First time commercial borrower

[Jason Deck]

Hi everyone,

This is a fairly general question, as I am a new investor:  I would really love to hear your experiences getting your first commercial loan.  I am interested in buying a MF property of >4 units, but I have been told some scary things about commercial financing.

Scary things include:  You can only get a loan for an amount less than your personal net worth.  All commercial loans will have recourse to personal assets aside from the property.  It is very difficult/expensive to refinance them, and you will have to do it anyway unless you want to make a balloon payment.  Generally, the loans are nearly impossible to get if you do not have experience with this kind of investment.  

Thanks in advance for sharing your experience getting commercial financing for the first time.  I am eager to go shopping, but first need to know if I have a hard limit at 4 units or not.

I should also mention that I have good credit, good income from my day job, and a couple hundred grand to use for down payments, cash reserves, etc.

Thank you!