Local real estate experts said they expect more properties to follow in 2010 as owners struggle to repay their debts. But the pickings might not be as rich as some are hoping, said John Thiry, a commercial real estate adviser for NAI Commercial Partners Inc. in East Hempfield Township, Lancaster County.

“The common thinking is that the vultures are circling and waiting for all these properties to go to forced sales,” Thiry said. “But what’s really happening is not quite that dire.”

Lenders are more likely to work with debtors rather than list properties at a sheriff’s sale, where they are likely to take a loss, Thiry said. Banks typically get about 60 cents on the dollar from the sale of delinquent properties, he added.

Thiry cited Red Rose Commons, a Lancaster shopping center owned by Blue Bell-based The Goldenberg Group and Philadelphia-based Pennsylvania Real Estate Investment Trust, or PREIT. With the center facing possible foreclosure, Goldenberg and PREIT managed to refinance their debt last fall.

“The vast majority of those distressed-debt situations are getting worked out,” Thiry said.

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