This is an extremely important decision and it can define how successful your business is going to be.
In my opinion the decision to buy or rent attributes to about 80% of your success. Even if you do everything else perfectly, your business will suffer if you make a bad decision with renting or buying a property.
Buying a property is a tempting idea, but I don’t recommend it unless you already have experience as a real estate investor/developer.
For most, you are beginning to build a business on a relatively new hospitality concept and it’s risky to sign a mortgage for 10-15-20 years without having some experience and numbers on running the space.
After operating your space for a while, you’ll have a much better idea of what exactly you want to buy and you’ll also have the numbers to show investors or banks.
Unless you have your own property, renting should be your “go-to” option and there are endless possibilities. Here are some questions to consider:
This is the best advice I can give you if you want to make a good deal. Think like them, don't try to idealize the situation. Consider the following points:
Of course, I'm simplifying a bit here. There is no step-by-step guide to executing a fantastic real estate deal, but I’ve shared a few key points with you to get started. You will probably make some mistakes but there is a high chance that you can avoid some of them if you read carefully.
Try to have more leads for the properties you want to rent. Talk to many people, research, hire a good lawyer for the contract and don't fall in love with a property you want to rent. At least don't show it to the landlord.
This article is part of the guide where I'm sharing tips on starting a coliving business.
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I created the first coworking and coliving space for digital nomads. It went well until it didn't. We closed it and I started to focus on building a productized service for companies that organize offsites.
This one went better and together with an amazing team I work on it on daily basis. We built a solid booking channel for hotels, I talk about it quite often in the Hotel Nuggets newsletter.
Around 2019 I started to play with an idea of building a coworking cabin. My plan was to operate hundreds of them across Europe. Then Covid came to say hello and I pivoted this project into Epic Monday - a site full of resources for people who are planning to start a glamping business.
Once I'm passionate about something, I deep dive into the topic, run tons of experiments and sometimes come with monetization ideas (not always, unfortunately).
Hoodpicker started as simple survey, then I created a tool to compare neighborhoods in Lisbon and now it's a set of tools for people who want to invest into real estate in Portugal.
I constantly research ideas that combine hospitality, real estate and tech. And share them in my personal newsletter. You can subscribe now:
I don't like to have calls but happy to discuss your project over Linkedin or Twitter chat.
PS: If you like this blog and live in Amsterdam, you might want to join the next Cowork& session.
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