Every few years, the real estate market suffers through a crash or a correction and underscores a perpetual dilemma for small and mid-sized businesses: Is it better to rent or own commercial property?
Buying commercial real estate is a complex undertaking that is difficult even for experts to time right to maximize their investment value, let alone entrepreneurs or business executives whose areas of expertise are in different industries. It’s also a venture rife with risk, as buyers, sellers, agents, and renters alike can suffer the consequences of a dip or spike in demand. At the same time, for a business, on the upside the potential rewards can be substantial.
Why should a business buy? “To get a greater control over the cost of the real estate component of overhead, as opposed to leasing, where you can be victimized by the market if the lease rolls over when the market is tight and, as a result, you have higher rental costs around the country. ”The other benefit would be investment benefits, including depreciation of the property for tax purposes and, over the longer term, asset appreciation.”
There is no one-size-fits-all strategy for purchasing commercial real estate. That decision must be weighed by each business. The following guide will help a small business assemble a real estate search team, choose a location, and purchase property.
Purchasing Commercial Real Estate: Deciding to Buy Versus Lease
when deciding whether to buy commercial real estate, it’s important to understand the potential risks. The last thing you want is to buy property and realize a year or two later that you would have been better off renting. Here are some of the potential risks a business faces when buying:
• Location may backfire. Today’s “hot” neighborhood can become tomorrow’s “not” neighborhood. Locations are trendy. Gentrification may stall. The market may go bust. The area you choose one day may become undesirable the next. Of course, the reverse can be true, as well.
• Loss of liquidity. Businesses may tie up much of their liquidity buying real estate. It’s not always easy to sell real estate, particularly in a slump. At the same time, businesses that own real estate at least have something to sell if they need a cash influx to revive a lagging business.
• Tenuous cash flow. Tenants sometimes stop paying their rent. Other times, buildings are in need of unexpected — and expensive — repairs. Your cash flow can become compromised, especially if you are forced to simultaneously pay repairs and Legal fees to handle a tenant situation.
In order to be aware of risks, do your homework. Undertake extensive due diligence before signing any contract. You also need to be hands-on with your commercial property by overseeing every level of operation and making frequent on-site visits — otherwise, you may learn about problems after it’s too late to do anything to fix them.
The decision ultimately comes down to the economics. We at Pattaya Realty Commercial will help you undertake a rent versus own analysis, taking into account growth forecasts for your business and real estate market trends. “It’s really beneficial to sit down with an expert that can lay out options for you and discuss scenarios, such as in three years this is where business will be in terms of revenue, size, or people. This is how many locations we will have. a national brokerage focused on real estate investment. A real estate expert can also help you figure out the costs of renting versus buying, factoring tax benefits such as depreciation.
Purchasing Commercial Real Estate: Assembling a Team of Experts
• Location. This is still the No. 1 issue. You want to be close to your customers, your workers, and your vendors or suppliers. “You want to be convenient to customers to the extent that you have a business where the customer comes to you, “But depending on the type of business, access to rail and highway and shipping lanes may be important, too.”
• Allowable uses. If your business is an accounting firm, you likely need commercial office space. If you are a manufacturer, you need an industrial space. Either way, you need to make sure the zoning allows you to do what you need to do on the property.
• Opportunity for expansion or leasing. Entrepreneurs often have a rosy outlook about growth and so the potential to expand is a consideration as is the flipside – if you don’t grow as much as planned, can