How to generate new income for your building?
A building owner has to face numerous charges relating to the conservation, maintenance and administration of the common areas of his building. Management fees, the cost of holding general meetings, co-ownership insurance, lighting of the common areas, cleaning of the building, maintenance of green spaces, repair of the structural work, and the custodian's salary are all charges that generate a significant cost that is sometimes difficult to anticipate.
Possible solutions to generate new income for your building?
Under these conditions, it is understandable that the owners seek by all means to slow down the explosion of the charges. They choose the simplest solution: reducing expenses, unfortunately to the detriment of the building's performance. However, there is a way to offset these expenses that is much more rewarding for the property: to ensure that the property generates new fixed income.
The possibilities are diverse but the preferred way to make money in real estate remains renting. It comes in several forms and affects several branches of real estate.
The best known is the rental of apartments to ensure a regular income. This can be more important when you rent a furnished apartment. Renting a car park is the cheapest way to rent, especially in big cities where many people find it difficult to park their cars. Renting office space is also a solution. Offices are usually rented to private individuals or professionals. It can be a doctor who wants to make it his office, an accountant or a lawyer. This can also be of interest to young entrepreneurs who are starting up their own business and wish to share premises at lower costs, as in the case of co-working. Or an entrepreneur who wants to set up a start-up. Attracting people on the move or on the move, renting cellars or storage space happens to be a new solution. You can make space that you don't use available to those who just need room to store things or bulky equipment in exchange for monthly rents.
In search of innovative solutions
However, owners are always looking for more innovative ways to pay back these charges; they see every square metre of the building as a rental opportunity and have done so since the beginning of urbanization. Following the example of the owners of buildings in New York City who, as early as the 19th century, installed advertising panels on the facades of their properties. Over time, certain places have made their identities and their renown, Times Squares is one example, but the harbour of Geneva is another, renting its roofs.
As soon as the neon tube appeared in the mid-1930s, Geneva began to decorate its roofs with illuminated advertising and these emblematic signs of the harbour are now an integral part of Geneva's image. Thanks to LED technologies, advertising signs have now become a very fashionable solution. Prestigious and elegant: the illuminated advertising that illuminates Geneva's harbour on Lake Geneva is a true signature. For a brand, access to the best locations allows it to enter the exclusive circle of renowned brands and to benefit from exceptional visibility.
The advantages of installing an illuminated sign on the roof of a building
Thus, the installation of an illuminated sign on the roof of a building will make it possible to optimise its rental condition, to make a contribution to the building's renovation fund and to enhance the property's brand image. Indeed, the fact that a major watch and jewellery brand or a private bank wishes to associate its image with a building gives it a luxurious and desirable image that automatically increases its value. Advertising attracts attention to the property, which then gains visibility.
In the case of a planned sale of a building with a roof occupied by a sign, the purchaser may record in the sales memorandum the valuation of these rental spaces, which will be taken into account for the final value of the building since the beginning of the rental of the roof.
Are you interested in a analysis for your building? The MP Berthoud Agency will carry out a personalised audit for you.
Contact : M.P Berthoud Agency
Rue de la Faïencerie, 2-1227 Carouge/Geneva
+41 22 735 93 07
