From Leasing to Owning: An Accountant's Commercial Property Journey

Oliver is a partner in a large Chartered Accountancy and Business Advisory firm, and co-owns several other businesses, all operating from properties that the he and his business partners now own.

Oliver’s journey from leasing to buying commercial properties wasn't a speculative venture but a calculated decision, backed by data and unique insights from thousands of clients' property investment decisions and outcomes.

Despite remote work trends, his accounting practice remains more traditional and with staff often preferring office presence. This work environment also tends to be more advantageous when training junior accountants. 

The financial logic was straightforward: they needed the space regardless, so paying themselves rent to cover their mortgage made more business sense than paying someone else.

While acknowledging potential concerns about AI's impact on the accounting profession, Oliver remains pragmatic, believing technological changes often create new opportunities alongside disruptions.

His property portfolio now serves as both operational necessity and investment strategy, with the firm acting as its own reliable tenant.

Oliver cautions that commercial real estate isn't for everyone. Success requires genuine need for leasing space, mortgage servicing capability, and a solid exit strategy. 

Interestingly, Oliver found commercial property purchases in some ways more straightforward than residential purchases. You’re not looking at school catchment zones or being overly particular with the property itself.

With commercial real estate, you’re looking at,

The financial equation is straightforward for their business - if you're already paying rent to someone else, can you afford to pay it to yourself instead?

For the specific areas and property types, Oliver shares that they’ve always known the locations very well and that they’ve sought potential property types for potential value adds. In one case, they added a mezzanine floor to a high-ceilinged property, creating a two-story space:

His key lesson from multiple purchases: never skip due diligence—particularly strata and building reports that might reveal unexpected special levies or compliance issues, ensuring things have been built to code.

Oliver's commercial property strategy helps to highlight his accounting-minded approach to business growth. By becoming his own tenant, he's transformed an unavoidable expense into an investment asset. 

While not suitable for everyone, Oliver's journey shows how the right business can change rental expenditures into payments toward a permanent business asset—provided you have both the ongoing need for space and a solid exit strategy.