The buyer pool is beyond flakey..Your best bet is a local investor.

Investor focused realtors & Property managers are going to be your biggest asset since they'll be finding your deals & managing the day to day operations for you.

And some expensive ones for larger operations.

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.

We are not putting up capital, just handling all development/build planning and operations.

In my opinion, the best agents, appraisers, home inspectors, contractors, lenders will utilize AI as a complement towards their existing businesses to spur greater growth and operational efficiencies.

Looking forward to the journey ahead....In my experience, very few properties in Ohio are strictly required to operate as Section 8 rentals.

In my opinion, that is a riskier bet because you have to have a big pile of cash for contingencies.  

They look and operate fine and the cost to replace is minimal.

But I’d be amiss if I did not suggest that instead you gain knowledge of the aforementioned 3 foundation by studying for a real estate agent/broker license, and then seek employment with REITs, real estate operating companies, real estate managers, or real estate brokers.