Lots of questions to answer before you take ownership of property , initial price may not kill you but the overhead, taxes, and maintenance might if you don't use the space.
Good points above, Kevin. When we made the jump from my house (having 4 or 5 techs for breakfast every morning started to "wear" on my wife) I found that the initial price and ongoing overhead was just the tip of the iceberg.
The bigger challenge was I had to morph into a "real business" overnight. Say what? When I was running out of the house we didn't have to maintain real hours, customers didn't stop by and so I didn't have to worry about appearances. When we moved into a commercial location all that changed. Now I had to hire a full time office manager and make the place look like a "real business".
The move wasn't all bad and was a needed step in the evolution of my business. Plus having a "real" commercial location definitely helped in the sale of my company. BUT it sure was stressful since it changed my entire business model.
Steve
PS You say it is in a "declining area". I assume to justify the overhead you'll be wanting clients to stop by, bring rugs in, etc. Has it "declined" so much that people will be hesitant to visit?
Also what are the long term prospects for appreciation of the area? The silver lining for all the stresses I detail above is that I bought my commercial location in 1988 (with a short term loan at 13% interest which I focused on paying off early!) and it has since gone up almost 600 percent in value and now produces great cash flow for Sioux and I as a rental property.
