UNDER CONTRACT on first office building - couple questions

[Adam Craig]

I finally made the jump from residential to commercial.

I am under contact on a hold historic home converted into a 5 unit office building near a popular trendy/quaint down town area. Its walking distance to all the trendy restaurants and coffee shops. Purchase price 275K - seller is carrying 55K and the rest is financed through 2 of my private lenders and I will bring some cash also. Plan is to do carpet/paint type rehab, lease it, then refinance.

I am going to use 15% of the building as my office and lease out the rest. 4 of the units are small-ish so they are pretty strait forward. The question I have is on the bigger unit which was used for a small/medium sized law firm. It has 4 offices, reception area, bathroom and storage area. To be honest this is the space that scares and confuses me. Do I try and break up the space into 2 smaller spaces because I know the large the space the harder it is to rent.

Since this is my first go around leasing office space would it make sense to contact a commercial agent/broker and get some ideas or have them help lease it? Picture of the common area in the bug unit is below...

[Bob Langworthy]

@Adam Craig, sorry for the confusion. Freshen it up as you suggest, but don't mess with the floor plan yet. Once you look at dividing it in to smaller spaces you'll have to give careful consideration to bathrooms and egress.