Still waiting for the bottom?

We're getting ready for the June issue of Midwest Real Estate News. As we put the issue together, I've interviewed several commercial real estate pros across the Midwest, and I always make sure to ask their opinion on whether they're seeing any signs of a rebound in the commercial real estate industry.

So far, commercial real estate pros have suggested that there may be a glimmer or two of hope out there. But for the most part, they say, business is still incredibly slow. The big problem, of course, is financing. It's a huge struggle, still, to get any.

James McShane, chief executive officer of Rosemont, Ill.-based The McShane Companies, summed it up this way for me:

"The good news is that we are not overbuilt in most categories. The bad news is that the economy is still not growing. There just is no need for a lot of new construction. We think that the spiral will come to a stop some time in the fourth quarter. But we are all interested in seeing what will be the first industries to come out of this recession."

There is a lot of uncertainty out there in commercial real estate. And it doesn't look to be going away any time soon.