Sure thing, kids LOVE the bubbles. The blowing, the running around, the popping.

All the things that gives real estate investors and developers fits.

Any simple search on “real estate” in a news story for the past two years would more than likely also mention the word “bubble”. In fact, a quick Google search of “real estate” and “bubble” turned up 998 news stories — in the past month!

At the Reuters Global Real Estate Summit, the problems that have plagued — and continue to plague — the real estate market has been much on the minds of all our guests, including Scott Schwartz, managing director of Marathon Asset Management.

Recognizing the breadth and depth of this real estate trough is critical for Schwartz’s business, but it is also equally key for him to see what’s coming at him down the road.

That is, “What’s next?”

Schwartz wonders about the expansion currently happening in Dubai and also sends up warning flares on another non-US economy — which he mentions in the attached audio clip.

Schwartz was one of the featured guests on the first day of the U.S. arm of this global summit — which has guests in New York, London, Dubai and Singapore and runs through Thursday.