As a commercial real estate insider, you will need to evaluate income producing properties. You do this by analyzing the income and expense sheets of the subject property in which you are interested.
Income and expense sheets do not involve fancy finance or numbers, and you do not have to take a difficult finance class in order to decipher the numbers and what they mean to the end user.
It is very important for you to understand the basics of income and expense sheets so you can verify how much money the property is actually producing, as well as spending on expenses such as maintenance, perhaps utilities, and other such costs.
With most properties you will be able to get the income and expense sheets from the broker or even owner of the property. If the property does not have one, then it is probably extremely mismanaged and is need of many changes. This might be a great fixer upper property, as long as you recognize the risk that comes along with it.
Most income and expense sheets will look similar for real estate. However, if ever there is an item you do not understand, or it seems odd to the property, simply ask the broker or agent for assistance...