Our Story
Just checking in with you regarding our centre that has become vacant.
If you are fed up of feeding rent into your landlords pockets. If you would like the security of building up an asset for your retirement then here are some facts and figures for you to consider.
Buying a property means that you are securing your future.
We did this through a 25 year 100% business mortgage with the bank. Though there is now a much better option for small business owners when you can feed your loan payments into a pension fund (adding to any you already have). This gives you the benfits as mentioned.
Here's our story:
Barry is a yoga teacher and I am a Hypnotherapist, previously renting office space in Derby Chambers opposite the Parish Church.
In 2004 we bought the building on Bolton Street as Barry was made redundant from his job as Education Officer in Lancaster Prison wanted to build up a Yoga teaching practise. We put together a business plan, including the rental I was currently paying.
It was a mammoth task to renovate, we needed to have gas laid to the building and central heating fitted. We established the needs for each room and we brought three therapists we knew who shared one of the therapy rooms..
We continued to rent out the ground floor to hairdressers for £600 - 650 per month and they were with us for 10 years. Even their payment made a big contribution to our monthly mortgage payments. When they left we opened a small cafe that complemented our healthy living business upstairs. This meant that we could put on open days promoting what we did and laterly we used this area for meditation and relaxation classes etc. It was also a popular option for group meetings.
We used the top floor as a yoga studio focusing on our own use, renting vacant slots out on sessional basis. We charged £20 for a 2 hour incl. slot and had our own regular classes most evenings. We also ran weekend workshops etc. We had a regular monthly weekend rental for a 2 year Crystal therapy course, one off day/weekend rental for Reiki training. We've also had weekend training in Head and Back massage. We currently have regular rental for auricular acupuncture training.
I used a therapy room for my practise offering hypnotherapy and the remaining two rooms were rented out for £60 per day (9-9) I was also able to use the studio for bigger groups etc. We had a variety of therapists over the years and some built up a sustantial business and were with us for many years. During this period we became registered for needle practitioners and had up to three acupuncturists working at the centre at the same time. It became a popular place for NHS employees to see private patients.
More recently we offered Yoga Teacher Training and A Diploma in Hypnotherapy. Making full use of the extra space we had.
Things changed over the years and the emphasis followed the local demand.
Overall though we always had options and were able to use the many opportunities presented by the building whilst concentrating on our own specialisms.
The centre offering a range of theraputic options has meant that cross referring kept a steady flow of customers for us and the pro-active therapists who were renting.
You can see that we managed to cover the mortgate payments without much effort. Other things to consider are the overheads - rates, water, fuel, insurance etc.
We are way past retirement age and have had some health difficulties in the last 4 or 5 years so want to enjoy the fruits of our labour.
Thats our story.
Yours will be different.
And yet the same as you are effectively paying yourself for the future.
Probably the best benefit to us has been the lovely people we have met and worked with, some will be friends for life.
Let us know if you would like to take look around. I will also be happy to talk through anything you need to discuss.
Click below for a brief overview of the premises.
A reminder of the purchasing options as I understand them but your bank would be better able to explain.
Even more relevant now is that Capital Gains Tax and recent legislation means that the whole profit when taking original purchase price from selling price is subject to Capital Gains Tax (C.G.T.). That’s a minimum of 20% and counting. Also every penny that you may get in renting part of your premises can in some cases be liable for C. G. T.
Of course simply buying a property in the usual way is infinitely better than renting and of a comparable monthly commitment.However,
There are two schemes that are better still and worth looking into. Most banks could give you more information but put simply you are buying into a pension scheme and this negates the need to pay any C.G.T. (Capital Gains Tax)
Also if you decided to rent the premises out you would not be liable to C,G.T.
If you got into financial difficulties the premises is protected from being taken from you and you can rent the whole place without C.G.T.