They want them all jammed in large apartment complexes, run by large companies, in concentrated areas, away from them.

Complexity of return (many things such as # of states, # of properties, 1031 exchanges, etc)2.

I'm an investor as well as CEO of a property management company that works with many out-of-state investors, especially from California, for exactly the reasons you mentioned – high prices and complex tenant laws.

The sales comparison approach is typically done for residential real estate and will be less appropriate and come in under value because there are no good comps, and even an appraisal using the income approach (unless the appraiser is trained to do more complex commercial appraisals) is probably not going to be the most accurate either because they typically use market cap rates and in this case you don’t have good comparable income properties to find the market cap for the analysis.  

But I know I have all the legal side set up LLC, Business Checking account, Business Credit card, and getting my permit for STR since you need one in Alexandria VA.I just find it really hard to message landlord/apartment complexes/management companies since I'm very experienced and was wondering if anyone could give me advice on what to say and how to go about pitching my business model to landlords.Right now what I email them is along the lines of "I hope this email finds you well.

Pros include securing the desired property and strategic planning, while cons involve higher costs, financing challenges, and complexity.

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.

Your question about LLCs is something many investors wrestle with, and the answer really depends on your long-term goals and how much risk you're comfortable taking on.For smaller portfolios like yours, setting up separate LLCs for each property can provide additional liability protection, but it also comes with added complexity and costs.

I'm currently selling a 16-unit apartment complex.

"I've got this 243 unit complex right here that you can buy...