Investors have different needs than retail (people looking for a primary residence) clients and even if you want to invest longterm, you may find you do better working with non-investor clients and watching for deals to pick up as you see them.  

I would never pay "retail" price for a vacant building.  

The cost of living will be lower, most likely a little safer, and closer to the jobs this population can perform(retail, call-centers).Other, places will be strengthen, because they are established and have good services and attractions anyway for people.  

Anti-flip overlays are actually very common, especially for jumbo loan amounts, but also retail banks.The ambiguity associated with "once reviewed by our quality review department will indicate if the property is truly a flip and how we proceed" & the fact that it could simply trigger a "loan denied" for reasons unclear to you is always the price paid for accepting an offer from a buyer using a big bank.You can try starting over with a new buyer or a new lender, if you like.

Multi is cooling from what I hear.Amazon and on line retailers are really starting to impact the commercial retail landlord ( big malls)some studies indicate over 2 billion surplus sq ft of commercial retail.High end is cooling in some markets  think Texas we are seeing that.. there is price push back from the buyer.other markets like what we are doing in Charleston is off the charts with prices rising 20% in one year on new builds...

Good afternoon everyone, I would like to get some opinions or advice as this is going to be my FIRST retail property ever that I would buy.

We don't have that many doors compared to some but we rarely buy colored paints at retail.

I noticed that starting bid for these houses are retail value.

Pro Forma indicates well over $1m in Net Profit by building SIX 3 bedrooms/3 bath units with massive yards for each unit.

Massive expense on the second month and taken care of in less than 24 hours of being notified.