In commercial real estate, not every deal is a good deal. In fact, some of the best investors will tell you their greatest wins weren’t properties they bought—they were the bad ones they walked away from.
New investors often get caught up in the excitement of chasing their first deal. They run the numbers, talk to brokers, and start imagining future cash flow. But here’s the hard truth: if you don’t know what red flags to look for, you risk wasting time, money, and energy on deals that were dead from the start.
The good news? Most bad deals announce themselves early—if you know what to watch out for.
In this post, we’ll break down the five biggest red flags that should make you pause, rethink, and possibly walk away before you waste weeks underwriting or thousands in due diligence.
Because in CRE, protecting your downside is just as important as chasing upside.