Most of the industrial square footage in the United States are owned by large corporations and huge firms working with buildings greater than 1 million square feet. However, in terms of quantity, especially at the smaller scale of 10,000 square feet or below, the vast majority of the market inventory is owned by mom and pop outfits, many of whom are beginning to age out of the business and looking for an exit sale.
Fortunately, these two distinct sub-niches of the industrial real estate market rarely interact. In general, there are large real estate firms doing cash deals for huge spaces -- and competing only with other firms of their size -- and then smaller actors operating in the 10,000 square foot or less space along more traditional real estate investing lines, which will be the kinds of properties sought out by those looking to get into industrial real estate investing.
