While the long-anticipated tidal wave of opportunities indistress has so far been a trickle as debt holders have shownthemselves willing to do workouts, "there's some evidence that nextyear will be a different story," said Michael Buckley, director ofthe asset repositioning and turn around strategies certificateprogram at the University of Texas at Arlington. Buckley and otherexperts convened for a recent GlobeSt.com webinar made the pointthat we ain't seen nothin' yet. The webinar was entitled: So YouStill Want to Play in Distress.

Although the commercial real estate sector as a whole isgradually recovering from the 2008 capital markets implosion, "Thereal downturn hasn't yet occurred" in terms of distress coming ontothe market, observed John D'Amico, president-elect of theCommercial Real Estate Finance Council.

Approximately $1.2 trillion in commercial real estate loans willcome due in the next few years amid a still-shaky recovery infundamentals, D'Amico pointed out. "That tells me that we stillhave a huge hump to get over" and assets will become available as aresult, he added.