I’m in the process of selling a rental property and reinvesting the money to purchase a commercial unit in a office complex to use as my new office. It’s a great location and walking distance from my house. I want to purchase the building for a number of reasons, but mainly because I want to reinvest the capital from my sale, and have a permanent office that I can grow my business from. From the experience of commercial architects, is the market heading for a cliff? I know very little about commercial, just speculation about the effects of covid on office space. This complex has mostly professional services, a few doctors, dentist, cpa, attorneys, and an ID....it’s a nice unit and is completely built out for what I need as it was previously an architects office who is retiring. Just put in an offer and I’m getting nervous about buying commercial RE...
x-jla
Oct 2, 20 12:09 pm
should also mention, the mortgage will be substantially less than leasing a space of equal size and quality
Jay1122
Oct 2, 20 12:12 pm
Sounds like some guy bragging about his commercial building purchase to me. Of course you will make money on that. Unless there is a war going on, real estate is rock solid. Maybe with some bumps during recession cycle, but if you ride it out, it will always be fine with steady return of investment.
x-jla
Oct 2, 20 1:09 pm
I do all residential and know that market is steady and always appreciates in the long term...just know nada about commercial because I don’t work in commercial. I originally wanted a house in a dual zoned area, to turn into an office, but they tend to be in older areas and are very very expensive...
Jay1122
Oct 2, 20 1:28 pm
The major thing to look out for in a commercial property is location, location, location. That will make or break the investment. Prospective business owners does not like leasing places with many vacant spots. Also, traffic matters. Anyway, developers take much more risk. You are buying existing units, you are totally fine as long as the vacancy rate is not too high. It will go down like chain 1 by 1 if the vacancy rate goes up. The return will also be slow on existing property though, since the market value has already been established based on their evaluation of the property. If you are investing with developers on a brand new ground up unknown property, now that is different story.
x-jla
Oct 2, 20 7:20 pm
It’s pretty new, and the unit is immaculate...doesn’t even need paint...the inspection may reveal more, but appears to be in
really good shape.
Non Sequitur
Oct 2, 20 12:24 pm
it's fine as long as you're able to find a sucker to take it off your hands. Easier to do when you choose to (ie. retirement) but harder if you're forced to under duress (ie. Queen of England invasion).
apscoradiales
Oct 2, 20 1:42 pm
Speak to a real estate agent who deals in commercial spaces.
Someone from CBRE, for example.
x-jla
Oct 2, 20 5:50 pm
My realtor is great, but was looking for a perspective from the other side of things...construction/architecture...is this type of office space still something that is being built? She seems to think that hi-rise offices and free standing units, retail, will fall, and professional plazas will probably stay strong. I’m in a mid-sized city.
x-jla
Oct 2, 20 5:51 pm
But the market changes are probably seen sooner
from the architects vantage...
proto
Oct 2, 20 1:42 pm
you know your local market better than us
it's all about the long term investment
shellarchitect
Oct 2, 20 3:27 pm
commercial real estate doesn’t always go up, tons of people have gone bk buying RE. Not to say your plans are a bad idea. Tax advantages of RE can really help too.
Good luck!
thisisnotmyname
Oct 2, 20 6:04 pm
I suggest speaking to a CPA to fully vet your rent vs lease savings assumption, particularly regarding what can be deducted on your taxes. I don't know the answer, find out and share with us. Also make sure the condo complex is in good repair, assessments for new roofs and other big fixes can be painful. A lot of commercial condos were not exactly built for the ages.
curtkram
Oct 2, 20 7:06 pm
If I understand you, you're buying the leases from these other people plus your tenant space in the building? Commercial already fell off a cliff. these seem to be 2 or 3 person tenant spaces, so you're probably fine. When we talk about commercial architecture, were really looking at leasing a big floor plate. I don't think a developer would ever build a new building with a bunch of small contracts like that. your risk is obviously your tenants leaving. What level of risk can you tolerate? If you drop to 70% leased, are you ok? How about 50%?
x-jla
Oct 2, 20 7:17 pm
Curt, this is for me to use as my office. It’s one single unit that’s for sale within a complex of other units. I’m just buying the one 1400sf unit to use as my personal office. I may rent desk space to other designers within that office, but it’s a single unit with a single direct entrance from street level...
