Think the great real estate flipping market is over and done? Think again! It's more challenging and harder to find great properties ideal for flipping, but commercial real estate property in just the right places can make you a fast profit. The key is to learn which ones will sell right away and which ones will languish.

Start by looking for older, run-down commercial properties that are still close enough to a lucrative customer base that they'll have good resale value if they actually draw customers. There are several property types you can look for:

* Large spaces, like big-box stores, that can be subdivided into smaller spaces or renovated for a different purpose (farmer's markets, for instance)
* Strip malls that are dilapidated but in still-attractive locations
* Outdoor malls with vacant anchor stores that can be transformed into a variety of themed mall spaces: entertainment malls (with theatre, restaurants, arcades, miniature golf, etc.), outlet malls, or male-drawing malls with sporting goods, car parts, and maybe a Hooter's, for instance

If you get creative and take a really good look at local demographics, the possibilities are endless. Renovated commercial real estate can be easy to sell in a flip - or you can opt to keep it for the rents, if the purchase price was low and your property is getting attention.

This can be really tempting if you use the next method for making it attractive for a buyer: finding tenants. Pre-rented properties with attractive and qualified businesses that carry out your commercial property's theme will sell very easily, but they sell because they promise continual income that will continue paying the property mortgage into the foreseeable future.

You can also do a partial flip. Purchase that large space outright, but also start sending feelers out for potential tenants - and especially for people you can sell part of the space to. Let's use the entertainment commercial property as an example. You have found an older, dilapidated big-box anchored mall that has some larger stores attached as well as small spaces, some of which are already outfitted to be restaurants. You purchase and renovate the property to lease the largest store space as a second-run movie theatre, which you sell outright to someone else. There's your main flip, and if you did things right it should pay off most of what you spent to buy the undeveloped commercial property.

Then take restaurants you kept as restaurants, and start hunting for tenants to lease them. Other spaces can be developed into arcades (leased), newsstands, a miniature golf course (sold), and anything else that will appeal to your customer base. The businesses that rent from you have the advantage of high traffic from the overall attraction of a one-stop entertainment center. You may have made back your entire investment from selling some properties, while you have the continued income from rents from the others.

Even in a fast flip, however, you may not realize real profits for a while; most commercial office spaces, for instance, take about three years to become profitable if you sell the whole thing. Gauge your potential market carefully before you jump into investing in any kind of flip and remember that like all business, this too is a gamble.