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Rent or buy our first shop?

8/10/18       
Justin Lahaie Member

Website: http://hillcrestcabinets.ca

My partner and I have done a lot of headscratching. We need more space than the backyard garage, so do we buy a building or rent a property?

8/10/18       #2: Rent or buy our first shop? ...
rich c.

Amount of cash or cash flow usually decides that.

8/11/18       #3: Rent or buy our first shop? ...
Pete

Website: http://www.wordpress.petesfloors.com

If you can swing the financing, a land purchase in the Bay Area is a good investment.

8/11/18       #4: Rent or buy our first shop? ...
Karl E Brogger

Rent. Statistics aren't on your side for starting a business. Not trying to be a dick, but most fail.

It took me thirteen years to get my own building. Right now it was a good decision. Time will tell though. I don't trust this economy and I'm squeamish about what the next few years will bring with my overhead being as high as it is.

If you do buy or build, build up a good amount of capital to weather the storms then start hammering the principle on the note. I amortized for 20 years, borrowed for ten with a balloon, and am working towards a six year payoff of the note. I'm hoping it doesn't go to hell before it's paid off, but if the principle is paid way down I can get creative with the financing and survive. Hopefully.

8/11/18       #5: Rent or buy our first shop? ...
Jerry

Definitely rent. It's a no-brainer. The goal of your business is to generate as much cash and profit as possible. You can't do that if you have your cash tied up in a building. With your short time in business banks will want a minimum of 30% down which could easily be 100's of thousands of dollars. You need to use that money for marketing and scaling your business and building your brand.

When you get to the point where you have several million in profits set aside then you can think about getting into the real estate game. Then you can buy a large multi-tenant building using smart leverage and have your tenants provide you with positive cash flow each month and get your space for free paid for by their rent.

We'll be scaling into a 40k sq.ft building in the next year or so, and we'll lease it. It's a $3 million dollar building that will be $5.00/sf NNN annually. That's a 6 % cap rate to the landlord. You will have a hard time getting a commercial note at that rate.

If we bought the building we'd have to put $600-900k down. Leasing we put the $18k first months rent and $18k security deposit down. By leasing we get the right to use the same $3MM building for only $36k out of pocket. Can I invest the 600k-900k down payment back into the business and get a return more than the 6% cap rate the landlord is getting, and a few points a year in appreciation? You better believe it!

Think the same way when you purchase machinery. If it's equipment that makes and saves us money we'll buy it outright. If it's equipment that doesn't (air compressor, dust collectors, forklifts etc) we'll lease finance them and put the cash into more productive areas.

8/13/18       #6: Rent or buy our first shop? ...
Ryan

I would think rent or lease while you are starting your business then after a few years and you have good profits and money saved up then build or buy a building. I would keep the build separate from the business though. Put it in your personal name if you can and let the business pay you rent. This way if you ever sell the business down the road you still own the building and the new owners keep paying you rent. If you are just starting out you won't need the 3 million dollar building that Jerry spoke of in the last post. Once you get to that point selling and paying off your first building is no problem.

8/13/18       #7: Rent or buy our first shop? ...
David R Sochar

I agree with the above. I moved out of the rural country shop in my backyard after 7 years to a 5,000 s/f lease and a few employees. We outgrew that after about 7 years (+/- 10% a year growth) and bought a 9,000 s/f building in a highly desirable industrial park. My local history suggested a 10% annual increase in value of that building, meaning in 7 years, it would be worth twice what we paid. This was my retirement plan, to build equity with the building and business. Then, even if the business went bad, I still had the building.

This was all done with bank financing, making it all viable and not artificially valued. Of course, things changed in 2008 when our leader asked for "300 billion tonight or tomorrow morning".

The building was held in a separate S Corp from the business, making it easier to give it back to the bank at a huge loss. The business helped collaterize the building mortgage, so we had to shed equipment also. All in all a terrible experience, but survivable. Be aware or what a severe reversal can do. But do not live your life worrying about what might happen.

8/14/18       #8: Rent or buy our first shop? ...
cwwoodworking

The first question I would ask is where do you live and do you own any more land?

In my area it is much easier to build/buy a building in the country, than it is to go to a true industrial park.

Of course the big risk is owning vs renting. There are 2-3 similiar cabinet compainies locally that do it both ways. One in a commercial park, one in the country. I think the commercial one is slightly bigger, but not by much.

In my area, I would not hesitate in buying country property. It holds its value extremely well.

8/17/18       #9: Rent or buy our first shop? ...
Kevin Dunphy

Sounds like you have the financing if your asking the question .
As a sole proprietor I would say buy as David said retirement money
Done right you can make more money a year in the real estate then you can in cabinets
If your asking these question are you ready day to day with a partner
I read on this form years ago if you have to ask what equipment to buy to open a shop your not ready

8/19/18       #10: Rent or buy our first shop? ...
Larry

Rent to get started. If you are successful your needs will change and you will soon need a bigger space, more power, sprinkler system, etc. After moving out of my home shop I rented 3 times, each time a larger space. Finally bought a building that had room to add on. Have now maxed out that land. Building 25,000', 800A-3phase, sprinkled, loading docks, etc. All cost a lot to get in place. But it now paid off. Like David, the rental income is part of my retirement.

8/20/18       #11: Rent or buy our first shop? ...
Sea444

Renting a "no brainier" only if you have no cash. Having been through this I can offer the following.

I was in business for 38 year owning my own shop. After 16 years of renting, I bought my own building. When I left my rented place I figured I paid over $400k in rent, and all I had to show for it was a smiling landlord ( because I totally bought the building for him), and a huge bill to move and remodel/ install my equipment. The motivation for my move was actually the fact that the land lord wanted to sell the building and would not write a new lease. I could not risk the business interruption if I was forced to move on 30 days notice. Since that time I have had friends lose their business because of having to move because of lease issues and not having the cash to pay for a move.

I bought a building. $345k. Another 75k to remodel and wire plus moving in. I retired 20 years later. For the next 5 years I rented the building out and collected more in rent that the building cost. I sold the building for a little more that the original cost 2011 wasn't the best time to sell industrial property). My actual cost to own the property was what ever the bank or other investment would have paid on the $345k tied up in the building. With current bank rates, that is almost nothing.

If I out grew the building I could always sell it, and only be out the cost of the move, which is the same if renting. By owning I never had to be concerned about lease issues. Owning was a great protection against inflation, and a chance for further profit in the real estate market.

I sold the building after a disastrous tenant and decided I wasn't cut out for the landlord business. In the end, over a 25 year period, I sold the building and collected rents that totaled twice my original cost, and used the place for my business for 20 years for virtually nothing.

8/20/18       #12: Rent or buy our first shop? ...
Larry

I'm still glad I rented until I could afford a down payment and the monthly payments and still have a cash reserve. I had nearly paid off the building when 2009 hit. Business dropped to near nothing. In 1987 I leased the 8,000' building with an agreement to purchase. I intended to just occupy 4K' and sub lease the other half. We hit some good chain store accounts and took over the entire building. Going big time, sort of. Added on in '91, again in '93. That maxed out the land. Really glad i waited until i could get the additional land so I didn't have to move again. So now I'm retiring and have a 25,000' building that is being leased tripple net. Be careful though, real estate can be both good and bad. It almost broke me, twice!

I agree with everything David S said.


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