Purchasing First Commercial Real Estate Property
Hello Reddit! I didn’t know where else to turn to but wanted to post here and ask this community for help / advice. 

Background: 
My parents are in the process of acquiring a shopping complex, mixed use (retail / office) commercial real estate property. My parents have owned businesses in the past but have always rented a space from someone for their business. This location is pretty great, it’s 3 separate buildings each with about 12 available retail locations (5 of which are already occupied with long standing tenants). 

I’m having a meeting with the realtor tomorrow to discuss the property but what kinds of things should I be asking? What kinds of things do we need to do? This is our first endeavor in this type of business so I’m really hoping this community can provide some insight. 

Please assume we are 100% newbies at this. 

Looking forward to a lively discussion!!! Thank you so much in advance!
[{"id": "dqbpbyp", "text": "Wait... What's the vacancy? If I'm doing my math right, 5 units out of 36?! And this isn't a new project... You mentioned long term.... So what's the deal? Sounds like a severely suffering plaza.", "replies": [{"id": "dqbu6ru", "text": "Sorry let me clarify. There are three buildings with 12 units total. 5 have been rented out with 7 that are vacant. ", "replies": [{"id": "dqbukui", "text": "I guess that's a bit better, still not great, but you'll have an opportunity to add value which is good. How much of a noob are you? Do you know anything about cap rates? What is the proposed purchase price based on? It shouldn't be anything other than in-place income. Additional emphau on the in-place income. How much, as a percentage of total available leaseable area, is vacant? Assuming greater than 50%, that is still cause for MAJOR concern unless you have a high degree of confidence that the area is poised for significant gentrification.", "replies": [], "depth": 3}], "depth": 2}], "depth": 1}, {"id": "dqbprio", "text": "Do you have the offering memorandum we can see? Just from what you posted the vacancy poses a problem: why is there so much vacancy, and even if the explanation is legit can you get the necessary debt with vacancy that high? If the tenants are long standing can you get the sales for these locations? What do the financials for the property look like? Do you have a plan in place for the vacancy? What does the tenant mix look like? Parking? You need to know why the vacancy is there. Easy solution: have a broker represent you (assuming you haven't signed anything saying it'll be principal only with no buy side broker). Also, you said you're meeting with the \"realtor\". Is this a commercial broker or some residential agent that stumbled on this listing? If the latter a commercial broker on your side would help immensely. ", "replies": [{"id": "dqbu8i6", "text": "I don\u2019t have it yet but will grab it when I meet the realtor tomorrow. He\u2019s a commercial real estate broker with Remax, if that helps. Where would I find a commercial real estate broker if you don\u2019t mind me asking. I\u2019m in Dallas. ", "replies": [{"id": "dqbvek3", "text": "I can do it since you're in Texas, or go on LoopNet or CREXi and search similar properties in the area. Look at the brokers with those listings. Call two or three of them and pick the one you seem to get along with or the one that doesn't just try to sell you their listing. Message me if you need more info. ", "replies": [], "depth": 3}], "depth": 2}], "depth": 1}, {"id": "dqjh90i", "text": "Whats the supply like in the immediate area? If you can buy it at a low price, its probably a deal. With that much vacancy (and TILCs) I would really use conservative cash flow analysis. If you can buy it at like a 10% cap rate, yeah, maybe.", "replies": [], "depth": 1}]