Commercial real estate buildings are classified into 5 major assets.
1. APARTMENT / MULTI-FAMILY
Multi-family properties with at least 5 units residential units. Many of multi family apartments are owned by big firms but the smaller units are owned by small investors. Most leases are short term, 12 months. Depending on the condition and year built of the building, they can be classified like any other buildings, as A, B, C or D class.
2. OFFICE
Office buildings can have one or many stories building and each room inside is rented to small or large business. Even though almost all office buildings are rented to many units, in some case, the entire building is leased by one firm.
3. INDUSTRIAL
These kinds of building are designed for manufacturing and distributing companies. Very large in size and mostly leased by one firm. Industrial buildings usually have long term leases, 10 to 30 year.
4. RETAIL
Retail buildings are also called shopping centers. However, there are also stand alone, one tenant occupied, retail buildings as well.