Mike if you are serious about commercial then leave the residential or mixed use brokerage and go with a commercial only specialty brokerage.You get into the larger deals the buyers and sellers do not want DABBLERS.

You basically can reach out to commercial brokerages, developers, architects,real estate agents alike and anyone interested in the area and property.

There tends to be less competition here because only certain brokerages can deal with HUD homes.

So I am somewhat involved with commercial brokerage firms and owners and they seem to be doing well these days.

You can setup a Solo 401k with a mainstream brokerage and use that for contributions, and the cost/admin overhead are much less than a self-directed plan.  

I know of others who used the margin accounts of their brokerage account.- Tom 

The seller disclosed the long term leases on two of the units, but only provided the expired, 2 year old lease and the rental increase notices for the other two  and did not produce the additional long term leases that tenants shared with me.I'm in a bind here, I can't break the leases and can't stay in compliance with the loan terms.I've already reached out to my agent, who is fortunately a commercial brokerage with an attorney on staff, but have not heard back.

Also my brokerage has a full property management division.

Many members are experts in their respective fields related to real estate investing, whether that is real estate brokerage, wholesaling, flipping, buy and hold, lending, self-directed IRA and Solo 401k investing, or tax and legal guidance.There are some pretty cool discounts on various products and services offered as Perks to BP members that you might want to check out: https://www.biggerpockets.com/perks/pro

I am a real estate broker in Windsor CT but have another brokerage based in Fairfield County with agents and an associate broker.