I'm thinking about trying a commercial deal - Any advice?

[Tyler Eberhart]

I am a new home sales representative for a builder.  We receive a 12.5% discount on any home we build with them (max 1x per year).  And I am about to close on my third home with them (all positive cash flow rentals).  I was planning on building a fourth next, but then I started to dream bigger.

I'm very familiar with the submarket I work in, and I know that we have a large population (next to a large military installation), with a very limited number of services.  The only gas station constantly is packed.  The chic fil a has lines out the door.   The area is in need of retail, grocery, car wash, storage facility.  What if, instead of sticking to what I know, I get outside of my comfort zone and try my hand at purchasing raw land and building a commercial business.  I am leaning towards storage as the overhead is very low, and the government pays for the storage for the soldiers.

I am thinking I will probably need 200-250k working capitol to make this happen.  And I can do that.  What I'm most concerned about is that my pockets aren't nearly as deep as some of the developers around here.  I don't get a do-over for a long time if I **** this up. I'm ready to do the work and take the leap into this realm to see if I can level up and start running with the big dogs.

Do you have any advice for me as far as things you wish you knew before doing commercial?  Any resources / books / webinars you suggest?  I want to learn as much as I can before I make this jump.