Well maybe they aren’t!  I usually don’t buy into the “doom and gloom” rhetoric and certainly always feel like the private sector drives the markets.  But as of late my Real Estate confidence has been waning.  According to every stat house and news outlet, other than #Mibor of course, home sales are down.  And the only real action we are hearing about is the refinance business.  Now mortgage companies are enjoying the quick fees involved in this and it really does look good on the books, but as a whole the general real estate market it seems is at a stand still.  At the beginning of the summer I was getting many more calls with interest in retail and commercial space and I credited that with the refreshing entrepreneurial vision and terrific per square foot prices.  As summer went on the calls dwindled and the clients I was working with were losing that spur in business most springs bring.  Reality was setting in and even though many people loved the idea of venturing out and expanding, it still doesn’t make sense.  The risk in this environment is way to high for the reward in most cases and business owners will not make crazy deals just to fulfill a Real Estate want.  Sure banks are willing to lend to long standing customers that are having continued success and they should.  But for anyone that wants to lean on their company and finance an expansion or new growth, not likely.  It just shows how deep this economic problem is and buying and selling property right now is a roll of the dice.  Luckily, this is what drives my business and that is the daily challenge of standing back and working to make a different deal than the obvious.  In everyone’s business we need to stand out and follow the market and be sure we are offering a service that is not only wanted but needed.  And being able to recognize that is the first and sometimes most difficult part.