My first commercial real estate purchase was a small commercial condo in a re-vitalized area in downtown Birmingham, 2008. I had been searching for a place to house my photography business for a while but had a hard time finding something large enough to shoot in, and small enough for me to afford. I did not want to pay rent, I wanted to invest in an asset, and I'm really glad I did.

Since then, I have acquired 2 additional properties in the 2-4,000 square foot range and working on a 4th.

Here are 3 reasons why I like small commercial buildings:

• Easy to take down alone or with one partner.

• Tons of flexibility in usage.

• Easy to finance.

1. Easy to take down alone or with one partner.

These buildings are often in areas of town that are on their way back to main street USA, which puts them in a more affordable category. You can use them as an office for your business as the first tenant. That gives you a guaranteed rent. If it's too much risk alone, you can bring in one other partner that could also sign a lease, or help carry the debt load.

2. Tons of flexibility in usage.

Most cities are in dire need of small commercial/warehouse space. With a wide-open space, the use cases are very flexible. When building out our second property, we didn't have a tenant for half of the space. We started building it out with a wide-open floor plan. That way we could easily sign a tenant in retail, studio, event, or call center. Once it was 90% finished we signed a tenant.

3. Easy to finance.

Commercial real estate financing is based on a business plan or Pro-forma. That Pro-forma is based on your signed tenant lease(s). The bank looks at the amount of money generated by rent versus how much you own them - a Debt Service Coverage Ratio. That allows you both to see your profit ratio, which secures the debt.