How a commercial-real-estate market bottom could be Wall Street's gain

Alex Nicoll /Business Insider
Photo Credit: milindri/Getty, Tyler Le/BI

Depending on who you ask, the commercial real estate market is about to implode or rebound.

The uncertainty is creating a buying opportunity for investors like Blackstone and Steve Mnuchin.​

Investing in times of distress has solidified fortunes going back to the Great Depression.

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Well-timed greed is a long-standing American tradition.

Warren Buffett is famous for saying, "Be fearful when others are greedy, and be greedy when others are fearful." But before Buffett, there was J. Paul Getty, an oil tycoon and the patriarch of the Getty family who got his start buying shares of distressed oil companies during the Great Depression. And in the aftermath of the mortgage meltdown of 2008, while foreclosures were piling up, a new generation of well-capitalized players — from Blackstone to Steve Mnuchin — made their fortunes diving into troubled waters.

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