Help please… A good little bar/ restaurant is for lease in my area. I do not want to get beat by another person to get it. How can I quickly find the right folks to look out for my best interest so I can go see the place?
Once before when my wife and I went to see a place without first having a commercial realtor the showing realtor said since I came with no one I would have to use him. Seemed insane at the time. The place is ready to go and did a ton of business recently and over the years. Thanks
[{"id": "is1ye4r", "text": "Just tell the listing agent you have counsel and they can have the whole fee. That said, tenant representation can save you a lot of money and is usually at the expense of the lessor/seller. Look at similar properties and call around to brokers to ask if they do tenant rep.", "replies": [{"id": "is28umr", "text": "Thanks I did just that just now \u2026. Let us see if I get a call back.", "replies": [{"id": "is3ksdn", "text": "No call back\u2026", "replies": [], "depth": 3}], "depth": 2}], "depth": 1}, {"id": "is1z1gp", "text": "Hire a broker.  You\u2019re not even the one paying them\u2026.", "replies": [{"id": "is22oi1", "text": "How do I find a decent broker?", "replies": [{"id": "is23s2d", "text": "What market are you in?", "replies": [{"id": "is23vqe", "text": "Northern maryland", "replies": [{"id": "is28sd8", "text": "If you are on the eastern side of Maryland I can help you out", "replies": [{"id": "is3vv88", "text": "Do you cover north of Baltimore?", "replies": [], "depth": 6}], "depth": 5}], "depth": 4}], "depth": 3}, {"id": "is3zjsq", "text": "Get on loopnet and do a search for commercial and retail listings in the area you\u2019re looking - call through those listing brokers, starting with the ones that seem to have the \u201cbest\u201d listings", "replies": [], "depth": 3}], "depth": 2}], "depth": 1}, {"id": "is2qteb", "text": "Have you ever operated an F&amp;B establishment?", "replies": [{"id": "is3kcrf", "text": "No not personally but My wife has run multiple hotels full f&amp;b outlets (restaurants, bars, room service, coffee shops) We did run a successful grocery stand at a market center. This place is pretty jump in and start. It is not new but has everything to start out and is kind of small.", "replies": [{"id": "is3vc74", "text": "Okay, because a lot of people severely underestimate what it takes to make those operations work. Doesn\u2019t sound like a problem though if your wife has had the experience and the accountability of running other peoples\u2019 operations.", "replies": [{"id": "is3vs93", "text": "Could you expand a little about \u201cmake those operations work\u201d please.", "replies": [{"id": "is5pwie", "text": "A lot of people invest in F&amp;B because of their experiences as being customers and they think it\u2019s a \u201cfun\u201d and \u201clucrative\u201d venture. Many of these people also try to force their restaurant concept, which is based on their own personal taste, on to diners. \n\nGenerally, many of these people who never even worked in a restaurant let alone managed one soon fine out that managing the labor isn\u2019t easy and that the profit margins can easily evaporate due to shrinkage and waste. It\u2019s a tough business that requires a lot of direct supervision and the ability to recognize the diners preferences are the most important consideration when crafting a menus which some owners just can\u2019t do.  It\u2019s even harder now since every diner is a critic who can ivsisrate your store online if they feel like it.   \n\nOwning and operating a restaurant is about as far away from the idea of passive income as you can get. It takes time to put a good team in place and that team will constantly need to be re-made as employees come and go. The entitlement of some front of the house workers can be enough make you hate your own life, the saltiness of some BOH staff who generally make less than than FOH but work as hard if not harder can also be a nightmare. Hard drinking and drugs are pretty common problems in the industry. Work place romances that usually start hot and heavy and go out with a bang while the resentment and jealousy can linger in your place of business forever, or at least as long as the employees involved are still there. Love triangles seem to be pretty common lol. \n\nThe number of controls that need to be put over the inventory are many and they are useless unless someone is actually checking. You cannot run a profitable restaurant without a knowledgeable bookkeeper, a good CPA doing your taxes, a reasonably talented chef, reliable staff, responsible managers, a quality POS that everyone knows how to use properly, and thorough, and I mean an iron clad, understanding of local, state, and federal labor laws.\n\nThat\u2019s why so many successful smaller restaurants are family affairs and owner operated. It can be a great business to be in but it requires a lot of personal sacrifice and supervision because no one cares about your investment or understands the costs more than the people who have the actual risk. \n\nHiring is also a challenge depending on where you are. Even if you\u2019re in a sanctuary city where many undocumented people reside and work you still have to contend with the federal government. You can\u2019t pay people who are using a fake social # forever, the Fed will send you a lock in letter which will lead to a payroll audit. At that point that staff in question will jet to their next gig. The turnover can be nightmare. The legal issues around onboarding employees and the balance between state and local and federal laws can be a nightmare. \n\nMany people get tripped up with the collection and remittance of sales taxes. I had a friend who decades ago owned a successful pizzeria near Wall Street. The