Should a Business Buy Its Own Building?

Summary: You should consider purchasing a property for your business if it means you still have a diversified portfolio. Purchasing a building and then working harder to pay it off means you've put all your assets into your business, which is unbalanced and not advised by most investment professionals.

Key Quotes:
Since [January], vacancy rates have dropped a little in most markets and rents have stabilized. However, very little new construction has been completed, and what has been built is almost all owner-occupied or build-to-suit. Almost no speculative real estate has been constructed this past year. Thus when the economy improves, rents will rise immediately. Normally developers see this coming and put up new buildings in anticipation of better conditions, but that isn’t happening.

That’s the argument for our small business owner buying his own building, but there’s another side to consider. This fellow has almost his entire net worth tied up in his company. Like many other entrepreneurs, he’s thinking about buying a building as a personal asset or through a separate company. Then his business would sign a long-term lease for the property.

Many business owners have succeeded with this approach, but there’s a large risk. This owner is thinking about retiring in a few years, selling his business at that time. Many small businesses are sold with seller financing, meaning he would get a portion of the price up front, and then the buyer would pay the rest of the purchase price from company earnings over the next few years. Now suppose that the buyer fails at running the business. The original owner gets a double whammy: he is not getting paid for his business, and his building just lost its only tenant. Ouch.

Read the full article at Should a Business Buy Its Own Building? by Bill Conerly, Contributor + Follow on Forbes

 

A. Joseph Marshall
Coldwell Banker Commercial
Commercial Real Estate Advisor
Savannah, Ga