Across the entire investment spectrum, there is always cooperation and synergy — yet also tension — among those with money, those who manage the money and those who operate on the money. The terms of financial endearment vary, usually depending on recent market and practitioner performance, the scarcity or abundance of capital, and the relative attractiveness of current investment opportunities.

In the world of institutional real estate, the relationships are among investors such as sovereign wealth funds, insurance companies, pension plans and large private equity pools, who pass the cash to investment management firms in the middle (including those with “mega-funds”), who then either acquire property and attendant property managers, or join hands with developers on the operating end.

In hot markets and boom times, real estate investors tend to become less discriminating, more eager to enter the market. Professionals ofte