Comercial rental space in a high traffic shopping area

This week, my business associate and I began looking for commercial rental space. Since the business is a mix of production and direct retail and wholesale, we require a location with good access for customers and suppliers on a street with foot traffic and in a middle class neighborhood. We need around 60m2 (600sq.ft.) to start, divided in two sections: one for the showroom and store and the other for the workshop and machines. We hope to find a local with a storefront window and in good condition needing a minimum of remodeling to open for business. It should also be within walking distance of my new apartment so that I can walk to work and have lunch at home. I have also set a monthly rental price limit.

So the first thing we did was walk all the neighboring streets in a radius of ten minutes walk from the apartment, especially those where we saw shops and foot traffic, like the large shady square that form the center of the neighborhood. We stopped at the real estate offices that we passed to inquire about commercial rentals. They had very few to show and said there's wasn't much available in the neighborhood. Whenever we saw a for rent sign on a local, we took note. After a few of these visits to real estate offices and phone calls to private parties, we set up appointments and visited several locals this week.

Today we visited a local that corresponds very closely to these requirements. The only thing lacking is the window. It was in good shape, except for some missing lighting in the ceiling. The floors are newer looking tile, the decoration is nice, it is already divided into 3 sections, the restroom is in good condition and it has air conditioning, a must here with 5 months of summer weather. Finally, the landlord offered a good price, lower than we expected because of the missing lighting, explaining that the old tenant had taken it with him. He also said he would make a 6 month renewable contract, with no obligation to commit to the usual five years.

This all sounded good to us so we accepted on the spot. The local is really better than we hoped to find and in a very good shopping location. We meet on Monday to sign the contract and get the keys. The landlord will furnish a shop counter and the rental agreement starts April 1st, so we have a few days to decorate before owing rent.

After the visits, I opened the business account in a bank nearby. They will lend us a POS (Point-of-Sale) terminal at 1.5% per transaction and no commissions of maintenance on the account.