You are only putting 5% down so your loan amount is much larger and therefore your mortgage payment.Cashflow is tough when you move out because prices doubled since 2015 (at least in Colorado Springs) and interest rates have tripled in a year.

We self manage, we didn't want to double or triple the amount of work necessary keep the operation running.   

Even if you are negative $300 a month, good luck finding a place to live in San Diego for triple that.

just triple checking with the folks here who might have had expense doing this.

Sometimes our goals change as we mature in our RE careers, of course.I've basically been at 30-35 units since 2007, but my leverage has dropped significantly on the commercial apt side and my NW since 2014 has tripled.  

I absolutely have seen multiple projects cost double or triple what was projected initially.

You have seen pricing double, triple, quadruple or more in your own " backyard" .

What would you say is the very first step in getting started in commercial real estate (i.e. multifamily or triple net)?

If you revisit that, use TRIPLE pane retrofits.I'm on a busy street and our dual pane significantly reduce the traffic noise.

True story, there are cities where a house tripled in value (from 1.5mm to around 4.5mm in 10 years).