Looking at buying a "light industrial" commercial condominium unit - what to look for?
I'm looking at buying a condo unit that is zoned "Light Industrial". I do online sales and light assembly/production of electronics. The space can't be used for retail, but that's fine for our purposes.

The development is just outside of a small suburb (15k residents) which is outside of a major metropolitan area. It's about one mile from my home. It's in a "strip mall" type configuration in an industrial park, one unit next to the other. Two floors. The buildings were constructed in 1984. They seem to be in good shape, the roof seems fairly new and there didn't appear to be any signs of disrepair or deferred maintenance. The building is not cosmetically appealing, it could use a paint job.

There are a total of 55 units. One real estate investor owns 15 units, another 8 units, and the rest are pretty scattered. I went there during the day and the place seems fairly busy. There are a number of small businesses in the development -- plumbers, electricians, CNC machinists, etc. Some are used for storage.

The unit I'm looking at has an asking price of $45/sqft and was used mostly as a shop, but has a few offices inside. HOA/admin fees are about $1/sqft/yr. The space could probably be rented out for $6-8/sqft/yr, based on some research on commercial rentals in the area.

I'm a little bit leery about 1) the age of the building, 2) the association. The association seems to be financially stable, but the fees have gone up three times in the past 4 years. Also not sure if there are any big pitfalls with acquiring a unit in such an old building. What should I look out for?
[{"id": "e3d17co", "text": "Honestly if this is your first run at a commercial property, I'd bring a broker in. Feel free to PM me if you'd like a recommendation for a broker in your area. ", "replies": [], "depth": 1}, {"id": "e3hvlma", "text": "I agree with Epic81 that you should hire a broker. What market are you in? I would be happy to make a recommendation if I know someone there as I spent years as an industrial broker. Brokers will make your life so much easier on your first purchase and beyond and are worth every cent. I know it is easy to think that you might know contracts and everything that goes along with making a purchase but when it comes to commercial, even residential too, it is very easy to get screwed and sideways on a deal. It's a domino effect and if you do it wrong you risk not being able to service your debt, pay your mortgage, etc. Please do yourself the favor of hiring a broker.", "replies": [], "depth": 1}]