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.

TrueDoor appears to have a great reputation online, I'll be giving them a call.

Strategic Purchase: Acquired a discounted double lot below market value with a $17k impact fee credit.Custom Design: Built a 6-bed, 5-bath home tailored for co-living or multi-gen use, maximizing tenant appeal.Efficient Management: Managed construction, and self-managed operations to minimize costs.Premium Marketing: Furnished the property and used multiple platforms to attract quality tenants quickly, achieving full occupancy.What was the outcome?

We looker at few houses/Condo under $200k-$250k and saw few online in that range.

3) It's been 5+ years since we've seen a S8 tenant lose their voucher for property damages, not paying their portion of the rent or utilities, or other lease violations (letting others move in with them).It's our opinion that #2 & #3 above are caused by overworked caseworkers not having the time to process the extra required paperwork, so they take the path of least resistance.4) S8 needs someone at the federal level to put more of the program online and streamline the process!

@Keetaek HongI use QuickBooks Online (QBO) for my flipping business, rental businesses, and bookkeeping clients.However, many on the forums will advise against QBO.

I am seeing quotes around $120k which would put that cost per square foot around $600 which seems a lot compared to what I have seen/read online The reason your cost per square foot is so high is you still have to add all the things a regular house has but in a smaller space.

I've been running no-pitch meetups since the pandemic where we started online and it takes a lot of vetting and not over-promoting.

Most serious and qualified tenants are searching on the major 3rd party platforms you mentioned + realtor.com, redfin, and a few others.Apartments.com & homes.com are owned by the same company and may offer some additional marketing options.Another strategy to consider here is social media - video marketing.

while still trying to keep up with the competition Do you rely more on direct-to-seller marketing, networking with agents, leveraging platforms like PropStream and Batch Leads, or just by looking at a lot of deals?