This Year’s Theme? You Fill in the Blank

Catch phrases aren't limited to the age of social media. Twitter and Facebook's quick, pithy labels (think “Snomaggedon” and “SNOmg” for this year’s blizzards) have nothing on commercial real estate.

Commercial real estate has been doing it for years, and this wild ride of an economy has been no exception: “The Year of the Great Recession,” the “Year of Extend and Pretend” or the “The Year CMBS Dried Up.” (OK, maybe not as pithy as “Snomaggedon,” but you get the point.)

The motto for 2010, for example, could easily have been “Slow: Recovery Ahead” or “At Least It’s Not 2009.”

I think 2011 is going to need a different, distancing moniker, something more positive to show our enthusiasm from the past two quarters that have featured increased activity across all property types. This title needs to be short, but to the point, about how the property survivors feel today; basically, hands reaching up, clawing at the edge of the blast hole of the past four years, pulling to a sitting position and ready finally to jump into this next decade of deals.

I’ve already heard a few 2011 catch-phrase candidates out there. “The New Normal,” was the title of a conference  presented by Standard Capital LLC at UCLA’s Anderson School last week, where one attendee phrased it “We’re hoping that the extend and pretend will end.”  

I asked a few friends from my region, the Midwest, what they thought, and surprisingly, the number of good ideas fit into two themes: The Money is Out There and Thank God We Made It.

The money ones were humorous– Tom Fish, executive managing director at Jones Lang LaSalle, said “Back in Black” fits today’s capital availability and “Lend and We Can Extend” from Dan Musser, principal with Zimmer Real Estate Services, portrays how banks that can’t sell are working through loans with buyers hopeful to see a “Light at the End of the Tunnel,” provided by Bernard Haddigan, principal of Haddigan Capital.

Haddigan also says of the five stages of grief, the commercial real estate market today is “Between Bargaining and Depression,” which at least is right before Acceptance.

Other ideas expressed the survivor theme, as in “2011, Please be Painless” by Randy Podolsky in Chicago, and "Heaven in 2011” was the favorite of a number of hopeful brokers, who's cup is always half full, right?

So I reach out – let’s name 2011. It’s early, but why not start the predictions now? Give me your best creative name that fits the thinking for this year. We’ll put up a Top Ten after the entries are in.

My current fave, from Michael Zaransky, CEO of Prime Property Investors– something my fellow journalists can appreciate, as we’ve heard it on about every story this year:

“2011: Cautiously Optimistic.”