Advice Needed From The Experts Here:

[Won Lee]

Hi, I seek advice on here from all the experts regarding  the question, MF apartments vs small commercial RE(thinking office space).?.

My only experience is that I owned a townhouse  rental 10 yrs ago and sold it a year later in 2005 when I saw some topping signs and did well.

My partner and I are both medical professionals and we both have great credit. We would like to start by investing 100 to 200K, so total purchase price around 500-800K.

We seek income generating properties with potential for appreciation. We can take some risk, as if we didn't have tenants(commercial office space) for awhile, we could carry the mortgage without bankrupting us.

1. for our situation, would you favor commercial real estate or multi unit apt's???. I live near Portland , OR and things are very expensive here(not quite Seattle but getting there). Most apt complexes with even 10 unit's selling for over 1 million. If you go to smaller towns just outside of Portland, 4 plex's selling for 100-130 a SF. Office space selling for 100-200.00 per SF. I am just looking at Realtor.com and Loopnet.

2. My goal is to buy a new property every 1-2 years. I have a senior banker friend who is setting me up with senior managing partner in a major local CRE company but I would feel kind of guilty wasting his time dealing with newbies such as myself. How do you find young smart guys who are hungry and want to grow with you.?? Obviously I would like to be on his shortlist so I can have access to good deals first, as the stuff I am looking at on Realtor.com and Loopnet do not seem to pencil out financially.

3. other than reading a lot of books and coming onto sites like this, anything else I should be doing?. What would be great is to watch someone in person negotiate deals and get hands on experience but I know that would be tough unless you knew someone in the business well.

Thx and sorry for all the newbie questions.

[Mike O'Connor]

As long as you are not trying to go specifically down one path (office space vs. MF), just run the numbers on everything that comes across your desk and see what makes sense. As far as finding great deals, you really just need to spend time building your network. There are likely a lot of full time investors out there that could use your strong W2 to help with financing, while they have the inside track on great deals (you would obviously need to syndicate). Just realize what it is that you bring to the table and market yourself accordingly.

Also, if the numbers don't add up in your area, don't be afraid to look in other places that are a bit further away. Good property management allows you the luxury of managing from afar...

As far as making these connections, keep being active on sites like BP, that is how I met my current business partners on a 32 unit deal in ATL. @Matt Wood @Azeez K. @Kiran K 

If you are in the Portland area I strongly suggest that you listen to the Real Dealz Podcast hosted by @Tucker Merrihew ....it has great info around market updates in your area. I live in ATL and listen to it frequently.

Best of luck!

Mike