Commercial rentals vs family rentals

[Aaron Balsbaugh]

I was wondering if someone could advise me to whether commercial rentals are as good as real estate rentals. If not could I hear a few reasons why because quite frankly I don't take no for an answer if you have no facts to back up your opinion. Thanks.

[Paul Choi]

I own both commercial and multifamily and multifamily is much more stable in the long term. Commercial can offer higher ROI depending on the amount of work put in but the swings are very wide when compared to MF when taking into account the market and economy swings. Recent article:

https://www.forbes.com/sites/forbesrealestatecouncil/2019/01/08/are-apartments-still-a-good-investment-in-2019/#1d98dcee7532

[Frank Wong]

Hi Aaron,

Commercial as in retail, office business rentals vs residential rentals.  On a basic level, commercial property will be easier to manage vs dealing with a residential rental where you have someone living there. 

I don't invest in anything other than residential rentals. The main reason is the demand and need for housing. In a recession, people are not going to start businesses but they will still need a house to live in. I like buying necessities in life. Easy to understand and more bulletproof. Imagine if you invested in NNN retail mall that had to shut down because of Amazon. Just like that 20yrs of hard work gone.

[Kevin Wang]

There is this one retail building in my local city that has been vacant for so many years. Let me think, what was the business called? Sports Authority! I can't fathom how the owner must be feeling. It's about I would guess hundred thousand sq feet. Imagine your investment sitting empty collecting cow webs while still paying that enormous property tax, granted the owner probably bought at low price but still.