Transitioning from Residential to Commercial - Advice Appreciated

[Greg P.]

Hello everyone. I've been doing Residential Real Estate for a few years and been semi successful. I've created enough cash to potentially into Commercial Real Estate, but I'm very cautious.

Few Questions:

1) In the Residential business, you can find a property for cheap, fix up and sell and profit. If it doesn't sell you can rent it and cashflow. It really is that simple. My question is, with Commercial Real Estate, I've been seeing properties that are fully occupied and functioning well, but they do not seem like great deals. If I bought this property I would barely make any cash flow since I would use bank financing, and then I would potentially be "stuck" because my cash is gone. How does a person who is in my situation buy a Commercial Property and keep moving forward?

2) If I buy a property that is in distress, that could mean no tenants for awhile and it would be a "tough" sell. During this time since I would be using bank financing, I would be negative cash flow. How does one get by this? It sounds like a big risk.

Any advice or tips would be greatly appreciated.

Thank you very much.

Greg