Residential or commercial? Check before you buy.

Wait — before anyone tells you again to “just buy, prices are rising” — has anyone told you about zoning?

Every property carries a permitted purpose: residential, commercial, or mixed. That designation is decided by the city's zoning rules, not by the seller's imagination. Buying a commercially-zoned space to live in, or planning a business inside a residential unit, can surface as a legal problem later — after your money is already inside.

The check that takes one conversation

Before you commit, confirm the designation in the documents: what is this property zoned for, and does that match what I intend to do with it? If your plan is a café on the ground floor, an office, or a rental arrangement, say so out loud and have the permitted use verified — in writing, not in reassurance.

This is one of the cheapest checks in all of real estate: it costs a question and saves a lawsuit. The buyers who skip it are usually the ones in the biggest hurry — which is exactly when the market punishes shortcuts.