Where I see the most people lose, is when they are not doing their du diligence upfront, but at retail price, and don’t know how to develop a property or what it’s exit value will be.

A lot of the good opportunities that raise retail money will be in that space.

The retail/multi-use building currently has two tenants (one has been there for a decade) and one additional vacant space.

(unfortunately pics of the charts won't load so I'll provide the link to the charts)Real US housing prices 1890-2012As you can see housing prices in the US really just kept pace with inflation for over 100 years, with a few exceptions, which mean reverted.

I also have a retail business and had signs for a promo we were having on the sign poles in our shopping center.  

I do that on the commercial retail properties side but my clients are buying multi-million dollar properties and can keep buying because of their deeper pockets.Experienced brokers for the product you are seeking tend to have all cash buyers and do lot's of volume.

I am currently involved in assisting in an equity fund that purchases commercial deals, with the end use being retail and developing condos, but have relied heavily on my business partner to structure everything.

What's different is the amount of time you put in and the pace at which you earn the returns as there's more or less a direct correlation between the two. 

I've been around enough by now that I'm convicted in that sentiment.Where we're at in the market probably means buying retail isn't a great strategy.

Smaller 4 unit deals the land should not be any more than 25% of the total retail value of the property.Larger buildings 100 units and up can be $10k - $35k per door depending on the type of building.Urban locations can be $100k per door and up depending on the market you're in.