Balloon payments in commercial lending (ticking time bomb?)

[James R. Copeland]

So I would LOVE to eventually get into Commercial Real Estate, especially apartments, but realize the commercial loan world is much different from SFR's. The part that keeps sticking out to me is the concept of a "balloon payment" after a few years. That just sounds crazy to me! Especially where commercial properties usually run in excess of 1 Mil, I can't imagine a bill coming due for ~70% of that all at once only a few years into owning the property, yet this seems to be the common practice!

Do most newcomers in commercial real estate end up refinancing every so often to avoid the balloons, or do they sell/1031, or do you recommend only getting into commercial when you know you'll be able to cover the balloon when it hits in full?

-Jim