There will be so many opportunities in the next 18 months that"this will be the first time in many years we will raise capitaloutside the company," the chairman and founder of locally basedHall Financial Group tells GlobeSt.com. "I view the opportunitiesthat are coming up as better than any we've seen since themid-1980s." Hall says the plan is to amass capital from USinvestors to buy bricks and mortar, notes, mortgages and fundcompanies that need help. And, he's got financial institutionssquarely in his sights to cherry-pick their debt.

Hall made his fortune mining the apartment market in the 1980s.This time, his favorite target will be high-end residential,specifically unfinished condos caught up in "complicated messes,"he says. "We are going to focus on things that play to ourstrengths and historical nature. We are replaying a lot of thingsthat we hoped would never happen again." But, his marching ordersfor the team are to stay flexible on property type.

Hall says his company is even more prepared this time than itwas in the 1980s to seize market opportunities. "We're really in amode of trying to take advantage of the opportunities. It will bechallenging and fun and hopefully very profitable," he says. "I amconfident it will be an advantage for us. At the same time, I'msorry these problems are here for the people who are going to behurt."