It would be an understatement to say that commercial mortgage–backed securities have issues. The CMBS market is striving for a moderate comeback in 2012, but a steady stream of troubled assets from past issuances have been falling into foreclosures. Meanwhile, the structures in place to fix those distressed loans, i.e., the special servicers, are sometimes structurally conflicted as to whether to foreclose on a loan and clear it from the books or push out a final settlement (extend and pretend) to some point in the obscure future. Needless to say, the backdrop to the current CMBS market consists of unhappy bondholders, stressed special servicers, players who have tried to game the system, and just plain investors who would like to dive back into the pool, so-to-speak.

I’m not sure the folks who are trying to push the idea that real estate investing is really a part of private equity investing are doing a good thing — at least, not if their intention is to position real estate investing as a subset of private equity investing.

When the full impact of the financial crisis began to unfold in early 2009, I must confess I rubbed my hands in anticipation of a flood of buying opportunities, as did many in the commercial real estate market with access to cash. I envisioned a wildcatter’s dream with deals gushing forth like oil raining on James Dean in the 1956 film Giant,where he played opposite Elizabeth Taylor.