Condominiums without Bedrooms...An alternative to Commercial RE Ownership

Have you noticed the direction that the price of vacant commercial land in Leominster and basically all over Massachusetts has been going lately? Better yet...have you seen any vacant commercial land for sale in Leominster?

There's not much out there and what vacant land there is out there is owned by a very small group of people with pockets much deeper than you or I and there is not incentive big enough to get them to sell...

What does that mean for the small business owner that is tired of writing checks every month to their landlord and wants to get into the real estate market for themselves without having to find land and put up a building? It's time to consider an alternative to traditional commercial real estate ownership...business condominiums. Sure you could buy an existing building but like the availability of vacant commercial land, the availability of existing free-standing commercial buildings is not much better.

There aren't too many business condos in the area although they're starting to catch on I think...very slowly of course. They're out there and hopefully more are coming on the market if enough developers and land owners realize this idea is a good one and can be a very profitable one too...

A perfect example of a business condo development that you probably didn't even know about is 54 Main St, Leominster on the corner of Main St and Merriam Ave across from the post office. This building consists of 10 or so individually owned office condominiums. Like with a free-standing building each condo has it's own deed that can be transferred at any time, can be mortgaged, and can be foreclosed if you don't pay your mortgage.

Unlike a free-standing building, a business condo is one individual office among many others within a condo association. They're all under one roof so the cost to repair or replace the roof is shared by several owners, and they're all located within one building so the maintenance on that building and the general upkeep is shared by several owners. The biggest benefit financially is that many business condos can fit on one parcel of land so the cost of that land is shared by several owners.

The newest office condo development was recently constructed at 30 Williams St, just off of Whitney St at the intersection of Whitney and Mill St. This single story, 8,000 SF building sits on just under an acre of land but accomodates up to 6 different businesses. A few units have been recently sold and leased. Like the owners at 54 Main St, these condo owners benefit from not having to go out and find land, put up a building, did I mention find land??? They were able to purchase only the portion of the building that they occupy and now share in the maintenance and upkeep of the whole property with the other unit owners.

Doesn't that sound like a great idea? Rather than go out and try and find one of the remaining vacant parcels of usable commercial land or try and find that rare free-standing building with a price-tag that won't make you gag, buy into an association of business condominiums. The idea is catching on in places like Marlboro, Hudson, and many cities closer to Boston and hopefully the idea continues to grow in popularity out here in Central and Western Ma...

What do you think about the idea of purchasing a business condo rather than a free-standing building or a vacant piece of land that must be developed?

Would you consider this option?

Are you interested in more information about business condos?

I'd like to hear from you...