If you would classify this as more of a hobby which most people won't the first year, then the losses won't benefit you.

I could certainly see the benefit of using them as a correspondent to take you out of deals..

Just suck it up in the short term and reap the benefits in the future.

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.

For 1 property, its a cost/benefit analysis in my opinion.

You will get 10x the exposure listing on the MLS among plenty of other benefits going that route.

It's cool to know how to use tools to a do analysis but it has to be utilized properly.I have seen several flippers who have read Rich Dad Poor Dad; had every Performa, chart, analysis package, market analysis reports, cost benefit analysis, work break down structures, IMS and much more and botched every project. 

Since it's trust ownership, there are some additional benefits. 

It recently dawned on me the idea of a non military affiliated individual assuming a VA loan, would this individual be able to then also gain the benefit of using an IRRRL since they have now acquired a VA loan through assumption?

It will familiarize you with the basic terminology and benefits.