“Southeast Valley opportunities are still there, though they are harder to find,” said Steven Schwarz, managing director for ViaWest Properties. “We can't compete with the big REITs, so what we look at is, how do we uncover opportunities? We're also bullish on Phoenix.”

Ryan Spiekerman, founding principal for Helix Asset Management, was impressed with a shift in the general investment discussions taking place.

“We're talking about things now that we didn't talk about three years ago, like cap rates and even interest rates,” said Spiekerman. “And that's a good thing.”

James Mastandrea, chairman and CEO at Whitestone REIT, is based in Texas. Whitestone has 22 properties in Phoenix.

“We focused on areas to buy as they recovered,” said Mastandrea. “Now we have two million square feet of space in Phoenix. We like Phoenix a lot. We think it has some great legs to it.”

William Metzler, co-founder and principal of West Coast Capital Partners, said Phoenix is his biggest market. “We put 20% of our own capital in our deals,” he said. “We love the Southeast Valley because there's value there. We've been buying a lot of condos.”

But Metzler also cited the termination option as a sticking point in many deals as some companies are insecure in the market.

Anderson echoed that sentiment. “Our smaller spaces are mom and pops and they are still worried about the Affordable Care Act and another government shutdown. They're not expanding so they want a way out,” he said.

Mastandrea afforded the panel some advice: “REITs do like the small deals. It's how you look for those pockets of opportunities that matters. There's an enormous inventory of foreclosed homes on the market—and that's something to watch.”