How to Invest in Commercial Real Estate: Your Complete Guide

Are you interested in learning how to invest in commercial real estate? You’ve come to the right place.

Use these tips to help you get started with your commercial real estate investing endeavors.

How to Invest in Commercial Real Estate: Start Here

Whether you consider yourself one of the St. Albert businesses interested in expanding or you’re an entrepreneur hoping to take advantage of the growing commercial real estate market in Canada, investing is a big step.

And an essential first step is figuring out why exactly you want to invest. Assess what it is you hope to achieve with your investment.

Do you want to diversify your portfolio with income-producing assets? Are you interested in pursuing some tax benefits? Or are you finally ready to open a brick-and-mortar store?

Once you assess your primary goal, then you’ll be able to decide on exactly the kind of commercial property types you’re interested in.

Choose the Type of Commercial Property

Commercial real estate is diverse. These kinds of properties all fall under the commercial real estate umbrella:

• Offices
• Retail spaces
• Apartments and multifamily buildings
• Hotels
• Industrial spaces
• Self-storage facilities
• Medical properties

There are potential benefits and drawbacks to every kind of commercial real estate investment. It’s important to identify what makes the most sense for your effort and goals.

Decide on the Way You Want to Invest

When you have an idea of the exact type of commercial property you’d like to invest in, you have options about the way you invest. Here are a few you may encounter.

Buy Outright

If you’re ready to go all-in with your investment, you could choose to buy a property and completely own and operate it. This is the most costly and demanding option. But if it’s financially possible and you can dedicate the time, this could be a very profitable and rewarding approach.

Direct Investing

A more common investment approach is to combine your resources with other investors by forming a limited liability company (LLC). This could reduce the amount that you’d have to invest, but it will still be substantial.

Crowdfunding Real Estate

As you’d expect, this investment method allows you to invest online and directly in in projects you like. You don’t have to be a major investor with a lot of cash to make this type of real estate investment.

Other Options

If you have some but not a lot of money you’d like to invest in real estate, wholesaling real estate could also be appealing.  In this scenario, you would find a property that’s in distress, work with the seller to set a real estate contract, and then help another investor purchase the great deal you’ve arranged. 

Another alternative approach is probate real estate, which is essentially a legal process involved in transferring ownership of a deceased property owner to someone else. This can be a great way to acquire an attractive investment deal.

Lock Down Your Financing and Make an Offer

In goes without saying that you’ll need to have your finances in place before you make an offer. You might also consider working with seasoned real estate, legal, and accounting professionals to help you navigate the process of finding the right commercial property and investment approach.

Keep Your Business Growing

Mastering how to invest in commercial real estate doesn’t happen overnight. But we hope this helps you feel confident to take the next steps that are best for your enterprise.

Keep reading and checking back for more business and entrepreneurship advice and know-how.