CRE 101 · deweyluong.realtor

Lease vs Buy in Georgia: Should Your Business Buy Its Own Building?

A plain lease vs buy test for Georgia business owners. By Túy “Dewey” Luong, CCIM — Founding Broker, SERHANT. Atlanta · 318 closed sales / $281.2M career volume · 678-707-2498

If you run a business and pay rent, you are paying off somebody's building. Sometimes that is the right call. Sometimes you are funding your landlord's retirement instead of your own. Here is how to tell the difference.

Leasing is right when the future is unclear. You may move. You may outgrow the space in two years. Your cash needs to stay in the business. A lease keeps you flexible, and flexibility has real value early on.

Buying starts to win when three things line up. You plan to stay five years or more. The location works for the long run, not just this year. And the business throws off steady cash, so a mortgage payment does not squeeze operations.

Run these three numbers before you decide. The example below is made up to teach the math. It is not a real property or a quote.

1. What you really pay now. Not just base rent. Rent plus CAM plus everything the lease passes through, times twelve. Say that total is $7,000 a month. That is $84,000 a year, and $420,000 over five years, and at the end you own nothing.
2. What owning would cost. Purchase price, loan payment, taxes, insurance, and the repairs a landlord used to cover. Owning is not automatically cheaper each month. That is not the point.
3. What you hold at the end. After five years of mortgage payments, part of every payment bought down the loan. The tenant who leased holds a stack of rent receipts. The owner holds equity, an asset that can be sold, refinanced, or leased out later.

That third number is the one most owners never run. Rent is an expense that ends at zero. A mortgage payment is partly an expense and partly forced savings in a building your business controls.

Two honest warnings. Buying ties up cash your business might need, and a building you own is not easy to sell fast. And the building has to fit the business. The wrong building at a good price is still the wrong building.

If you want, send me your current rent and the address. I will run the lease vs buy numbers on your actual situation and tell you straight if buying does not make sense yet. No pitch either way.

Túy “Dewey” Luong, CCIM | SERHANT. Georgia | 678-707-2498 | dewey.luong@serhant.com | deweyluong.realtor

For Vietnamese business owners in Georgia

Chủ doanh nghiệp người Việt ở Georgia: nên mua tòa nhà của mình không?

Many Vietnamese business owners in Duluth, Norcross, Lawrenceville and across Gwinnett run strong businesses for years in space they rent. Restaurants, retail shops, professional offices and service businesses pay rent every month and build equity for the landlord. At some point the question changes from rent to ownership.

The test is the same three numbers above. What you really pay each year. What owning would really cost. What you hold after five years. If your business is stable, the location works long term, and you plan to stay five years or more, buying often turns a monthly expense into an asset your family controls.

Dewey works with Vietnamese business owners in English and Vietnamese on exactly this decision: lease vs buy analysis, SBA and commercial lender introductions, and site selection across Metro Atlanta and Gwinnett. See also 1031 ExchangeSale-LeasebackNNN LeaseBuying Commercial Property in Atlanta & Gwinnett: A Guide for Vietnamese Investors and the Vietnamese section on the homepage.

Câu hỏi thường gặp bằng tiếng Việt

Chủ doanh nghiệp người Việt ở Georgia có nên mua tòa nhà cho doanh nghiệp của mình không?

Nếu doanh nghiệp đã ổn định, dự định ở lại từ năm năm trở lên và dòng tiền đều, mua thường tạo tài sản lâu dài hơn thuê. Nếu doanh nghiệp còn mới hoặc sắp đổi địa điểm, thuê giữ được sự linh hoạt. Quyết định đúng dựa trên ba con số: tiền thuê thật mỗi năm, chi phí sở hữu thật, và giá trị còn lại sau năm năm.

Người Việt mua bất động sản thương mại ở Atlanta và Gwinnett nên bắt đầu từ đâu?

Bắt đầu bằng con số thuê hiện tại và khu vực doanh nghiệp cần ở lâu dài. Sau đó chạy bài toán thuê so với mua trên tình huống thật của bạn, nói chuyện với một lender SBA hoặc thương mại, rồi mới đi xem tòa nhà. Dewey làm việc bằng tiếng Anh và tiếng Việt.

Mua tòa nhà có giúp ích khi bán doanh nghiệp sau này không?

Có thể. Sở hữu cả doanh nghiệp lẫn tòa nhà cho bạn hai tài sản để bán thay vì một. Nên tính từ sớm, trước khi ký hợp đồng mua.

Frequently asked questions

Can my business buy with an SBA loan?

Many owner-users do buy with SBA financing and a smaller down payment than a conventional loan. Terms depend on the business and the building. A good SBA lender can tell you in one conversation if you are close. I will connect you.

Should I buy in my name or the business name?

That is a CPA and attorney question, and it matters for taxes and liability. Get that advice before the contract, not after.

What if I might sell the business one day?

Owning the building can help or complicate a business sale. Owning both often gives you two assets to sell instead of one. Worth planning early.