The lease is the first long commitment in most small projects. Seven questions to answer before signing, what can be measured, and what remains an estimate.
Many owners sign the lease before testing the location, because the landlord is in a hurry or the unit simply looks great. The problem is that the lease binds you for a year or more, while most assumptions can be tested in days.
1. Who is actually around you?
Map similar businesses within a realistic walking or driving radius, not the whole wilayat. The count alone is not enough: read their ratings, review counts and the date of the last review, which indicates who is active and who has gone quiet.
2. What do their customers complain about?
Competitors’ public reviews are the cheapest market research available. Recurring complaints (waiting, parking, price, quality) are early gaps you can test, not proven demand.
3. Published rent versus what you are offered
Compare the offer with rental listings published in the same area on a specific date. That is an indicator of the market level, not the true rent, because signed contracts are not published.
4. Access, parking and visibility
Visit at three different times: a weekday morning, a weekday evening and the weekend. Count available parking, note where pedestrians come from, and check whether the frontage is visible from the main road.
5. What remains an estimate
Expected footfall and break-even remain assumptions even after all of the above. The difference is that you now build them on dated indicators instead of impressions, and you know which assumption must hold for the project to work.
Don’t let the lease be your project’s first real test.
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