Archive for Real Estate
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Do you need to rebuild or build your credit history for the first time? Whether you’re a new real estate investor or have just been through some bumps and bruises (pretty common in today’s economy), it’s a good idea to look at what’s involved in calculating your credit score so you can build your credit history for the day when you’ll need it.
What Is A Credit Score?
The reports on your credit history and your credit score are what decide if you are a good candidate for a loan or perhaps a line of credit. Keeping and maintaining good credit is hard these days, as there are so many confusing things that can negatively impact your credit. Keeping a good score is easier than building a bad one back up, however, so do what you can to pay our bills on time. If you have bad credit, or no credit at all, do what you can to build credit history to raise your score so you are more attractive to lenders when you want to buy a house or make another type of major purchase.
Before you build credit history, there are some things that you should understand about your credit and what it can mean to your life. You can get some money with less than stellar credit, but when you do that, you pay more in interest. Your bad credit could also make you ineligible for some jobs. In fact, more and more employers are checking credit history to decide if you are responsible or not. You may also find that other areas of your life are affected by your credit as well.
How TO Build Your Credit History
The first step to build credit history is to understand what is wrong with your credit. You may know of a few things that are wrong, but you will not know for sure the full extent of your problem unless you get a copy of your credit report. This is something you can do once a year for free, and you can also order copies for a fee any time you want them. You can sign up for services that will send you a copy once a month so you can keep a close eye on what is happening. This is also a great service if you worry about identity theft.
Once you know what the problems might be, you can then start working on a plan to build credit history back up to what it should be. Find the small glitches on your report and fix them right away. Small bills of twenty dollars that you never paid hurt you a lot, so paying them off can make a huge difference right away. Also check over your report for listings that are not yours. This happens more often than you think. You can dispute these with the credit agencies to get them off of your report. Mistakes others made should not be hurting your credit.
After you have gone through those steps, or at least gotten started on them, you can then tackle the bigger problems on your report. Some of your debt is good debt as long as you are making timely payments. If you can catch up, do so, and then see if you can get it updated as soon as possible. Work with a company that can help you build credit history from the ground up or that can help you fix the problems you already have. They can often negotiate lower payments and help you get a loan to pay off what you owe.
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Have you ever thought about getting a 10-year mortgage? In this day and age, with high housing prices and potentially rising interest rates affecting the affordability of “average” or “starter” homes in many markets, it’s hard for many people to afford to get in to their first home.
In fact, there is a lot of buzz about 40-year mortgages these days.
The most common duration for a fixed rate mortgage is currently 30-years, but 15-year mortgages are also fairly common and have the beneift of having a lower interest rate. Get-out-of-debt gurus, such as Dave Ramsey, encourage the use of a 15-year mortgage with a fixed rate, putting 20% down upfront as your down payment. Then, he says, you should work to pay off your home early.
So, with all this discussion about the right length for a mortgage, what do you think is the right term for your next mortgage?
Is A 10-Year Mortgage Right For You?
What is your greatest dream? For many people, it is buying a home. Unfortunately, most people have to depend on financial institutions to find the money required to make their dreams come true. Such an expensive purchase also requires careful planning and with many institutions vying with one another to attract potential customers, there are many schemes that have come up that allow many people to secure themselves a home. One of these schemes is the 10 year mortgage plan. With those having the payment capacity, this is considered the most beneficial for a number of reasons.
What Are The Advantages Of A 10-Year Mortgage?
A 10 year mortgage plan allows the home owner to be free within just 10 years unlike the 20, 30 and 40 year mortgages. The interest on 10 year mortgages is also substantially less compared to the above-mentioned schemes. While the rates of interest charged differ with lending services, they generally play on more or less the same level. The interest is comparatively less and less biting in all cases. Another advantage of a 10 year mortgage is that these loans are the best option for anyone looking to upgrade within a short time. Consider also the current economic scenario. You will save a lot of extra payments with a 10 year mortgage by quickly paying off your debt as opposed to taking a longer repayment period that comes with higher interest rates. In addition to the above, your equity value grows phenomenally faster and you get to enjoy peace of mind earlier.
