For businesses, securing the ideal commercial property represents a huge and important challenge. This is unlikely to change any time soon, with November’s Budget statement revealing that those selling commercial property will no longer be allowed to use indexation to mitigate their capital gains tax liability.
This is likely to send the average cost of commercial property soaring, as owners look to offset their losses and optimise profits.
With this in mind, it’s even more important for business owners to secure an affordable commercial premises. Here are some steps to help you achieve this:
- Let Your Budget Drive Your Search
While there may be many factors motivating your search for commercial property, trying to achieve too many objectives simultaneously can be detrimental in the extreme.
Instead, it’s better to adopt a more single-minded approach, by using a clearly-defined budget to drive and inform your search. This not only ensures that you strike an agreement that is within your means, but it also strikes the ideal balance between optimising efficiency and maximising bottom line profitability.
By using your budget as the primary search criteria, you can also refine your shortlist and immediately eliminate any properties that are unsuitable.
- Choose the Right Partner
While there are some things that you can do by yourself, there are others that require expert assistance.
Sourcing a commercial property arguably belongs in the latter category, so you may need to partner with an expert agent who can provide assistance at every stage of the search process.
If you’re going to partner with a service provider, you will be better served by targeting a commercial property development firm. After all, this not only enables you to drive a more efficient search, but it also offers you access to a broader set of management services that continue throughout the entire real estate life-cycle.
- Make Location a Key Watchword
If your budget should dominate your search, it’s fair to say that you’ll also need to give consideration to your final choice of location. Of course, regional price fluctuations continue to create correlation between location and lease prices, while you’ll also need to identify destinations that enable the majority of your staff members to commute effectively.
So, once you have identified locations that are within your budget, the next step is to analyse these in further detail. You should pay particular attention to the public transportation links that are in close proximity, as well as any nearby parking spaces and the typical distance that key employees will need to travel on a daily basis.
While you may not be able to make everyone happy, you can at least make a strategic decision that delivers the best value in any given circumstances. This may be time consuming, but it’s crucial if your relocation is to prove successful.
