Setting expectations high can backfire with Wall Street. That certainly seems to be the case with property companies, now reporting their fourth quarter earnings. While other sectors of the market are drawing cheers with relatively robust profits and sales and lively forecasts for economic recovery, real estate investment trusts are announcing write-downs and missing earnings predictions. What’s setting REITs back when other firms are rebounding? While only a dozen and a half REITs have reported results so far, their numbers don’t bode well for the rest of earnings season, points out Rich Moore, an analyst at RBC Capital Markets, and his colleagues.