Salon Suites Commercial Space

[Jessica G.]

Hey BP - so a friend of mine who is a hair stylist was recently speaking with a client who mentioned that they are thinking about selling a commercial space. They have been building it out (i.e. not currently in use) to use as a salon suite facility in which people like hair stylists, nail technicians, etc can rent out their own private "suite" to run their business out of. My friend knows of my interest in real estate and she has been wanting to open a business like this so she approached me about partnering up. The seller has said that he would do some kind of lease option until we are ready/able to buy the real estate. I don't even know where to start with this and if it's even within the scope of what my goals are from an REI perspective... I would LOVE to own commercial real estate, but don't necessarily want to start a "salon suites" business. It's kind of a gray area though, because these are technically tenants.. ?... Or should it really be organized with my friend starting her business and leasing from this seller until she can buy? Not sure I'm needed in this equation.

Anyway, I'm new to all of this. I'm like a year in to landlording two sfh so this is a little out of my league, BUT it seems like a decent opportunity being that it's off-market and we have a relationship with the seller who is basically ok with letting us get in with not a lot of up front cash. We still have to get the numbers/details to know if this is even a deal.

But, with this high-level description of the situation how would you proceed if you were me? Appreciate any insight.