First time leasing

[Widmaerjm]

Hello,

I'm currently looking for paces to start a hookah lounge in my local area in Florida. I have said up 10k and have my inventory and furniture already bought and in the warehouse sitting. Now all I need is a place to lease I havnt looked much into leasing yet as far as how does a broker or agent look at the property their leasing out to is it typical to ask for more then 3 month rent and security deposit ? Also do I need a large amount of liquid asset if the place I'm renting is less then 1200 a month.

I am new to this so any advice from your personal experience would be of a great help . Thank you

[Widmaerjm]

Awh no help or comments ;(

[Widmaerjm]

>.<
Please anyone out there

[icetzou]

You should have gotten the lease first then the inventory and furniture, and you would need way more liquidity. Trust me, I own a hooakh lounge in los angeles. When I first started, I didn't know what the heck I was doing either. I'm not sure if you have already found your solution by now.

Anyhow, in terms of leasing you can actually try to negotiate a few months of free rent with a 5-year lease, but most places do require a deposit of about 2 months of rent. Most commercial real estate is managed by a third party such as Coldwell so contact property management companies if you are having trouble finding a location, or look on craigslist.

Message me if you have any questions, if you are already set then wish you the best of everything.

[loanuniverse]

You can look for commercial real estate space in websites like costar.com and loopnet.com

Most commercial real estate is leased in yearly or multiple year leases.

How do you make money with these lounges anyway?

[icetzou]

How do you make money with these lounges anyway?

Uhhh... by making money like any other restaurant/ cafe makes its money.

[loanuniverse]

Uhhh... by making money like any other restaurant/ cafe makes its money.

That is what I thought.... which means $10,000 in working capital is inadequate.

I think the original poster needs to create a detailed projection for the first year on a month-by-month basis.

[icetzou]

income projections are typically pretty useless. It's more important to know your break-even and manage your costs from there. Make sure your start-up cost include at least enough to cover for the first 3 months of expenses. Restaurant and cafe's are almost never profitable right away.