Help me find my first "cash out refinance" commercial property?

[Patrick Philip]

Step 1: Where to find the properties. Obviously LoopNet (CoStar), which I'm told is used by 93% of the top 1000 commercial brokers in the country. It seems like it would be a daunting task to find and contact every individual commercial brokerage. But is it necessary?

Step 2: What to look for? Obviously, I'm looking for something with value-add potential, and probably looking to refinance/sell within 3-7 years. I think it would be rare to find a listing that plainly says "value-add opportunity," so I would need to develop my own skills at recognizing these things. Also, I've been talking to some contractors lately and seems like I could build anything (house, apartment complex, condominium, hotel, retail center) for between $100-$110/sq. ft., so perhaps it would make sense to build at times.

I'm opening my LoopNet app right now. What do I look for? This is just practice so price/financing is not an issue. I also registered for CBRE Dealflow. They asked my acquisition criteria and I don't know what to tell them because I'm still in the research phase and I know they hate time wasters.

Aside from LoopNet, should I just register with a select few commercial brokerages, such as CBRE, Marcus & Millichap, and Cushman Wakefield?