Most people that are involved in commercial real estate investing have plenty of their own money and know-how to do so. Others may choose to invest in publicly traded Real Estate Investment Trusts (REIT's) to get in the big game or simply stick with smaller, more manageable, properties on their own. Additionally, these same investors may avoid even the small property approach to investing because of the "human factor" ie. the every day hassles of dealing with residents, collections, repair requests etc. etc. Doing so long enough to make the asset pay off, and be worth while, can sometimes be a very rocky road. The bottom line is there is absolutely nothing wrong with any of these potential wealth-building strategies. Diversification is usually the prudent play.