Potential Downsides To The 10-Year Mortgage
However, despite all the advantages, there is a flip side to this as well. One is that the monthly installments on these mortgages are much higher. This means that your monthly income must be enough to pay off your mortgage in addition to other necessities. If you feel that you cannot afford it, it is better that you do not go for it. For most people, longer term mortgages are more manageable. However, you are in a much better position if you can afford to take a short term mortgage. Long term mortgages have a major disadvantage of the fact that compared to a 10 year mortgage, a longer mortgage, even as short as a 15-year mortgage almost doubles the interest rate. As the loan term increases the rate difference goes up considerably. Indeed, there is no other option better than a 10 year mortgage that will offer fast equity growth, quick freedom from debt and subsequent tranquility in life than a 10 year mortgage.
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Living in Seattle, WA I was shocked when I started looking for my first house and realized there were almost no affordable houses in the whole city.
Having gone to college and bought rental properties in NC as a real estate investor, I found that the median home price was about $150,000 and you could easily find rental property for $50,000 if you were so inclined – definitely affordable by most people’s standards. However, it is not so easy in every part of the country, as I found out while looking for my own home in the Pacific Northwest.
Can’t Find Affordable Houses So You’re Spending Money On Rent?
There comes a point in our adult lives that we realize the truth about renting. It stinks! Suddenly it hits us that we’re chucking loads of cash out the window for what seemed like a home, but was really nothing more than a hotel room. What a waste of our hard-earned dollars! So now that we’ve come to our senses, we decide to begin the search for a real home. One that we actually get to keep and watch appreciate over the years. Most call this an investment. It’s not just about having a real place to enjoy life, but it’s about making money in the future if you should decide to sell. However, not all real estate will fall in your price range. You’re searching for affordable houses that fill the wants and needs of you and your family. Therefore the best place to start is on your laptop.
Looking For Affordable Houses Online
Do a little brainstorming before checking the current real estate listings. This way you’ll get a true idea of what price range you can expect when browsing for affordable houses. Write down the basics. One story or two? How many full bathrooms? How many bedrooms? How much overall living space is desired? And how large of a lot are you wanting? These will all play a role in that final price tag. Then there’s the area. This is likely the most crucial factor when seeking out affordable houses. Some areas such as San Francisco and Manhattan are going to be sky-high no matter what size home you’re after. The popularity and amenities have made certain locations practically unaffordable for most of us.
If you already know what area you wish to shop for affordable houses in, then it’s time to get started. Pull up websites such as REMAX.com, HUDforeclosed.com, and affordablehousingonline.com. These search engines/websites will assist you in finding the right affordable houses in the desired area. As a rule of thumb, you should remember that the closer you get to a large city, the higher priced the homes will be. This is simply a given. Millions of people flock to the most urbanized areas for amenities, arts and diverse culture. Good luck finding the home of your dreams! Surely there is one that suits you perfectly.
Don’t Give Up Hope On Your Search For Affordable Houses
Whether you are looking for affordable houses for an investment or to live in, there are still affordable homes out there. Each region is different, but generally speaking the affordable homes might have a problem like they need repairs to be done or have an owner who is in some sort of financial distress and needs to sell quickly. The other choice is the home may be in a less desirable location (such as further out of town) although that may not necessarily be a bad thing from your perspective.
To find an affordable house, you’ll have to be a little more patient. Think of yourself as a home detective and get to know your neighborhoods, see a lot of homes, and when you find the right house for you, you’ll be prepared to recognize it as a good value.
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As a real estate investor who transitioned from no-money-down rental homes to investing in commercial real estate, I have seen a lot of different trends and tactics and have tried many of them. My partners and I do a lot of different types of real estate investing. If you would like help getting started in commercial real estate, we may be able to help you. We offer flat-fee consulting services to help you with things like finding property, analyzing the numbers, and performing due diligence, as well as helping with more general things like financial planning and determining how real estate fits in with your overall financial strategy. Buying a piece of commercial real estate is a big step and it can definitely help to have another set of (experienced) eyes, looking over your thought process.
