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Old 09-27-2004, 05:00 PM   #7 (permalink)
Rodney
Observant Ruminant
 
Location: Rich Wannabe Hippie Town
You can't go wrong with the advice thus far posted, but let me add my two cents.

First, although the guy has bands on the weekend, you really need to check whether or not he's got a permit for music. Could be that he doesn't but the cops are letting him slide because nobody complains. But when somebody does....

Around here, we have a situation where a guy bought a bar on county land that had had music for several years. The new owner cranked it up a notch with punk bands, and neighbors began complaining about the noise and about drunk punks wandering into their front yards and trashing stuff. The neighbors complained and the county got involved, and it turns out that the venue's business license is for an Italian restaurant with an attached bar -- no music, nothing else. The new owner never checked.

Second, if you don't buy the building, get a long lease with good terms as part of the deal. Otherwise, you're at the guy's mercy. Be sure that the name and telephone number are part of the deal.

As for buying commercial real estate: get a good real estate lawyer. Otherwise, they could put one over on you. You should probably have one when negotiating the lease, too; there's a lot of back and forth on who pays for what, what kind of improvements are allowed, whether you have to pay to take improvements out if you leave or if they belong to the building owner with no compensation, who pays for what damages and insurance, all that kind of stuff. Real estate lawyers aren't cheap, and I've used them rarely. But I'm _always glad I did._
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