Tenant In Common Association Meeting
I went to the Tenant In Common Association (TICA) meeting in Las Vegas on Monday. It started on Sunday and went through Wednesday morning. One day was enough for me, plus the hotel rooms in Vegas were $300 to $400 a night. TICA has these meeting twice a year and it's the same agenda every time, but one has to show up just to network and affirm existing relationships. From that standpoint the conference was a success, and possibly a huge success.

The opening speaker, a Wharton economist, was really good. The economy is strong, housing will drop 10% to 12% and condos will offer a buying opportunity in two to three years. He said that the government will leave the economy along for the next two years as it will be preoccupied with Iraq, but look for a recession in 2009 when a new president tries to institute new initiatives. He ended on immigration and had real good comments, in that the US should encourage immigrants and that they are positive for the economy.

The lunch speaker was torture. He was from the real estate industry's lobbying group and it felt like he handicapped every House and Senate race in the country. It was information anyone could get in ten seconds on realpolitcs.com or polling.com. His final conclusion is that the real estate industry will likely benefit from a Democratic House and Senate, just as its benefited from a Republican Congress.