Leasing or Buying Office Space: What is the Best Option for You?

Office space is a necessity for most businesses these days. The few options that a business has while going for an office space is buying, leasing, sub-leasing etc. There are many factors to consider when you're buying/ leasing office space. And one of the primary ones is, should you lease or should you buy? Both options have advantages and disadvantages based on your particular business situation.

To help you decide which option you want to go with, we have compiled the following questions that you might want to ask yourself.

1. How long do you plan to keep the office space

If you're only planning to keep ii for the short term, we may suggest that leasing is a better option than buying it and trying to resell it when you no longer need it. You'll want to find out if there's a buyout option at the end of the lease if you decide you want to keep the asset after the original lease is over.

2. Is now the right time to buy

If you have made your mind to go ahead and buy an office space, do take some time to think if it is the right time to buy considering the investment that you need to make, the current cash inflow, business needs etc. Also downturns in the market are the best time to buy properties, but for many businesses hoping to work in areas already in high demand, finding an affordable property can be difficult.

3. What is your plan in the next few years

This is an important factor to consider while buying/ renting an office space. This could drastically affect your spatial requirements, business productivity, return on investments. If you are planning to scale up in few upcoming years then renting would be a better option.

4. What would be more profiting: investing in capital or investing in office property

This is business question; where should you put your money to get the maximum gains. If you can see greater profits from investing capital into your business then you might want to go ahead with leasing an office space. On the contrary if you feel like a permanent office space will be more profitable in terms of stability, employee satisfaction, and brand value then you should buy a property.

5. What are financial options for purchasing vs. Leasing

Purchasing tends to require a higher monetary power initially in addition to having to finance your purchase through a lender. Depending on your situation, this may not be a viable option if you don't have a considerable amount of money reserves. Leasing generally requires less cash down, and the monthly payments are often smaller.

6. What are the tax benefits of buying vs. leasing

It's critical that you consider all tax related clauses for both buying/ renting as they relate to your particular business situation. There's usually a tax benefit associated with leasing where you get to deduct the full lease payment immediately. Leasing and buying both offer advantages to companies. The key to making the right decision is understanding exactly what your company's needs are and the purpose of the asset

5 Things to Consider When Choosing Office Space

The search for a new office space requires a lot of brain storming and is often the most stressful time for a medium/ small business. It usually involves tons of analysis, comparing various options in terms of spatial features, facilities, benefits, opportunities of moving in to a new office space etc. While business owners usually pay a lot attention to all these things, they must make sure that they are doing their due diligence towards the IT consideration while choosing an office space.

The business owners must make sure that the new office space is configured to support their existing IT needs and future goals. They should also make sure that their IT functions are operating flawlessly in the new environment so that they do not face unwanted downtime. Let us have a look at few points that must be in your IT checklist while choosing a new office space

Telecommunications: After furniture, setting-up telecommunications requires the longest lead times in a move. It should be noted that, while relocating the telecommunications partner should be consulted in order to seek assistance for the relocation.

Enabling Employees: IT acts as an enabler for the employees of an organization to perform their day to day operations. While looking out for an office space, business owners should pay attentions towards these enabling technologies. They should make sure that the new office spaces facilitates telephone lines, space for printers, a UPS room, emergency power backup, HVAC requirements, cabling for data and voice transmission.

Wireless Needs: A change in location means a change in office configuration which translates to a change in wireless access point set-up. The IT Department should review the number and placement for wireless access points in the new space.  Since most companies prefer to keep their wireless traffic off their corporate LAN/WAN, availability of separate telecommunications connections to support wireless traffic should be included in your evaluation.

Cellular services: Once you have finalized moving into an office space, make sure to check for cellular reception throughout the floor. If you have company-managed devices, they usually are typically under a single carrier (CUG Plans) and you can get a clear picture how your mobile phones are going to work in your new office space. A smart move would be to ask your employees to poll upfront to determine which carriers are being used to make sure no one is left in a cellular desert.  Cellular reception doesn’t have to be a deal-breaker as there are technologies to boost carrier capabilities inside space but it is better to know upfront what you will need to do to ensure adequate connectivity.

Data Center: Smartly evaluate data center requirements while looking for a new office space. This evaluation will help you to decide whether or not your new office space will be able to handle your servers and network devices efficiently and securely.

Employee Satisfaction: If the space you are renting/ buying is brand new, there is very good chance that prior tenants might have left behind cabling infrastructure, power and phone jacks.  The IT Department should carefully assess the effort for moving, replacing and adding extra cabling and power capabilities in the new office space.

It should also be considered that how the IT infrastructure will align with your plans for furniture placement as well as locations for printers, copiers, conference rooms and kitchen space.

Considering technology needs while looking out for new office space is an important part of ensuring company productivity and employee satisfaction in your new space.

10 ways to find cheap office space in Bangalore

With emerging new start-ups in the IT hubs of India like Bangalore, Gurgaon, Hyderabad etc. the most painful problem faced is finding the right office space suiting their needs and budget. As soon as your business progresses, you need to add more employees to your organization to match up with hike in the work. Working from home can also be considered as an option, but holding up a business meeting from your living room couch or the dinner table is probably not a very good idea.

We also cannot deny the fact for most freelancers and start-ups cannot afford large, and personalized office spaces are out of question, so here we bring 10 cool ways of finding office space in Bangalore.

How do startups search for an office space in Bangalore

1. Hot Desks: Hot disking is a convenient and economical option for renting office space when your business is not fetching you a lot of profit. Hot desks usually includes access to a desk, an electricity socket and an Internet connection. There are a variety of options available for hot-dusking throughout Bangalore.
2. Move to Suburbs: If you need an office space just to accommodate your employees, shifting to suburban areas can be a good option for you. Suburban areas provide better options at affordable prices and employees also love such areas as the traffic will be less. You can easily find a space at an affordable cost in such areas.
3. Rent Spare Desks: Many organizations who have bigger area tend to rent out office spaces with spare desks and power socket. These desks are rented out to freelancers and start-ups looking for a place to work. A lot of start-up companies are going for this option these days.
4. Co-Working Spaces: Co-working space is not a very economical option but the upside of it is you become part of a community. Co-working spaces facilitate a network of like-minded entrepreneur.
5. Sub-Lessee: It’s like renting a rented space, obviously with the permission of landlord. This might help you in taking off some burden of paying the rent from your shoulders. And in addition to that, you will have access to the extra space.
6. Office space in Residential Areas: This is one of those options which you should consider if you are really tight in budget and your office space requirement is just to accommodate your employees.
7. Business Incubators: It can be really frustrating to be productive and professional when you are working out of a basement, or somebody’s garage. If you are in the situation to rent professional office space, business incubator programs could be your biggest help.
8. Virtual Offices: A virtual office provides communication and address services without providing dedicated office space. Virtual offices are increasingly becoming popular because they offer a cost-effective and pragmatic solution for many entrepreneurs.
9. Create your working space: This could be considered as the option when you have access to a significant amount of space. If this option suits you, you can combine it few others to even make some profit out of it.
10. Transform your Current Workspace: Lastly, if nothing works transform your current office space into newer, sleeker, and smarted office space.