, but it's during slowdowns when you need to be the most competitive and get a leg up as fast as you can. Pairing with Lee will help us survive this downturn and compete at a higher level."