If you need help, please click here for more information on our commercial real estate advisers services.
An Example Commercial Real Estate Story
Who knows, this could be your story soon.
A lot of people talk about how hard it is to start your own business, but for the most part it has always been easy for me. I guess I have a knack for business. It runs in my family after all. My father, my grandfather, and even one of my uncles were all businessmen themselves. None of them depended on the others either. They all started their own businesses as a way to prove themselves. I inherited the tradition, and I did very well. Buying a franchise wisely, hiring the right employees, advertising and marketing – all of this was easy for me to do. The one thing that was always difficult, however, was picking out commercial real estate.
The thing is that the commercial real estate you get is absolutely crucial. If you hire the wrong people, you can always fire them and get new ones. If you buy the wrong franchise, you can always convert it into a different kind of store. With commercial real estate for rent, however, things are much more difficult. You need to balance a lot of different factors to get things right.
You see, when you buy commercial real estate, you want to be as central as possible. You want your business to be in a location that is convenient for all of your potential clients. That way, you will be able to benefit from foot traffic as well as planned excursions to your place of business. The problem is that the more centrally located a piece of commercial property is, the more expensive it is going to be to buy or lease. Commercial leases can be tens of thousands of dollars a month. Sometimes, they can even be hundreds of thousands for a moderately sized store. This translates into a significant investment just to stay there from month to month. If you invest in the wrong commercial real estate, you might not get a second chance. You could be bankrupt before you ever get on your feet.
Still, although the wrong piece of commercial real estate can break you, conversely the right one can make you. Even a mediocre restaurant, store, or arcade in the right location will do very well for itself.
Location Is Important In Commercial Real Estate Investing, But That’s Not The Only Thing
The truth is, it’s a little more complicated than the above story makes things appear. You’ll need to take into consideration a lot of factors when you’re buying your first piece of commercial property. Try to start small… maybe a half million dollar property would be a good starting place, so you can get the lay of the land, get your feet wet, and make mistakes without having a giant, highly leveraged property looming over you.
Good data is a big part of the battle – that’s the main thing you can do to mitigate your risk. Plan ahead, prepare for down times, and get good advice going in. Sometimes the best commercial real estate deal is the one you DON’T do!
Remember, if you need help, our commercial real estate advisory service is here to help.
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Have you made the choice to try Selling Your Own Home?
There comes a time when you either choose to or have to sell your home. As you may already be aware, most people tend to turn to professional real estate agents when selling their piece of property. Although the realtor may charge six percent of the sale, sometimes this is a more convenient way to get the house sold quickly and efficiently. In other words, you do not have to be burdened with placing ads, taking pictures, updating websites and other routine home sale processes. However, you should be aware that selling your own house is totally feasible on your own.
Also, most people who try to sell their home themselves end up going with a real estate agent eventually when they don’t have fast results with their own marketing methods. It’s not that realtors are so great at selling property. In fact, many listing agents are full of BS and don’t really offer much value. However, the one thing that realtors do bring to the table is buyers. Many buyers work through real estate agents because agents have access to more inventory that is easy to search through on the MLS.
Website Resources For Selling Your Own House
Websites such as HouseBuyerNetwork.com, ForSaleByOwners.com, as well as Owners.com all offer services to help you sell your home. Not only do these websites walk you through the process of selling your own house, but they additionally provide tips for selling your home more quickly and for a higher price. If there is one thing you should realize about selling your home it is that presentation is everything. This means that you should really work to arrange your house nicely and keep it clean for potential buyers to view. After all, no one ever wants to walk into a dirty house. Secondly, pictures are key. The pictures you place on the MLS are crucial when it comes to getting individuals, couples and families to view your home in person. No one is going to set up a home seeing if your photos online do not show the true potential of the home. A picture says a thousand words!
Also, CraigsList is another popular place buyers look to go for property, so you can post a small classified ad there to get more exposure for your home. Be sure to repost often for best results.
