Were the financials trending upward, stagnant, or declining?

I was recently offered an opportunity to make upwards of 40% on my investment in which case I had to decline because there was too much gray area (and no address!

Is the road increasing  in count,flat, or declining ( dying corridor and growth is moving elsewhere?

If you expect more decline or no change you should probably sell.  

The property you are looking to finance should be part of the overall equation as well (if you have a deal at 50% LTV then it is hard to decline essentially anyone). 

- I dont know the area well, is it declining like crazy there ?

After a lot of thought, I declined.

I have extensive experience with this as I was in the restaurant industry for over 10 years before getting into commercial real estate.By checking the books you can see sales patterns for the type of product they sale.You can see over the past few years if a majority of the sales are seasonal and then if that part of the year has already occurred.If the strong sales are still ahead of them in the coming months they can have a good chance of catching up.If they have already had historically the strong sales months of the year then they are in really bad shape.Also it's important to note their sales volume over the years versus new competition in the area.If they have a burger joint and within a 2 mile radius 4 more burger joints have opened up and sales are declining along with profit margins then they are in trouble.Does your current tenant need all the space they have??

Instead of "If you sell now, you will have cash to move on to bigger investments," say something like "Over the last 10 years in Toms River, appreciation growth rates of mixed-use assets like yours have been showing signs of a decline.

Did property values and rents decline as a direct result?