As you begin exploring the commercial real estate (CRE) investment world, you'll see that LoopNet is often mentioned as the place to begin your search.
By understanding the different types of commercial real estate properties, you can better identify the type of property that aligns with your investment goals and strategy.
Their home page looks simple, but it asks you an important question right away:
What type of commercial real estate property are you looking for?
Let's go through the main ones for individual investors.
Property Types with Business Tenants on LoopNet
These property types are what you expect - businesses that rent a space for an extended period of time through leases.
Office properties: These are used for office space, such as office buildings, coworking spaces, and business centers.
Industrial properties: These are used for manufacturing, warehousing, and distribution, such as factories, warehouses, and distribution centers. Finding warehouses on LoopNet is tricky, so check out our walkthrough.
Retail properties: These are used for retail businesses, such as stores, shopping centers, and malls.
You can see that Restaurants and Shopping Centers are broken out separately.
Property Types with Consumer Tenants on LoopNet
Multifamily properties: These are properties that contain multiple units of housing, such as apartments, condominiums, and townhomes.
Hospitality properties: These are used for the hospitality industry, such as hotels, motels, and resorts.
Specialty and Health Care properties are also mentioned. Specialty sometimes includes...
Self-storage properties: These are used for self-storage, such as storage units and storage facilities.
Property Types for Developers on LoopNet
Land properties: These are undeveloped or used for agricultural purposes, such as farms, ranches, and raw land.
Your first step is to choose which property type you want
By understanding the different types of commercial real estate properties, you can better identify the type of property that aligns with your investment goals and strategy.
Once you do that, you can consider whether the provided search results will fit your budget and initial due diligence. To help you with that process, the CREBake Chrome Extension for LoopNet calculates key metrics so that you can quickly narrow down your search to properties that will cash flow for you.