When you decide to embark on a commercial real estate investment program, how do you get your start? We know that there is no such thing as 100% financing for commercial property, so where do you get your initial capital for that first purchase? One method which I have discussed before is to use Other People’s Money as your initial “stake.” Perhaps having partners is not the path you wish to follow in your investment program. That makes the other option using your own funds. Before you dip into your resources, however, consider some of the risks you face.

First, you are embarking on an investment program about which you have little practical experience. You may have read every book on commercial real estate investing ever printed and gone to every seminar ever produced in a hotel for a year, but you have no experience in the business. Do you really know what can go wrong? Do you realize what additional reserves you might need in case things don’t go as planned?