We deployed our world-spanning journalistic resources-- well,one crack reporter anyway--this week to San Diego for the Mortgage Bankers Association annual meeting, buttonholing as many finance pros as we could. MBAs Jamie Woodwell says investors are now chasing yield into secondary and tertiary markets. And underwriting is still cautious in the hinterlands. As those tertiary markets job growth recovers, underwriting will loosen, he says.

We also met with Arbor Commercial Mortgage CEO John Caulfield, who tells us, "Conduits coming back into the market means there is more capital chasing deals, in turn creating competition."But new capital makes him wonder whether lenders will feel the pressure to be more aggressive. "We have to be careful to manage the borrowers expectations. He also cautions apartment owners that are expecting increases in rents this year. If youre getting $700/month for rent, Im betting youll still get $700, maybe $710. Its not going to $1,000.