One of the final hurdles in starting your own business is finding a suitable location to hang your shingle. At the SBDC, we often see sole proprietors who have just begun their ventures working from home. However, we also work with micro-entrepreneurs (companies with less than 10 employees) who need to rent enough space to sell goods or provide services and have room for a few employees. They need to find a suitable location that will allow them to have a little room to grow but stay within their budget.
Working with Tyler Stewart from The Fletcher Group at Keller Williams, we have created an informative webinar and a powerful checklist to help you better identify where you can find suitable space to rent, and what to watch out for during the lease process.
While everyone knows the phrase “location, location, location!” when it comes to real estate, it is important to understand why you might want to lease within a certain neighborhood or area instead of deciding, “Well, that’s the up and coming place to be.”
Some key factors to consider when deciding where to lease include:
- Visibility & foot traffic
- Parking
- Duration of customer stay
- Competitors nearby
- Complementary businesses
- Zoning laws
With these considerations in mind, you can start to narrow down your focus on where to lease commercial space.
Once you’ve found a suitable spot, there are other important aspects of the leasing process to keep in mind. The first is understanding the types of leases, including Gross, Modified Gross, and Triple Net. The second is learning the details of the lease such as rent structure, who is responsible for utilities and maintenance within the building, and understanding the termination clause. These aspects are crucial to understand before signing the letter of intent (LOI).
At the SBDC, we do our best to help clients navigate any situation they find themselves in, but there are times when a professional needs to lend their expertise. Working with a commercial broker can help alleviate many of the headaches associated with leasing a property, and in many typical cases the lessee (you) is actually not responsible for paying the agent – the lessor is!
Tyler and I are looking forward to hosting this webinar and engaging in conversation with everyone online to answer questions and provide insights. We hope you can join us on May 29th at 11 am. Click here to register for free!