How do others make money and you do not?

I am in a unique position in commercial real estate. I sell real estate and I also sell businesses. For a while it seemed that when one market was down, the other was up. Unfortunately, commercial real estate and business opportunities are both down now.

I really thought that the softening of the market, low building prices,  low interest rates and foreclosures filling every commercial and industrial park, that investors and users would be snatching properties so fast that it would start the recovery.

With high unemployment, certainly there are brave souls out there willing to jump into the entrepreneur arena and start paying themselves. But it seems that we are a nation of followers. Everyone is waiting on the crowd to start the momentum for us.

I had an investor tell me today that dispite the fact that they had a property in our area that had been vacant for two years, they really liked the area, and they wanted to look at acquiring another property. That is what I have been expecting from those who own the big houses and have multiple cars. I assume they were buying when others were affraid. I think the numbers of those who do, are far less than I expected. Maybe that's why there is such a huge disparity between the 'haves' and the 'have nots.'

Here is a relevant poem written by somone unknown to me.... Sorry pardner, I acknowledge that I did not write it, you did, but I don't know who you are.

Investors Lament
I hesitate to make a list of countless transactions I have missed;

Bonanzas that were in my grip - I watched them through my fingers slip;

The windfalls which I should have bought were lost because I over thought.

I thought of this, I thought of that, I could have sworn I smelled a rat,

And while I thought things over twice, another grabbed them at the price.

It seems I always hesitate, then make my mind up much too late.

When Newport Beach was cheap and barren land, I could have had a heap of sand;

When Palm Springs was the place to buy, I thought the climate much too dry.

Invest in Orange County – that’s the spot! My sixth sense warned me I should not.

I chose to think, and as I thought, other’s bought the deals I should have bought.

Today I cannot be enticed for everything seems so overpriced. The market’s soft, it’s this it’s that.

At times a teardrop drowns my eye for deals I had, but did not buy.

For now life’s saddest words I pen – "If only I’d invest NOW…and then!"