Hello BP! New Investor looking to get into CRE

[Nikhil Agarwal]

Hi everyone! I recently received some money and instead of putting it into stocks, I thought I'd diversify and purchase some real estate but I was quite nervous about it. I don't even own a primary residence. My friend (who has about a dozen residential units) is helping me learn the ropes and we've purchased 4 residential units together now. Seems to be going well since we've found tenants on day 1 for all the units!

We would like to purchase commercial real estate property now. We see better cash flow for every dollar invested with commercial real estate where we are (MA). However, one of the things that worries me the most is getting a tenant for a commercial property if the existing tenant decides to leave.

For example, we are quite happy with a dental office we've been looking at. However, when the lease expires in 5 years, if the tenant were to leave, I don't know how long we'd have to wait to get a new tenant, how much renovating the space for the new tenant might cost etc. Are there any helpful resources to better understand this?

Also, I wanted to say I am a huge fan of the BP community. From the podcasts to the forums, it has made the process so much easier!