Buying office condo as both commercial and small biz investment

[Danielle Z.]

My husband and I were looking for commercial real estate office space that would allow my medical practice to grow.  We were planning to rent, but rents in Boston are very high often 4-5K a month for what we want. So instead I was considering buying a place I found. The issue is I just made my first high salaried hire and that in itself is somewhat of a risk for us. We have reserves in case it takes some time to get her schedule full since she's a w2 and I will have to pay regardless of whether patients show or not. We also have ability to access to home equity lines of credit from both my rental property (has 500k or more of equity) and a smaller amount of equity on our primary home.  We were both excited at the prospect but my husband thought more about the risk of the new employee at the same time and is concerned this is too much risk. We collectively have access to about 70K cash plus possibly an interest free loan from my dad for 20-30k and the home equity lines of credit.  We'd take out a conventional loan of some type. The equity line would just be to help with the down payment To add to this confusion we have a first baby on the way.  I'm sad at the idea of letting this idea go as I think I have a good plan.  I have an admin and my other clinician. I thought to rent additional offices to auxilliary clinicians that would appreciate the admin services etc... Is there a way to save this. What do people feel about the risk on this?  Any creative financing ideas that would help alleviate the immediate cash need?  Thanks in advance.

[Dan K.]

Hi @Danielle Z.,

I am the Managing Director of a small business in the Boston area. We along with other building-mates were forced to move into new office space several years ago and we considered office condos. My personal feeling is that it's a lot of risk, and you should focus all of your energy on your core business, not real estate. I have also seen a lot of office condos just sit on the market.

Don't forget, if you buy, you are going to have to manage and pay for the entire buildout which takes time and can be expensive.

Also, if you are buying an office condo, you are in a way limiting yourself to that space. What if you grow more than expected and need more space? Have you considered how many parking spots you get per a square foot? What if you want to downsize and no longer want to deal with additional employees because you want to spend more time with the family?

Personally I would establish the business before thinking about an office condo. If you're starting to get your business going and have your first child on the way, I think I'd be looking to rent. One upside of being a renter is that you might be able to find medical space within a larger practice -- perhaps there is a practice that bought an office condo that is too big.

If you are going to pursue this -- I would take @Joel Owens advice about an SBA loan. Additionally there are a lot of great, small banks around the Boston area.