I have just returned from a week-long trip to the Atlantic Maritime Provinces, including New Brunswick, Nova Scotia and Prince Edward Island where I visited with Other Commercial Real Estate Brokers.

The purpose of my visit was to establish a Northern Pipeline of Canadian buyers for Central Florida properties. With the Canadian Dollar being very strong ($1.04 as of today) and our Commercial Values in Central Florida having plummeted to a record low, my thinking was that it represents the "Perfect Storm" of buying opportunities for our friends from the North.

The Canadian Real Estate Market has been strong compared to our 5 year retreat in values.  The capitol of New Brunswick, Fredericton,  currently has a vacancy factor of only 3% in Commercial Office Space. That rate hasn't been seen here since 2006 before the Real Estate correction.

The thought I passed on to the Commercial Brokers was: "There will be more wealth created in Commercial Real Estate in Central Florida in the next 24 months than over the next 24 years."

I previously stated that the "Bottom of the Commercial Market for contract creation was in December 2009.  I still firmly believe that the 1st quarter of 2010 started new activity for smart investors. We have seen a new wave of value plan investment funds looking for product.

I closed my first commercial short sale in June 2010.  The bank repossessions are now starting to hit after going through the lengthy foreclosure process. Banks and Sellers now realize that if they want to sell they need to get VERY aggressive with their sale prices.

This  is  the opportunity for the smaller business to buy their own buildings, banks are still lending at low 6% rates.  And "Lease with option to buy" is taking on new meaning at this time.