Face The Hard Truth And Make Sure Your Home Looks Its Best
If you are currently selling your own house, you should always keep in mind that people do not overlook little things to see the bigger picture. This means that the poorly kept furniture or unsightly curtains in some homes will not go over well. Many home buyers will see this and turn away from your home in an instant. It may sound sad or bizarre, but some people cannot overlook these things. The negative aspects are all they see when passing through your humble abode. So it is your responsibility when selling your own house to keep it presentable and basic on some levels.
Personal items are not recommended if you are selling your own house. This is basically because people browsing through the rooms of your home do not want to see pictures of you and your family. They want to envision their own things in the house, and if you make this difficult, it may be a turn-off to some home buyers. So in the end, you have to de-personalize a home when you are striving to sell it. Keep everything neat and tidy, always turn on all of the lights, open all of the blinds to make the house look larger, and light a few candles before a showing so the home smells good.
Once you think you have your home looking good, ask a close friend to come by and give you the honest truth. Make it easy for them to tell you what they think doesn’t show well on first impression. Maybe it’s something you can fix and improve upon.
Also – remember this: There are a lot of people who choose to sell their own house because they want to save on commission – they are “cheap” – just like me! However, there are also a lot of “cheap” people looking to buy houses. Often it is the bargain hunters (again, like me) who approach For-Sale-By-Owner listings. If you haven’t been getting much action on your property for sale, you may be feeling desperate and more willing to work with them.
I know there are a lot of ways to look at selling your own house. Just make sure you know what your reasons are for doing it that way, and determine whether you ar ereally taking the best course of action, or saving pennies and losing dollars.
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There are many things to think about when you look at houses for sale, but many don’t decide to get help when they first enter the home search market. A good real estate agent can help get you access to all the properties for sale on the MLS (which is most of them) and you can often find FSBO (For Sale By Owner) homes available on your own through the newspaper or online.
As an investor, I was never really a fan of real estate agents because I though they got overpaid for what they do. Now, I have a real estate license and am an agent myself. I find that real estate agents are just providing a service and access to information. You can find discount agents (like me) who do this work for an amount that is much closer to the cost of delivering the service and is not as high a profit margin endeavor.
Get An Inspection On All Houses For Sale That You Make An Offer On
After you find your dream house, it’s also important to remember that there may be hidden problems with the property that you don’t notice as you go through looking at where you will place your furniture and which kid will get which room. A good real estate agent will often suggest that a home inspector look every any type of home before a final decision is made. If someone goes about buying a house with the help of an agent, it is a good idea to find someone who can find the hidden problems that the average person would not think to look for when checking out the house.
Some property owners with houses for sale don’t really want the buyers to see what is really going on if there is a problem. Most homeowners are honest, and if something is wrong they fix it or point it out. However, there is a small percentage that might not do this, and they might be in a huge hurry to get rid of their home for whatever reason. The small percent is what ruins it for everyone else. No matter how wonderful someone with houses for sale might seem, it is essential that someone checks things over anyway.
I just took a class with my real estate broker that a property inspector presented. He told us that some inspectors just take a 1-day class, hang a shingle and start looking at properties. Make sure you find out your inspector’s certification, experience and what ongoing training he’s had before you hire him. Price isn’t the only thing to be worried about.
Things that might be hidden are sometimes small problems, and other times they can be huge. Houses for sale should always be looked over for the presence of mold. This mold can grow in areas that are not apparent to the casual observers, but someone qualified to find it will spot it right away. This is an important step because this mold can be deadly if it is left to grow unchecked and out of control. There are times when this might be something that can be removed, but it might also be something that dooms a house as un-sellable.
Houses for sale should also be looked over for electrical and plumbing problems. There are structural problems that should be avoided, so these should be checked over as well. No matter if you find homes for sale online or in person, they all need the same sort of inspection by someone who knows what to look for and who is hired by the ones looking to buy the house or houses. These people should be independent contractors or work for a company unaffiliated with the sellers or the real estate agent, just to be on the safe side. Most houses will be as advertised, and most owners are honest, but it is too big of an investment to take the chance that they are hiding something.
