@Justin Boyd just saw the location on this, I'm somewhat familiar with that market, we do quite a few retail deals in CLE and the surrounding areas, I'd be happy to give you an opinion on the site if its helpful.  

I'm specifically interested in "main street" properties with a downstairs retail space, upstairs apartment(s).If you know of anyone with this sort of experience, I'd REALLY appreciate the connection.

I’m surprised they were dumb enough to jack the sales price up 70 K above retail.

@Dave Harlan They have an amazing product but your better off using a mortgage broker with a great reputation for customer service because they offer wholesale pricing advantages to their brokers and the only complaints I've ever heard about them have come from service issues on the retail side.

: I understand that there is commercial and residential, but there has got to be subgroups While I don't think you need to niche down immediately, some specializations in residential RE are:- Co-op- Condo (incl. luxury)- SFR (median pricepoint)- SFR Luxury- MFR- RentalsThere are a ton of commercial RE specializations including retail (various types), restaurant, other food/bev., warehouse, storage, and dozens more.What should I expect when first coming into the profession ?

We have a single family home, a small commercial retail building, and now we are pursuing a 5 unit apartment complex.

@Anna Davis - I agree with Stuart that most properties at Auction need some level of work, especially for a retail/consumer buyer.

Your cavalier attitude about buying (especially retail condos) in SF or Bay Area, particularly in today's maxed out market, is usually not a great first investment for someone who isn't already wealthy.

On top of that, when you go to sell you learn the market has been stagnant and has not appreciated with limited owner occupants & investors are not willing to pay retail given the amount of distressed inventory that exists in the market. 

And absolutely don't pay retail.