Johnson, who has been handling health care real estate for two decades on the leasing and investment end, tells GlobeSt.com that she had joined GPE Commercial two years ago, where Talbot and Morgan also worked in healthcare leasing and investment. She explains there would be many occasions during which investment brokers from other companies would call one of the three to get some insight, advice and information about a certain piece of health care real estate while putting together sales packages.

"Since brokers were being hired for investments sales had to call us for word on the street, we wanted to let people know we do that , too," Johnson says. The best way to do that was to combine the three brokers' expertise and hit the market together. Once the three colleagues merged three separate proprietary databases, they were ready to become GPE Commercial's healthcare investment group.

Though health care real estate hasn't been immune to the economic situation during the past two years, Johnson says such real estate is driven mainly by new hospitals. Phoenix has had plenty of new hospitals built during the past five years, she adds.

"Part of Phoenix's growth strategy was to go to outlying areas with residential rooftops, which was followed by retail, then office," Johnson comments. "Healthcare was growing too, but being placed next to new hospitals." As a result, she says, medical office buildings haven't quite taken the hit from a leasing standpoint that commercial real estate has.

Still, hospitals and systems had taken a hit, but those hospitals are starting to become profitable again. "Almost all of our hospitals have gone through rezoning for hospital towers," Johnson says. "They're poised to start new construction as soon as the financing is out there to do so."

As of now, Johnson, Talbot and Morgan have buyers interested in acquiring medical office buildings, especially smaller ones, but Johnson acknowledges there is a buyer-seller gap when it comes to price. "These buyers are poised on the sidelines and ready to get into the market," she remarks.