A Realtor Guides You Through The Whole Process Of Finding, Researching and buying Houses For Sale
As you can see, finding the right house isn’t the only part of the home buying process you need to focus on. Getting a good inspection, property insurance, title insurance and financing are also issues that you’ll need to handle. Fortunately, if you work with an agent, they will be experienced in guiding you through this entire process. If you decide to “go it alone” you can certainly do it (I’ve bought lots of property that way), but it’s a good idea to have an attorney or another experienced person review what you’re doing and make sure you have all your ducks on a row before you sign on the final closing papers.
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As a real estate investor, I always have my eye out for properties for sale. Finding a bargain home or commercial property is always an exciting prospect. Plus, if you’re always on the look out and are keeping an eye on the market, you’ll be more likely to be able to spot a deal when the time comes. However, I recognize that not everyone has an investor’s perspective when looking for properties for sale. Most are home buyers who want a pleasant real estate experience as far as the transaction goes; to find a house they can enjoy living in, even if if their budget didn’t stretch as far as they thought it would; and to feel like they are getting a reasonably good deal.
Here’s An Example From Someone Looking For Properties For Sale
As we get older it seems that it is more and more difficult to maintain a healthy positive attitude. As I was growing up I swore that I would never be as judgmental and conservative as my parents. Yet as I have entered into middle age I find that I am more easily irritated by those that are different than me and more conservative in my political convictions. I find myself telling my children stories about how hard I had to work to where I am and that they cannot expect to have things handed to them, they need to earn them.
Many of these thoughts entered my head when my son and his new bride announced that they were looking for properties for sale. I could not believe that they could even consider purchasing a home. They had both just completed college a few months before their wedding. They both have solid jobs that pay reasonably well, but they do not have anything in savings. Their father and I had to scrimp and save for two years before we could consider properties for sale. The only reason we were able to purchase our first home as quickly as we did was because my husband had been in the military so he qualified as for a veteran’s administration loan. This meant that we did not have to pay any closing costs. We also had a lower interest rate.
I asked my son and his wife if they thought that they could qualify for a loan. They said that they had gone and talked with a banker and he assured them that they qualified. He gave them a letter to give to a realtor. The letter verified that they were pre-approved for a certain size home. We decided that we would look on the internet to see properties for sale. We went on a multi listings site. To find what properties for sale are available in the geographic area that you are interested in you need to type in your zip code and how many miles radius you are willing to extend your real estate search. You can then enter the price range that you are looking for, the number of bedrooms and bathrooms that you want and the price range that you are looking for. Once you have entered this information in a list of properties for sale comes up with pictures, descriptions, and in some cases a video tour of the listing. This is a great way to save time and energy. It saves on the number of properties that you have to look at. The days of having to copy off sheets from the multiple listings books at a Realtor’s office are long gone.
I am still concerned that our son is jumping into home ownership too soon. The bank has told them the mortgage that they can be comfortable with, it seems much too high to me. I told them that they do not want to be a prisoner to their home because they cannot afford to go any where or do anything. They have agreed to look at properties in a lower price range than they were approved for.
Get The Facts On Properties For Sale That You Are Considering
These concerns are real for anyone looking for properties for sale that they or a loved one are going to consider buying. Usually a home is people’s biggest purchase and not one they enter into lightly or do with great frequency. As a real estate agent myself, I find the best thing that most people can do is get a lot of data. You want to know that you’re getting a good value and not overpaying for the property. Either you or your agent needs to be conversant in the data and know what other properties are selling for and how they compare to your target property. That will help you establish a reasonable estimate of market value for the property, and help you feel comfortable that you are not overpaying by thousands of dollars when you buy your property.
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If you need to move, are behind on payments, or are worried about the falling real estate market, you may be looking for some help and guidance on how to sell your home fast. The truth is, there are a lot of reasons you may want a quick sale, and getting it comes down to just a few things – what are you selling, is it priced correctly, and do people know about it. We’ll explore those more in this article.
Why You May Want To Know How To Sell Your Home Fast!
