Absolutely. The day I started making REAL money was the day I realized that commercial property, not residential was the way to go.
I did alright on residential and still have several residential properties, but commercial is where the money is to be made. Up or down economy, vendors want venues and have inventories you can grab and will rent producing cash flow until the next upturn. But residential renters will leave at the drop of a hat and in the middle of the night.
Jim,
Might respectfully disagree with you for a number of reasons.
Folks get into commercial, because they are perceived to be bigger, better, higher rents and less headaches, when just the opposite is true.
Some of the reasons single family homes are absolutely the best:
You can do deals quickly and easily, no lawyers, accountants, long closings, and big closing costs..... You can buy a house with a contract on a napkin over a weekend, close on Monday and have it rented on Tuesday. You can do it without a bank and possibly nothing down and zero percent financing. And you can get upwards of 50% return over the first few years or longer.
Now, you can also sell it over a weekend, no complications and easy.
SFHs are small deals and easy to handle. Commercials are complicated and have a lot of parts to deal with.
As for tenants.... there's always a tenant for a house and when the economy crashes the rents do not. In commercial, it's not uncommon for buildings to stay vacant for years, and to get a prime tenant you have to give THEM the prime deal.
I've done all of the above, including commercial and multi family and over the past several years, nothing but SFHs.
Plus, there SFHs can be handled by most any investor so any one of us can get into them.
Now all of the above requires knowledge and training. Just because one has lived in a house or rented space for their business doesn't make them a real estate investor. Yes, one can screw up and loose their money.