Commercial RE Mentor

[Ellie Ochoa]

Hello everyone!

I’m a real estate investor, licensed agent, and currently run a transaction coordination business here in California.

After attending several industry meetups, I’ve noticed what seems like a gap in the commercial real estate space. There aren’t many agents specializing in it, and there’s clearly a lot of curiosity and unanswered questions around it.

I’m really interested in learning more about commercial real estate and would love to connect with a mentor who’s open to sharing their knowledge and guidance.

If anyone has advice on how to get started or is willing to mentor, I would truly appreciate it—please feel free to reach out!

[Ryan Stomel]

Jaycee's question is a good one to start with — there's a pretty meaningful difference between "commercial" meaning 5+ unit multifamily and "commercial" meaning tenants that are businesses (retail, office, industrial). The learning curves are different and the agent skill set doesn't overlap as much as people assume.

Coming from transaction coordination, you probably already have good instincts on deal flow and documentation — that'll translate. What I'd focus on early is understanding lease structures: the difference between gross, modified gross, and NNN leases isn't just terminology, it determines who pays what and how you underwrite the property. Most residential-trained agents miss this and it causes problems when they're trying to evaluate income.

In Southern California specifically, a lot of the small commercial activity is mixed-use retail/office strips and industrial flex. The tenant pool, LOI-to-lease timeline, and commission structure are all different from resi. If you're not already reading actual commercial leases (AIIM, AIR CRE templates are standard here), that's the fastest way to get up to speed — the language will start making sense quickly and you'll know what questions to ask.

Happy to point you toward specific resources if it would help.