Young start-up - Huge investment without "Daddy's Money"

[jor133d]

Hi-

Lets put it this way. My daddy aint got no money and neither does anyone else in my family and this gives me even greater drive to make something of myself.

I'm wondering if there are ways as a young entrepreneur (22 years old) to purchase a building without a rich family member helping out? I don't think I can afford payments by simply going to the bank, especially as I have student loans and looking for a house to purchase if I get one of the many fulltime positions I have interviewed for.

I'm looking at a place that can be divided into a start-up for myself and another building to be leased. It's essentially two retail stores in one. The money from the other tenant could be used as payment but a tenant must be found first.

Just wondering if anyone has experience with this. Any creative ways to make a impossible opportunity happen? Are there ways to find investors? Or something like that?

Jordan

[BusinessAdviser]

What kind of business do you have? Do you need a retail storefront?

[jor133d]

I photography business doing creative wedding & portrait photography. I don't need a retail storefront but really need the "downtown" location. The place I am actually looking at is an old downtown garage/retail shop. Pretty much concrete floors, nothing fancy but had a ton of potential. It's 17,000 sq feet and the same price of finished buildings way smaller.

My previous location was renting from a real estate agent who had a building for sale. He let me rent an upstairs room for cheap while it was for sale. It now is sold and I am out looking again.

[BusinessAdviser]

If you need a storefront, that's a diff story. If you didn't...if you could work out of your house, might have a solution.

[Lambo]

17000 Sq feet for a partial retail store sounds slightly large, but if you can lease the other part out and pay for your space than it seems like a great idea.

[DerekS]

Is this location purely retail, or is it a residential/commercial mix?