Buying our first property

[Jon Jones]

Hey guys, we’re getting ready to have a decent amount of cash that we’re planning on buying a property with. We also own a couple of coffee shops. We have been thinking about buying the strip mall one of our shops is in, and then do a cash out refinance to start buying residential properties with it. Our overall goals are to have a bunch of free time to be able to travel, and also start building up wealth for our 4 children. Is it a good idea to purchase a commercial strip mall first, and then transition into residential (where we want to invest.)? The reason we want to purchase the strip mall is because our coffee shop struggles to make leaps forward because the rent is so high, but if we owned it, we could make the rent as low as we want but still retain the equity to purchase other properties with. Or is a better idea to just invest in residential first, and then use the cash flow from that to help the coffee shop? The strip mall appraised for $358k The residential portfolio appraises for roughly the same. It would be a cash purchase.

[Michael Kistner]

@Jon Jones,

  I would look at the commercial building as if you were buying it from a pure investment side. Would you have interest in it if your coffee shop wasn't there? What other opportunities does it have? What are the businesses currently there? Is there a way to add value? Is it in a nice area?

   If you can answer all those and would still be interested in it then that might be the route to go at first. If you're trying to talk yourself into it for the coffee shop then I'd probably go the residential route and then look for an area where you'd like to buy for your coffee shop.

Thanks,

Mike