Today’s real estate market is an absolute mess. There are lots of people looking to unload their homes before they default on their mortgages and end up with foreclosed property. This is great for buyers, but not so good for sellers. Buyers have more choices and are in a better bargaining position, which means you’ve got to do more to attract their attention. Here are some tips that will help you sell your home fast.
First Make Your House Look Its Best
If you’re thinking of selling right now, you need to make your house presentable to buyers. This might sound obvious, but you’d be surprised at the number of people who, because of the state of the market, anticipate the process taking a very long time. So they don’t bother keeping up appearances, nor do they remove as much of their personal junk as they can. Take care of improvements such as painting and installing new carpeting now, and rent a storage unit for clutter from the basement and attic. The house needs to be in its best state right from the start.
Get Expert Advice On How To Sell Your Home Fast
Another thing you should do in order to sell your home fast is pay for an expert real estate agent. A lot of folks balk at the prospect of paying commissions, so they try to handle everything themselves. This could be a big mistake, especially if closing quickly is your main goal. I once read somewhere that the top 10 percent of realtors handle approximately 90 percent of the transactions in their area, which is a huge number. So ask around, find out who the best is, and get that person working to sell your home fast. Don’t settle for the real estate agent who is a friend of a friend, or who you think you “owe” a favor to. Do your research and find an agent who can get the job done when it comes to a fast home sale.
Price The Home Correctly
Including various financial incentives for the prospective buyer is another strategy to help sell your home fast. These incentives can include everything from paying all of the closing costs to paying property taxes for the first year or throwing in a year’s worth of landscaping/lawn maintenance from a local firm. Extra touches like these can make a huge difference in a buyer’s mind, so it could definitely be worth your while to sweeten the pot a bit.
And finally, in order to sell your home fast, it might be necessary to drop the price way down. This is obviously not something that sellers like to hear, but knocking several thousand dollars off the asking price, you’ll be making the property far more attractive to buyers. Ideally, you want to recoup every penny that your house is worth, but sacrificing on price could make all the difference between moving the property or letting it languish on the market for months and months.
Make Sure The Marketplace Knows About Your Property
Marketing is key when it comes to selling a property. If you’ve employed a good agent as suggested above, this should be taken care of, as the agent is probably doing a lot of marketing already and will include your house in her advertisements. However, be sure you ask about this when she does the listing presentation, and make sure the property will be seen where the buyers are looking. Personally I have found real estate signs and craigslist to be effective places to advertise any home for sale or rent.
If you are trying to sell your home fast, then one or more of these strategies could help you get the results you need. Make sure you’re prepared before you list, and then take all the steps necessary to close the deal!
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At The Real Wealth Company, we have a philosophy that Business is for cash flow and Real Estate is for wealth. I have been involved in real estate investing since 2002 and am the first to admit it has it’s ups and downs and is probably not right for everyone! You need to consider your goals, resources and proclivities carefully before you decide to get involved in real estate investing. Managed properly, you should be able to see 20-30% returns on equity in your real estate portfolio (after counting all your profit centers – appreciation, tax savings, cash flow and debt pay down). This is a lot better than the 11% or so historical average of the stock market.
Is Real Estate Investing Right For You?
Real estate is a more active and management intensive type of investment. it’s important to remember that you can’t just put a property in your portfolio and check on its performance on the finance page of the Sunday paper. Even if you outsource your property management to another company, you’ll still have to keep an eye on things to make sure you’re comfortable with what’s going on there.
Sometimes, real estate investing pays off right away. Usually though, some invest for the long run. Some like to do both. I have a friend that started out in real estate investing with one home. He bought it cheap at auction, fixed it up and sold it at almost three times what he paid for it. He did this in a little over a year. That is a great return on an investment if you can find deals like that. He then used that money to buy two more distressed properties, and he then doubled his money when he then sold those improved homes.
If you want to get into real estate investing for the long haul, you can buy up properties to rent out to others. You run a bit more risk this way, as you have to worry about having tenants in your properties on a fairly regular basis, and you do have property depreciation to think about. You also have regular maintenance costs. However, if you have the right amount of properties, this type of real estate investing can really pay off in the long run. Some find that if they have enough properties, they can often retire early with a good amount from rentals on top of other types of investments.
