Residential home with storefronts question for locals

Submitted by migzors t3_11diuvx in pittsburgh

Hello all! I am absolutely fascinated and in love with the idea of owning a home that sits atop of a store. Something about it just screams "practical" to me, especially because I'd like to have a bunny rescue/boarding place as a business, without having to pay another note on a separate property.

I guess my questions are, are there things that an out-of-towner should know about? Is parking at these an issue (a lot I've seen for sale have pretty limited street/parking lots)? Are there perhaps hidden costs or things that I might not be considering when owning a residence with a storefront? Noise? Schools? Downsides to living above a business? Etc.

Location I'm not sure about just yet as I don't exactly which parts of town are the ones that are the most reasonable for such a business.

Thanks for your time and info!

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timesuck t1_ja95qw8 wrote

I think insurance will be a challenge. Expensive, complicated, or both.

I also see you mention having a cafe and animals. I wouldn’t count on being able to serve food or drinks if animals are present because of our county health code. I know some of the cat cafes had issues and had to go to extreme lengths to have animals and food in the same-ish space.

Also, I’d keep in mind that pittsburgh has a relatively small population, so many niche businesses don’t find it easy to survive here. That being said, there is a bunny cafe in the works and they’re having trouble getting it going, partially because there is little demand for it.

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migzors OP t1_ja9cjnc wrote

Oh! I didn't know about the bunny cafe, that's great to know. It doesn't necessarily have to be a Cafe of course, as long as I can help some rabbits in need. But the population size is good to think about, and as for the bunny cafe having trouble, that makes sense based off of what you're saying. I really appreciate the info!

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Pennsylvasia t1_ja9hoht wrote

The tribulations of the bunny cafe were fairly well documented online earlier this year, until the would-be owner hid all their tweets: https://old.reddit.com/r/pittsburgh/comments/zz7x1j/update_on_the_bunny_cafe_from_its_owner/ Not so much lack of demand as gross incompetence, financial illiteracy, and a lack of animal safety. There were also some cat cafes here, which added their own share of drama to the yinzer internet (search Black Cat Market). I know cafes exist in other parts of the world, but I think there are too many obstacles in place to make them viable here.

I have to wonder if the risks of a niche, non-animal small business would be mitigated somewhat by owning the space and living above it. I've sometimes fantasized about opening a little stationary store or something, if I were wealthy enough to not care about whether I turned a profit.

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migzors OP t1_ja9k2hq wrote

Wow, that's incredibly sad to hear. I know some folks are super eager to put the cart before the horse, but in the end, it always ends up the same way, failure.

Thanks for letting me know about this, I wish I would have popped my head in here sooner to see what their tweets were all about.

If we do end up in the area with a store front, perhaps we could work with an existing organization to provide a space for events/bonding/bunny sitting/boarding instead.

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NebbyJohnny t1_ja997sk wrote

I own a commercial property with a business with two apartments above it. The upstairs apartments have egress in the front and back with parking for four cars in the back. I am pretty sure having a storefront makes the property commercial so you can't get a standard home loan. You will need to pay outright or get a commercial mortgage. Commercial mortgages are a bit different than residential, you have a higher interest rate and shorter terms. My rate was 1.5% more than residential with 10 years. They don't roll the insurance and taxes into your payment. My commercial insurance is around $2600 a year. I'm glad that I bought the building but I'm really glad I got it for a good price at the time. If you want to get a residential mortgage, get a multi-family property, duplex, triplex, or quadplex, and just live in one unit.

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migzors OP t1_ja9kbug wrote

This is the kind of information I knew I was missing when considering a storefront. I appreciate you letting me know the nuances of having one, especially when it comes to potentially needing specific loans.

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iheartpgh t1_ja8z9cs wrote

Check out Rescue & Relax - I'm pretty sure this is a storefront with apartments over it. Located in the Edgewood neighborhood. https://www.rescueandrelax.com/

I think you will need to consider zoning. Some neighborhoods are not zoned for multi-use buildings. Some are. I agree with u/LostEnroute, look at existing business districts. I don't think parking will be a huge issue, that depends on the business district.

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migzors OP t1_ja93jtl wrote

Thanks for the info, I'll check it out! I'm glad to see there's another rescue operating in the same way!

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cawsllyffant t1_ja91oyg wrote

So, I lived over a storefront when I was straight out of college. (In the mid-90's).

It is insanely convenient, however... any store selling food in a densely populated area is going to have issues with 'extra guests.' Some of these guests will have 4 legs and some will have more.

Population control with said guests is essential, not as cheap as you'd probably like and if you have a landlord like I had it's almost impossible to be reimbursed.

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migzors OP t1_ja93nug wrote

Ah, that's something I hadn't considered and definitely important to think about. thank you for the insight on that!

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LostEnroute t1_ja8xaio wrote

Very hard to answer without being more specific on location. You are buying the main street/neighborhood more than a type of building. Personally, I wouldn't worry about parking.

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migzors OP t1_ja8xs5b wrote

That's a good point, thanks for the insight. Location is absolutely important, I'll take that into consideration should we move to the city. Thank you!

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CARLEtheCamry t1_jaa0ud5 wrote

I know at least one house in my neighborhood was zoned mixed use (residential and commercial) because they had little basement area with a single-chair hair salon.

It's been re-sold twice since I've lived here and rezoned to pure residential. I'm not sure if that was to simplify things but that's kind of what I infer from it.

Still - maybe something to look for as a compromise.

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mrsrtz t1_ja97fgg wrote

Business licenses? Permits?

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