Here’s my situation. I’m getting ready to open my third location. I have a building picked out that I want to lease. The rent will be $1900 a month. I talked to the company today that owns the building and they want $1900 for the first month’s rent and $1900 for security deposit right when I sign the lease. For me to get the place up and running, a little build out will be necessary. I have to install a hood and ansul system, clean, paint, run gas lines, run some more electrical lines, etc. I’m probably looking at around a month’s worth of work to get the place ready to open. My problem is that by the time I can even get my first order, I’ll have already spent $5700 between rent and security deposit. I’m going to call back tomorrow and try to negotiate a little. Should I make it a requisite that my rent doesn’t start until I’m open for business? I don’t know if they will go for this. The way I look at it is that if I don’t lease this building, it might sit empty for a while and they won’t be getting any rent at all for who knows how many months. I’m going to be signing a 3 year lease and plan on staying their for a long time. I would love to hear some of your guys’ experiences with new leases on buildings. Did you start paying rent the first day you stepped foot in the building even before you were able to get the place ready for business? With my other two locations I was able to step right in and get the buildings ready withing a couple of weeks since they were preexisting pizza shops. I’m worried that this building could take more than a month to get it ready and I’ll end up having to pay 2 months rent.
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