I understand that sending them a message through the platform may flag me for solicitation.

It’s worth understanding their opinion and sometimes this kind of request means they see more potential in the deals than they’re letting on.

Hey Bigger Pockets community, I'm just starting out in Step 1 (get educated) on what I want to become a successful career in real estate investment.I also currently run an e-commerce business that is currently completely online, but would benefit from having a brick & mortar storefront, and I had an idea that maybe using the investment capital I'm looking to allocate into real estate into a commercial property my business can operate out of until I decide to sell the property in or rent it out to another business.I am obviously very naive when it comes to the complexity of any good real estate deal (especially commercial VS residential), but I'm hoping to spend as much time learning from everyone here who is on their journey as well.My main concern with the idea of buying commercial to operate my business out of it that I might struggle to rent it out afterwards and that there may likely be depreciation in the commercial real estate market over the next 5 years.I understand there is a lot of nuance depending on the local market but I'm guessing commercial is even less of a "safe" bet than finding a solid residential deal to leverage in some way.

We help our clients:1) Find a fixer-upper to buy2) We get bids3) Negotiate a Scope Of Work with the owner using "Maintain to the Neighborhood" to avoid over-improving, but understanding we will have to pass city Rental Inspection to avoid being a slumlord.4) Provide multiple jobsite videos to show progress and document WHAT was done and the QUALITY.5) Handle passing city Rental Inspection6) Find a tenant with a Replacement Guarantee per Class7) Assist with refinance, so client can repeatSo, why you looking OOS again?

Here's a revised response with a more structured format:---Hey JeffIt sounds like you’ve got a solid deal in the works, but I totally understand your concerns about the 5-year seller carry.

Don't ask on this thread, as most tax strategies require a good understanding of your current and future tax situation first.

@Shaylynn O'Learyi understand the frustration of living in a high cost market and looking at the appealing price points in those other markets. 

Hey Chris, a few thoughts here.Considering that office is not attached to the house, I wouldn’t add any footage to the total home square footage; however, you could advertise that office space and amount of footage and amenities in your remarks.If you’re a Realtor or are using one for the sale, your local MLS may have fields dedicated to additional footage for other buildings on the property, such as ADU’s.The other point is that typically, perhaps depending upon location, a space needs to have heating to count in the square footage, which this office doesn’t have if I understand correctly.Consider contacting an appraiser to inquire about how they would handle this space on an appraisal, or a Realtor.

I tend to do a quick dirty look at a building like JW with price per door, but after that sniff test, I quickly like to understand $Cost/SF and $rent/SF.The way I look at a single family, 2-4 units, or a 20 unit is all different, but the end result is still ROI or IRR (over time). 

While to some extent software can act appropriately based on averages, that'd different than actually understanding the marketplace and workflows and optimizing.