I think I want in Commercial Real Estate (Help this newbie)
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[{"id": "d50e9ye", "text": "Costar is the standard, similar to Zillow or Trulia, but its very expensive at around $15k a year. ", "replies": [], "depth": 1}, {"id": "d50ik4i", "text": "Read Poorvu's books to start. There are a lot of predevelopment costs associated with financing commercial development  that you won't see on rentals homes, like market studies, environmental reports, zoning/permit fees, etc.\n\nOffice space is extremely market specific. In my market, you can't finance small office without a signed lease. Small doctor offices are on the way out here because large medical groups are in heavy competition to get patients and small offices are fed up with reporting requirements for health insurance/medicare. The large firms are buying out the little guys, and letting the office leases expire, leaving a glut of that type of office in the market. Vet's are limited by zoning in many cities.\n\nYou might consider partnering with someone who knows what they are doing to learn the ropes.", "replies": [{"id": "d512dnt", "text": "Let remove financing for the time being.  I don't think that is an going to be issue multiple reasons.   \n\nWith that being said,  what are the best opportunities for small office in your opinion right now?  I know you cannot speak on my area, but from a pure speculative and experience standpoint what would chose as your first investment into CRE? Small office, with a certain specialty? General use?\n\n\n\n\n", "replies": [{"id": "d51dhqo", "text": "Financing is always an issue, to be honest, especially if you have no track record. If your strategy is all cash, I guess you don't have to worry about it, but whoever buys the asset down the road likely will want to finance it, and will do all of the predevelopment work required by financiers. It is always good to know if what you are putting into the market is financeable or not, no matter your financing plans now.\n\nAs far as first investment, I would stick with rental units right now. It is harder to finance mixed use properties without a lease in place, which will impact resale. If you are set on a mixed use product or zoning dictates it, I would do flexible space. High ceilings, gravel floor to allow easy relocation of utilities, and sprinkled to allow for any number of uses. Special use property is hard to lease, and harder to release. Plan to pay some tenant fit out costs, or have free/reduced rent to fit out for the tenant.", "replies": [], "depth": 3}], "depth": 2}], "depth": 1}]