The Marijuana Business Is Actually The Real Estate Business
Among all the uncertainty in the pot business, weed entrepreneurs can only make one safe bet: buy real estate.
“With so many obstacles and regulations in our way, owning your real estate is the only thing we can control in this industry," Sally Vander Veer, CFO of Denver-based pot shop Medicine Man, tells Inc. "It's essential to long-term success.”
That’s because, if you don’t own your own grow-house, it's typical for landlords to up the rent significantly after weed-growers invest huge sums of money converting the space.
And the local real estate business is booming for buildings perfect for growing weed (aka zoned as light industrial). Vander Veer and her brothers bought just such a building in 2014 for $2.5M, and they recently sold it for $6M. [Inc]
