Now, I am not necessarily talking about ?insider information? regarding specific opportunities or deals. For the purpose of this series of articles, let's focus exclusively on market information?this is an area everybody can do well at.

Seek to Become a Real Estate Market Specialist

To the point: To be successful in commercial real estate, your goal must be to become an expert in the markets you are interested in. You must become the authority in the markets you want to succeed in.

You're not doing this to be able to puff out your chest, bragging rights at cocktail parties, or as a badge of honor, but simply to fully understand the type of investment you are trying to acquire.

Given all the information that's available these days, this is an easy process but it does take a consistent effort going forward. It does take consistent action on your part?but it will pay off handsomely for you later on.

What I am asking you to do is not too dissimilar than the analysts who are following the stock market. Sure, there are rather glib general industry pundits you may see on TV or cable, but those are NOT the analysts I want you to place your attention on.

The ones I want you to pay attention to are the behind-the-scenes ?sector analysts?. This are the people who spend the majority of their time following just a few stocks in a specific market.

These professionals research, collect data and analyze company data. They spend their days interviewing management and nights pouring over financials. Then they try to anticipate the stocks performance given the information they have collected.

As you can imagine, the process requires diligence, patience and commitment. It isn't hard, but to do well, a person must really want to know and understand all the information regarding the area they are interested in covering.

To be sure you fully understand what I am requesting you do, let me ask you an important question:

If you were sick, if you had an ailment or a disease, which type of doctor do you think would have better success treating you?

A general practitioner? or a specialist?

Of course, the correct answer is a specialist?they have understanding and knowledge of a specific disease or area of the body which most doctors don't have?and their chances for success go up accordingly.

The reason I am giving you this example is because you should aspire to become a specialist regarding the specific commercial real estate markets you may want to go after.

Using the Tools Available to You?The Internet

Today, especially with the advent of the Internet, access to information is much, much faster and easier. But there is a downside?actually three of them. They are so subtle that I want to warn you about them ahead of time.

The first is information overwhelm. There so much information available, much of it appearing redundant or contradictory, and even more of it irrelevant, that it is hard to take in and analyze it all. Before you know it, you discover you have so much information, it is impossible to go through it all.

The second drawback is that it leads you to the false assumption you can understand more than one market more easily. This commonly causes people to spread themselves too thin and the cost is you mistakenly think you've done your homework, when in fact you've just skimmed the surface of the subject at hand.

The third drawback is that solely using the Internet causes people to place their faith in its accuracy. Don't. Whatever you see on the Internet, you should attempt to double source the information using available offline sources or your own two eyes as you are physically researching your market.

Having said that, the Internet is an awesome tool and will lead you to come up with idea and facts and figures you would have never had the time or energy to follow up on.

Next Steps

In the days ahead, I am going to show you how you can become a real estate market specialist. I am going to give you a success-certain strategy so that when you go out and do your next deal, you'll feel like you've truly done your homework. You'll feel prepared.

And most importantly, your future profits will be assured.