Whatever way you decide to go with real estate investing, you do have to have some money to get started. You can try to buy properties with loans, but that does get complicated. However, it is doable. Either way, you are risking your own money. While buying and selling homes quickly might not work during some periods of time, renting for income is something that is always a good idea. No matter what the housing market is doing, there are always people who need a place to live.
Look Before You Leap Into Real Estate Investing
I got started with real estate investing using no-money-down strategies on single family homes. While this worked out okay, it was not a land-fall profit center by any means. What they don’t tell you in the real estate training courses you buy online is that even if you acquire the property with little money out of pocket, there are still expenses involved in maintaining it, and it won’t necessarily go up in value a lot right away…
If you plan on getting involved in long term real estate INVESTING (rather than the quick-flip real estate investing BUSINESS) then make sure that you can realistically hold on to any property you buy for at least 5-10 years without undue hardship. Real estate cycles last about 7 years, so you’ll need to be prepared to ride the bumps up and DOWN!
For more information on how to get started in commercial real estate investing, be sure to visit our sister site, The Real Wealth Blog.
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As a commercial real estate investor I own a number of commercial properties including warehouse, retail, office, residential, and land. There are pro’s and con’s to each type of investment property. Deciding what is right for you will depend on your investing goals, your current assets and liabilities and tolerance of risk as well as the location-specific demands for leasing and properties for sale in the area that you want to invest. As in so many things in real estate, supply and demand rule the day.
Do You Want To Lease Warehouse Retail Space Or Own It?
If you are looking to warehouse retail supplies for your own store, it is easy enough to do with a rental space at a mini-storage, or perhaps unused space owned by your landlord in your current location. If you want to buy this type of property as an investment, it will take a little more care because you’ll have more risk and less flexibility moving in and out of an ownership position than you will on a lease.
Although I can’t vouch for it’s accuracy, I did find an example of someone’s experience with warehouse retail space on the web:
Although location is important in starting a business, it is only one of many factors that determine the success or failure of your enterprise. A few years ago, I bought some warehouse real estate. I wanted to start a warehouse shipping business over the Internet. It seemed like an excellent idea at the time. Unfortunately, I was a little bit off. By the time I got into Internet sales, it was already a little bit too late. The market was already saturated, and I was not Web savvy enough to overcome the obstacles. Still, I knew better than to give up. Although I wasn’t in a traditional location for a warehouse retail space, I decided to give it a go anyway. To tell you the truth, the shop was a little bit out of the way, and although there were outlet stores about 10 miles further down the expressway, I still did not expect large numbers of people to stop at my store.
Things worked out better than I imagined. Within a few months of opening the warehouse retail space, I was already starting to break even on operating expenses. In another couple months, I was on my way to becoming a successful warehouse retailer. My retail warehouse was doing so well, as a matter of fact, that I was soon able to afford to upgrade it. It didn’t really look like a good retail store at that moment. It looked like a warehouse with a cash register thrown in. Once I gave it a more professional appearance, business grew even further.
The great thing about my warehouse retail store was that I was able to use my success and popularity to get a wholesale business going. Soon, my warehouse retail outlet was shipping all over the country. As a matter of fact, nowadays we get almost as many orders over the Internet as we do from customers coming in person!
A big part of our success was our location. The placement that I thought would hold us back actually helped us. You see, most of the people coming from the city passed right by our shop. It was only a matter of a quick detour off of the highway for them to visit. Although it is not a great location for people looking to stop in for a quick shopping trip, it is ideally placed to take advantage of the warehouse outlet shopping excursions that so many people go on nowadays.
Business Is Complicated So Take Care In Selecting Your Warehouse Retail Space
Regardless of whether you plan to buy or lease warehouse retail space, it’s a good idea to know what you’re getting into and educate yourself on the marketplace so you can be sure you’re getting a good deal. Think through your plans for the property so you can feel confident it will meet your needs, now and for years to come as your business grows.
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