''It was a pretty stable year,'' Tupler tells GlobeSt.com. ''It would have been better if Sept. 11 had not occurred. A couple of deals that were on the table were carried over to 2002. But it definitely was a good year.''

Of the deals, $42 million of them were for transaction that occurred outside Colorado.

''Typically, I have built relationships with groups outside of Colorado that have bought or refinanced a property here, and if they have a property outside of Colorado, they will often continue the relationship with us,'' Tupler says.

He says that he did five deals in Colorado last year, one of them in Colorado Springs.

Some of the borrowers are not interested in publicizing their transactions, he says.

This year will be a challenging one, but he predicts another good year.

''It's definitely going to be more difficult because of market conditions nationally and in our region,'' Tupler tells GlobeSt.com. ''In general, we're seeing lenders adopt more conservative when it comes to underwriting and more concerned about the tenant makeup in a property.''

He predicts that buyers and sellers will be far apart this year. Buyers will want to purchase buildings at a 10% or 11% cap rates, while sellers will try to get a 9% cap, he says. That might mean a buyer is willing to pay $120 per sf for a property, while the seller wants $140 psf, he says.

''The sellers will say I've got good cash flow, and low debt levels, so I'll just sit on it,'' rather than sell into a depressed market that could bounce back quickly, Tupler tells GlobeSt.com. But sellers may become more willing to bargain and more motivated to sell as vacancies rise, he notes.