"To a lot of people, starting a new real estate business at this time seems exceedingly risky, but my entire career has been geared to providing solutions to challenging markets. There's no better time to offer fast solutions in the capital markets," Diliberto says. "Auction and advisory experience along with an ability to raise financing for our clients is essential in solving the problems many owners face today, some of whom have never lived through a difficult real estate market."

Diliberto says the auction market has changed over the years. Twenty years ago an auction was considered a last-ditch effort to sell a distressed property. But as the economy has ebbed and flowed, the auction process has become more mainstream and not always about distress. During the last ten years, Diliberto says he has seen more corporate and private owners selling high-profile and trophy assets at auction.

As a prime example, he cites the auction of Intel's 428,000-SF, 68-acre manufacturing plant in San Juan, Puerto Rico. He also cites a National Auctioneers Association report that stated in 2008 auction sales in the US reached $268.4 billion. Of that, 21.8% or roughly $58.2 billion was real estate related.