Lisa - While I concur with Sean that you need to know about buildings and tenants --i.e., you need to know your market, just as with residential -- I must respectfully disagree on the matter of additional training.

Commercial real estate is a specialization -- actually several specializations -- and is very different from residential.  If you focus on leasing, for example, you need to become familiar with specific issues that get negotiated in office and retail leases. 

And if you get involved with commercial property sales... well, I've made a 30+ year career of trying to assist and teach income-property investors and others, so clearly I think education in this area is a necessity.  Investors in commercial property buy and sell the income stream more so than the physical building; you need to know how to evaluate forecasts of what that income stream will look like and to understand the meaning of different measures of return,

I think now is an excellent time to pursue this goal.  It's hard to find time to learn new skills when you're busy with a hot market.  I would urge you to take advantage of the current slow times to work on learning about commercial.  You may want to start with less formal instruction, and if you find you like it, then move on to CCIM.

Commercial can be very rewarding, both intellectually and financially.  I wish you all the best.

Frank Gallinelli

President, RealData, Inc.

Author, What Every Real Estate Investor Needs to Know About Cash Flow... and Mastering Real Estate Investment: Examples, Metrics and Case Studies

www.realdata.com

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