Commercial lending to a newbie?

[Melissa Kirchhoff]

I am (mildly) interested in buying a retail storefront with apartments above. I honestly, haven't really researched or thought about this very seriously before, so I feel completely out of my element. (If it matters, I would actually want to put my business in the storefront - going from a one woman show to something much larger - and rent the upstairs apartments)

So my question is:

How would I go about getting a loan for something commercial? Would they even lend to a newbie who is not in any type of commercial game or would I need someone else to invest with? Like, where do I even start this process??

Any podcasts or other information about this that you could refer me to? Again, I never really considered this before, so I almost want to just run for the hills but I can't stop thinking about it and wondering if this might be a good idea or not?