IRS got him good decades ago lol. He was being less than accurate with his earnings. They watched his operation and then audited him. They observed that nearly every person ordered a coke and two slices. So when his income was off they evaluated his PL, saw how much flour he order, they figured out pretty quickly that he was buying flour for cash and not recording those expenses, but they saw how much soda syrup for the dispenser system he had purchased because he HAD to buy that from distributor, and couldn\u2019t hide those expenses lol. They hit him with massive penalties and back taxes. But he says what they claimed he made, and what he actually made, was within about $500.00 of being accurate, he\u2019s still impressed to this day lol. Bottom line, the sales tax authorities, state and fed income tax authorities, have no problem digging into your operation. \n\nAn operation I managed once got hit with a sales tax audit because one of our vendors wasn\u2019t collecting sales tax correctly so all their customers got audited. It\u2019s easy to get audited.\n\nI spent 20 years working in the hospitality industry. Personally I\u2019m happy to invest in mixed-use, multi family, or even a condo with a 4% cap rate as opposed to taking on that kind of operation. High risk, high reward, lots of work. \n\nThe start up costs alone to open a restaurant can be in the hundreds of thousands of dollars if you need new equipment, linens, service ware, inventories, change the fit and finish of the dining room, payroll for training leading up to the opening. It adds up pretty damn fast. And every executive chef you hire will want to rearrange the line and add and remove pieces of equipment that costs tens of thousands of dollars.\n\nNow if you just want to buy the space and lease it to someone else whose going to sign up for NNN lease that\u2019s another matter entirely.", "replies": [{"id": "is6w5so", "text": "Holy cow, that was amazing. I can never thank you for your time. That should be pinned somewhere. Damn the place has a small bar and small kitchen. I was hoping to run it with just family.", "replies": [], "depth": 6}], "depth": 5}], "depth": 4}], "depth": 3}, {"id": "ishz4zy", "text": "Ask yourself and the former leaseholder/bar owner why did the last place fail? What makes you think you can run it better, be a more attractive place if the turn key nature of it -that seems attractive from a start up perspective-, means you'll be putting lipstick on a failed business? Are you prepared to run a place that may need to be open 12-14 hours a day, 7 days a week? Will you do lunch, dinner, late night food requiring a cook and stay open til 2am? What's it going to take to bring in your target demographic? Who is your targeted demo? How is that different then the last place? Running someone else's place isn't the same, it's their money and budget, not yours and as part of a larger operation they had resources you will not.  One problem with smaller places is often smaller income too so you often can't afford multiple managers to run those 12-14 hours so you've got to be there long hours yourself. Are you prepared to sign a 10 year lease? And be the guarantor of that? Add 10 years of rent up and see if you stay as excited looking at that number. Have you put a rough expense budget together along with an income projection based on drinks sold per day etc? Your wife should be able to whip that out with her background. Does that income stream seem realistic in that space? How hard is it to hire in your market? What's a bartender, waitress and cook cost? In my town everyone is hiring in that biz, how are you going to get the workers you need and keep them?  Risk taking is fine, but do some basic research and analysis before jumping off the cliff.", "replies": [], "depth": 3}], "depth": 2}], "depth": 1}, {"id": "is3s95g", "text": "3 times I came across deals like that , tried to do them privately and somehow realtors got involved and screwed us out of them every time. \n\nIn one incident the owner was behind on the mortgage, I offered to pay the BANK the arrears and assume the mortgage. The owner called a realtor, realtor said he could get more than I offered, that offer never materialized and the guy lost the property = foreclosed and that went on his credit report. I lost and he lost because of that realtor.\n\nIf you know the price and have 25% - 30% down payment draw up a simple first right of refusal contract with the owner, call your attorney and get a bridge loan that you close in 2 - 3 weeks depending upon how fast you can get an ARM'S LENGTH appraisal most lenders will want. \n\nScrew the realtors they'll just fuck you out of it to make a buck.\n\nIf you need more info PM me.,", "replies": [{"id": "is3ttax", "text": "Holy schnikes!!!! I will\u2026. Thank you", "replies": [{"id": "is41f93", "text": "Are you buying or leasing?", "replies": [{"id": "is41hlu", "text": "Leasing", "replies": [{"id": "is41m8s", "text": "Lease review should be doable and fast. Assume a full PG as well.", "replies": [{"id": "is41sr0", "text": "Any tricks on getting the right attorney?", "replies": [{"id": "is41ydi", "text": "https://youtu.be/Qp9GfJm9tgU\n\nWhat\u2019s the lease value? I can recommend some guys", "replies": [{"id": "is4252x", "text": "I am sorry I am new to leasing what is leasing value? They want .94 sq foot . Around 4,000 a month", "replies": [{"id": "is429er", "text": "That\u2019s the base rent I assume. How many months is the initial term?", "replies": [{"id": "is42mhu", "text": "It says lease term negotiable on the ad", "replies": [], "depth": 10}], "depth": 9}], "depth": 8}], "depth": 7}], "depth": 6}], "depth": 5}], "depth": 4}], "depth": 3}], "depth": 2}, {"id": "isdt2u4", "text": "Lol", "replies": [], "depth": 2}], "depth": 1}]