When Daniel Stuzin bought a distressed office building in Fort Lauderdale, the first thing he did after fixing the elevators and making cosmetic changes was to drop the rental rates.

Because he acquired the Class C building at a discount, he could afford to cut $5 from the rental rates to $15 a foot — a 25 percent discount. In about a year, he increased the building’s occupancy from 50 percent to 80 percent.