Should I do commercial or residential real estate?

[Samuel Bergen]

So I’m a new investor and have $60,000 or so in cash and was planning on doing some single family homes to start off with but now I’ve given it some thought and would single family homes be better or get start into commercial buildings such as strip malls and such?

[Bob Langworthy]

@Samuel Bergen, congratulations on getting ready to invest, saving up a pile of cash, and looking for insight. Here are a few thoughts:

1) The answer will vary widely depending on your market.

2) Strip malls are getting hit hard in parts of the country due to the response to Covid. With a new administration, we may be looking at further lockdowns which may adversely impact tenants.

3) I own an office building and residential units. People always need a bed, they don't always need an office.

4) What about a small apartment complex? There are some economies of scale with an apartment complex that make them better than a group of SFHs.

Hope this helps,