Bruce Garrison ran a similar career gauntlet as Oliver and Frank. Garrison succeeded Oliver at Morgan Guarantee, and then later joined him at Alex Brown. Garrison is currently the portfolio manager for REITs at Salient Partners & Pinnacle Trust Co.

For a time during the early 1990s, Garrison was a REIT analyst for the old Kidder Peabody investment house (acquired by General Electric). To him, the biggest surprise has been the run-up of the REIT market since the IPO of Kimco Realty Corporation (NYSE: KIM) in 1991. "At the time, the market cap for REITs was $13 billion. We were kind of the laughing stock of real estate," Garrison says. "You can look at the amount of capital raised since then. The biggest surprise was finally getting to see REITs on a level playing field with other capital sources. The window was there for securitization to take hold. It did. And the rest is history."

Garrison's short list of pleasant surprises doesn't end there. As he views the history of the REIT market, there was a second unexpected trend line. This one occurred more recently. During the 1990s, Garrison notes, the "REITs had a tailwind of good economic news while recovering from the capital debacle of the 1980s. They really weren't tested in a down cycle until 2000, and REITs came through unscathed. That surprised a lot of people."