The long-term prognosis is bullish for Orange County's variouseconomic and commercial real estate product types, according toBrunswick and other conference panelists. But the short term isanother story.

Like the early morning Huntington Beach surfers zigzagging amongcrashing waves, real estate professionals will likely be navigatinga dangerous path over the next year or so. The experts agreed thatthe "gold standard" would be taking a respite as the area's moversand shakers ride out the subprime fallout, with its subsequentcredit crunch and overall economic woes.

While the event, held at the Hyatt Regency in Irvine, maintaineda sobering tone, any market gloom did not slow attendance. A recordcrowd of 450 industry professionals showed up for the fifth annualRealShare Orange County conference. The conference, along withother RealShare events nationwide, is produced by Real EstateMedia, publishers of GlobeSt.com, Real Estate SouthernCalifornia, Real Estate Forum magazine and other printand online publications devoted to commercial real estate.