New room rent question

JamesJ

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
I see some scary numbers on people looking to rent space for a room. Some at $10K a month for the largest ones. Everyone agrees rent is the #1 cost to control.

Is the reason everyone who opens a new room is renting is because it requires much less capital to purchase a building? For much less than 10K a month, you can get a great building as long as you have the down-payment, maybe even section it out for another business or apartments. Of course you have to maintain the building, but, it's a capital investment.

I'm looking at opening a room with food and alcohol in about 2 years, but I insist on purchasing the property. Obviously, I'll need more startup capital to buy a building vs. just renting, but I think it's better in the long run.

Am I missing anything here in this thinking?
 
You are missing Bank Financing. They are hard to get money from. I have been in business for more than 5 years and they will not loan me $25,000. They talk about money for small business but they are not talking about me and you................they are talking about the LAREGE COMPANIES that are in with the goverment. They break off the company into small LLC and call that Small Business. Find someone in business and pay them to mentor you and it will save you alot of money in the long run. Good Luck in 2 years.
 
Buy vs Lease

It can be difficult to buy a commercial building. Financing can be very difficult to get, or unaffordable because of the downpayment required. It's certainly worth the effort, though. With many leases you are required to fix things that break, along with the taxes, just as if you owned the property. We leased our building for the first 12 years, and then were able to buy it 11 years ago. We consider it the best move we have ever made. Any money you spend on it is money your spending on your own stuff, not someone elses. Your rent never goes up, and you never lose your lease, which is the reason many places go away. If you go a month and make no profit, at least you're one payment closer to having no rent. I have a good friend who recently closed his billiard business after 33 years. He rented the whole time, and in the end he sold his inventory and closed. Had he purchased a building, it would have long since been paid for and he would be the one collecting rent. Add in the fact there is lots of cheap commercial real estate these days, and to me it's a no-brainer- assuming buying is an option because it's not an option for many.

Dave Smith
oldschoolpool.com
 
I see some scary numbers on people looking to rent space for a room. Some at $10K a month for the largest ones. Everyone agrees rent is the #1 cost to control.

Is the reason everyone who opens a new room is renting is because it requires much less capital to purchase a building? For much less than 10K a month, you can get a great building as long as you have the down-payment, maybe even section it out for another business or apartments. Of course you have to maintain the building, but, it's a capital investment.

I'm looking at opening a room with food and alcohol in about 2 years, but I insist on purchasing the property. Obviously, I'll need more startup capital to buy a building vs. just renting, but I think it's better in the long run.

Am I missing anything here in this thinking?

Actually, you have a pretty good grasp on things. Anyone thinking about opening a poolroom without being able to purchase the property would be better off flipping burgers at

McDonalds. I guarantee you'll make a better hourly wage!

Anyone opening a poolroom has to look at it as a "labor of love", because at best, you're buying yourself a low paying job! I've owned 2 poolrooms and a pool bar. I averaged

over 80 hours a week working except when I was "on the road" trying to scrape together enough money to keep the lights on. It's a thankless occupation. Everyone has ideas

how you can be more successful, most of which entail giving free pool time or free food or something of that nature. When you have a busy night people see all the customers

and think you're getting rich without ever considering the many hours you're open with NOTHING going on except the overhead! It leads to a very high rate of divorce among pool

room owners. Women want men who are home with them at night, not working at the poolroom. You'd think it would improve your game, but it does just the opposite. You can't

play in your own room without hearing every sound in the building, worried that a fight will break out or an employee is pocketing more than he's putting in the till. Owning a

poolroom is like the old saying about buying a boat. The 2 happiest days are the day you open and the day you sell or close. The high rate of poolroom closures around the

country should tell you something. I hate to sound so negative, but if you're thinking of opening a poolroom, you should know what you're getting yourself in to!
 
Actually, you have a pretty good grasp on things. Anyone thinking about opening a poolroom without being able to purchase the property would be better off flipping burgers at

McDonalds. I guarantee you'll make a better hourly wage!

Anyone opening a poolroom has to look at it as a "labor of love", because at best, you're buying yourself a low paying job! I've owned 2 poolrooms and a pool bar. I averaged

over 80 hours a week working except when I was "on the road" trying to scrape together enough money to keep the lights on. It's a thankless occupation. Everyone has ideas

how you can be more successful, most of which entail giving free pool time or free food or something of that nature. When you have a busy night people see all the customers

and think you're getting rich without ever considering the many hours you're open with NOTHING going on except the overhead! It leads to a very high rate of divorce among pool

room owners. Women want men who are home with them at night, not working at the poolroom. You'd think it would improve your game, but it does just the opposite. You can't

play in your own room without hearing every sound in the building, worried that a fight will break out or an employee is pocketing more than he's putting in the till. Owning a

poolroom is like the old saying about buying a boat. The 2 happiest days are the day you open and the day you sell or close. The high rate of poolroom closures around the

country should tell you something. I hate to sound so negative, but if you're thinking of opening a poolroom, you should know what you're getting yourself in to!

All I have to say here is QFT.
 
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