Renting an individual office

[KandKsmommy]

Ok my boss is considering buying a large office building (for our area) that has 12 offices, 2 conference rooms, a full kitchen and half kitchen.

We are a small agency just 3 of us but I'm trying to pitch the idea of renting out individual offices within the space

Or doing an almost Airbnb type setup for a few of them so that remote working professionals could come visit our slice of heaven and enjoy the outdoors while working from here for a month or so.

I was thinking obviously that other working professionals like CPAs, Realtors, etc would be a good fit.

What are you guys thoughts and do any of you currently rent an individual office within an office building?

 

[somarco]

If you have regular walk-in traffic, it might make sense. Otherwise, a waste of $$$

 

[KandKsmommy]

If you have regular walk-in traffic, it might make sense. Otherwise, a waste of $$$

90% of our people are still walk in plus she does all lines so there's a fair amount of p&c, farm and businesses we insure.

 

[Markthebroker]

So he's looking to rent a large office then sublease it to multiple tenants as an additional part time job/income. It's a real estate play, not really an insurance play, even though there will be some good synergy with the tenants. Might be good, might not.

 

[WinoBlues]

In today's Digital Nomad world it seems that there would be a market for short-term AirBnB style office space.

Not for me or other agents like me so much because I can work from a a coffee shop, couch or poolside. However, I would definitely rent one if traveling and needed a quite professional setting to prep for an important meeting.

 

[MW Agent]

I’m skeptical that you’ll be able to fill it consistently. WeWork has reasonable daily rates as well as monthly ect. The few I’ve been into recently (in different cities) were almost empty.

I tried subbing out an extra office in my space and that was way more difficult than expected. Tried framing it as working in an office with other professionals and full access to our conference room to meet with clients. We have a professional space. Crickets.

Maybe it works. However, I think people are comfortable working at home and having an office space to meet clients isn’t valued as much as in the past.

 

[marindependent]

Ok my boss is considering buying a large office building (for our area) that has 12 offices, 2 conference rooms, a full kitchen and half kitchen.
... but I'm trying to pitch the idea of renting out individual offices within the space

I almost hate to throw this out there - but have you researched the insurance needs for this type of office set up?

 

[LostDollar]

I’m skeptical that you’ll be able to fill it consistently. WeWork has reasonable daily rates as well as monthly ect. The few I’ve been into recently (in different cities) were almost empty.

I tried subbing out an extra office in my space and that was way more difficult than expected. Tried framing it as working in an office with other professionals and full access to our conference room to meet with clients. We have a professional space. Crickets.

Maybe it works. However, I think people are comfortable working at home and having an office space to meet clients isn’t valued as much as in the past.

(Caveat, NOT an agent.)

Lotta years back, the CPA firm the company I worked for used had 2 partners. They had a small building-I think rented but don't know for sure. They split up-split the clients however-split the staff and did their own things.

One partner bought a small office building on the edge of our core downtown area, lots of parking and you didn't have to deal with a parking garage to see him. I think he had 3-5 spaces after he got all the space he wanted for himself-it has been a long time since I was there and walked around but it seems to me like he had most of that space rented-I am talking long term tenants here-not the short term temp office type. Any experience with that type of scenario for an insurance agent?

 

[LostDollar]

So he's looking to rent a large office then sublease it to multiple tenants as an additional part time job/income. It's a real estate play, not really an insurance play, even though there will be some good synergy with the tenants. Might be good, might not.

The posts here suggest to me that op may be promoting the idea more that the agency owner with the $$$$.

 

[sshafran]

Ok my boss is considering buying a large office building (for our area) that has 12 offices, 2 conference rooms, a full kitchen and half kitchen.

We are a small agency just 3 of us but I'm trying to pitch the idea of renting out individual offices within the space

Or doing an almost Airbnb type setup for a few of them so that remote working professionals could come visit our slice of heaven and enjoy the outdoors while working from here for a month or so.

I was thinking obviously that other working professionals like CPAs, Realtors, etc would be a good fit.

What are you guys thoughts and do any of you currently rent an individual office within an office building?

I rent an individual office within a larger building.
There is a CPA. A (very) small hair salon. A guy who does commercial real estate. A guy who rents a space - he's "retired" but has some consulting occasionally and likes getting out of the house, a massage therapist, a counselor, and one more person -- not sure what he does. Then three larger tenants take up multiple rooms - private ambulance, child therapy (autism focused) and a small deli.

The building has gone through times when it was EMPTY or almost empty - 2019 and 2020.

Now it's quite full and busy. The realtor next to my office moved out and I asked the building manager if it was going to take a long time and she said, "there's a big waiting list for offices."

Our area is "somewhat rural" but we are really growing so that growth was really perfect timing for the building owner.

The Air BnB idea -- I'd scrap that. If I'm on vacation I'm hitting a coffee shop with my laptop if I need to work for an hour.

Co work spaces are OK but if each office has a separate lock, renting them for $450/mo seems like a better play.

Obviously, cost of building matters a ton. It would need to cash flow +++ to make the risk worth it. Is it a growing area? That will make a big difference.