x-jla
Oct 2, 20 7:18 pm
Like buying a condo unit...
x-jla
Oct 2, 20 7:19 pm
The other units in the complex are all mostly professional services/medical...no retail or anything like that...
curtkram
Oct 2, 20 7:25 pm
sounds pretty low risk. I guess your losing the rental income from selling rental property, but you already know that
I’m in the process of selling a rental property and reinvesting the money to purchase a commercial unit in a office complex to use as my new office. It’s a great location and walking distance from my house. I want to purchase the building for a number of reasons, but mainly because I want to reinvest the capital from my sale, and have a permanent office that I can grow my business from. From the experience of commercial architects, is the market heading for a cliff? I know very little about commercial, just speculation about the effects of covid on office space. This complex has mostly professional services, a few doctors, dentist, cpa, attorneys, and an ID....it’s a nice unit and is completely built out for what I need as it was previously an architects office who is retiring. Just put in an offer and I’m getting nervous about buying commercial RE...
should also mention, the mortgage will be substantially less than leasing a space of equal size and quality
Sounds like some guy bragging about his commercial building purchase to me. Of course you will make money on that. Unless there is a war going on, real estate is rock solid. Maybe with some bumps during recession cycle, but if you ride it out, it will always be fine with steady return of investment.
I do all residential and know that market is steady and always appreciates in the long term...just know nada about commercial because I don’t work in commercial. I originally wanted a house in a dual zoned area, to turn into an office, but they tend to be in older areas and are very very expensive...
The major thing to look out for in a commercial property is location, location, location. That will make or break the investment. Prospective business owners does not like leasing places with many vacant spots. Also, traffic matters. Anyway, developers take much more risk. You are buying existing units, you are totally fine as long as the vacancy rate is not too high. It will go down like chain 1 by 1 if the vacancy rate goes up. The return will also be slow on existing property though, since the market value has already been established based on their evaluation of the property. If you are investing with developers on a brand new ground up unknown property, now that is different story.
It’s pretty new, and the unit is immaculate...doesn’t even need paint...the inspection may reveal more, but appears to be in
really good shape.
it's fine as long as you're able to find a sucker to take it off your hands. Easier to do when you choose to (ie. retirement) but harder if you're forced to under duress (ie. Queen of England invasion).
Speak to a real estate agent who deals in commercial spaces.
Someone from CBRE, for example.
My realtor is great, but was looking for a perspective from the other side of things...construction/architecture...is this type of office space still something that is being built? She seems to think that hi-rise offices and free standing units, retail, will fall, and professional plazas will probably stay strong. I’m in a mid-sized city.
But the market changes are probably seen sooner
from the architects vantage...
you know your local market better than us
it's all about the long term investment
commercial real estate doesn’t always go up, tons of people have gone bk buying RE. Not to say your plans are a bad idea.
Tax advantages of RE can really help too.
Good luck!
I suggest speaking to a CPA to fully vet your rent vs lease savings assumption, particularly regarding what can be deducted on your taxes. I don't know the answer, find out and share with us. Also make sure the condo complex is in good repair, assessments for new roofs and other big fixes can be painful. A lot of commercial condos were not exactly built for the ages.
If I understand you, you're buying the leases from these other people plus your tenant space in the building? Commercial already fell off a cliff. these seem to be 2 or 3 person tenant spaces, so you're probably fine. When we talk about commercial architecture, were really looking at leasing a big floor plate. I don't think a developer would ever build a new building with a bunch of small contracts like that. your risk is obviously your tenants leaving. What level of risk can you tolerate? If you drop to 70% leased, are you ok? How about 50%?
Curt, this is for me to use as my office. It’s one single unit that’s for sale within a complex of other units. I’m just buying the one 1400sf unit to use as my personal office. I may rent desk space to other designers within that office, but it’s a single unit with a single direct entrance from street level...
Like buying a condo unit...
The other units in the complex are all mostly professional services/medical...no retail or anything like that...
sounds pretty low risk. I guess your losing the rental income from selling rental property, but you already know that