Am I ready to move into commercial real estate?

Many real estate investors spend their entire careers at the single-family home level and do very well at it. But for those who hunger for bigger deals, the answer is usually larger properties. The plusses include positive cash flow (sometimes from the moment of purchase), professional management (which becomes more affordable when dealing with multiple units), and sometimes very large profits when you sell. It’s not hard to imagine why investors want to move up to larger properties. But, along with the plusses are some minuses. You will generally have more of your own money at risk; the lease structures can be complicated, even arcane; and if there’s a recession or a problem with the property, you can have massive vacancies. My suggestion is that you start out Simple, in single-family homes, Once you have a taste for it, you can spread out into other areas of real estate. Some investors, in fact, make the transition very quickly . . . and successfully.