Investors are interested in lower-tier markets for higher yields, and lenders are catching on. (Yields should make you stop, if you're a good driver.) Smaller Midwest markets have had limited access to big, non-recourse lenders and often don't know that these sources of capital are willing to branch out, Aries Capital EVP Andrea Riegsecker tells us. She's based in Peoria, Ill. and will spearhead Aries' expansion into Central Illinois, St. Louis, Western Indiana, and Eastern Iowa. With more than $2B in CMBS loans coming due in these markets over the next two years, there are opportunities to finance commercial real state, and major lenders have responded with favorable rates, she says.

The typical borrower is the local, self-made owner or developer, Andrea says. Hot property types: multifamily (favored by Fannie, Freddie, and CMBS) and hotels (credit unions, life companies, and CMBS). Andrea's keeping an eye on development in Peoria (two hotels have opened in the last year), while college towns like Bloomington-Normal continue to swell. Lenders just need a good story to go to markets below 400,000 people, she says—what's unique about the project, the upside, etc. She's looking forward to spending the summer with her husband, relaxing by their new pool overlooking the Illinois River.