What's your take on how 2012 will shape up?

I am feeling relatively good about 2012, and here are my prognostications for the year ahead: With Iowa behind us, election year kicks into high gear, and we will be barraged by the Left and the Right, but not a peep from the center. I harbor the hope that this election will ultimately find an effective center, where our government operates at its best. The euro crisis will fade into the background as the EU makes hard decisions and establishes a way forward. Employment will show respectable gains, still not anywhere near pre-recession levels. The Dow will crack 13,000. I sense that the "Bear" is heading back into hibernation, and equity markets will begin a steady, long run. Alas, real estate will lag the recovery, but this is not unusual. The stage is being set for a slow and steady rebound that will gather steam later this year, and hiring activity will follow suit. I am confident that 2012 will be a good year, and one that heralds a calming of the choppy waters.

To read LoPinto's weekly column on GlobeSt.com, go to globest.com/executive watch

What will be the challenges for investors this year?

In 2012, the challenge will be to balance the "wait and see" approach and the traditional need for more clarity with the established fact that by the time the macro economic risks are truly reduced, property pricing will have already moved. Therefore, this is the time for assertive market selection, asset selection, a well-thought out value creation and exit strategy—all built on an astute leveraging of incredibly low interest rates. The top-flight, low-risk acquisition strategy of 2010-2011 will not pencil out as easily in 2012 thanks to recompressed capitalization rates and back-to-peak pricing for many top-tier commercial real estate properties. One clear trend is the favorable position of commercial real estate as an asset class by multiple measures, starting from going-in yields to improving fundamentals, lack of new supply (across most product types), increased financial lending sources and, of course, low interest rates.

Read Hessam Nadji's blog, "StreetSmart," at globest.com/blogs/streetsmart

How could 2011 has been better for the economy?

Perhaps the biggest economic disappointment of 2011 was the failure of the Super Committee to address the root causes of the federal deficit crisis. Maybe more frustrating is the failure of leadership we've witnessed in the corporate suites of the global financial world. Despite being managed by the brightest minds in Europe, the major banks on the continent are approaching insolvency due to an unfortunate gorging of European sovereign debt. Think of Lehman Brothers' real estate group destroying that great firm and good ol' Jon Corzine allegedly misappropriating $1.2 billion of his clients' funds. Perhaps it's just the group-think thing that leads to unsound investment decisions. The current group-think in commercial real estate is that buying assets in select gateway cities at five-caps is a compelling investment. Maybe the Wall Street investment herd is correct, or perhaps we'll see huge write-downs of these acquisitions if (or when) cap rates revert to the mean.

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