"You can't steal second base if you don't take your foot off first."--MIKE TODD (1900-1958), AMERICAN FILM PRODUCER

YOU, THE INDEPENDENT INVESTOR, CAN STILL OWN commercial real estate. It's within your reach, even in this age when the value of commercial property tops $3 trillion and most of America's shopping sites are multimillion-dollar projects, running the gamut from local strip malls with half a dozen connected stores to upscale, in-door malls bigger than the village green used to be.

"How can I possibly get into that scene?" you ask. Well, you just have to think out of the box, as we said in Chapter 1. Think smaller, and hedge your bets with some residential ...