Good stuff in here. I just discovered a new school in my area.
Plan on checking it out and finally getting into this thing.
Any questions I should have when I go have a look?
When I started at the club I'm at now my kids were into it for a year already so I had a decent relationship with the coaches so no real surprises. Things I'd recommend you look into are...
Cancellation fee in the event you move or whatever. See if you can freeze a count of you get injured or go away for work and can't train.
Ask about how they do promotions and who gave rhe coach his/hers then do some research on the lineage. I've met another guy at the gym and he was opening an MMA club next door claiming he fought in PRIDE and his BJJ coach was coming in from FL, all bullshit.
Inquire about opportunities to compete in local tourneys. I also asked if I could get into assisting with kids class in the future be sure that seems like fun.
Does the club have you have to rep their gi or are you allowed to buy whatever one you like?
Do they offer no gi?
Do they have open mats on certain days you can join?
Our club has two locations in town and on my side of the bridge it as a really small space which I didn't love. We are now moved into a space that's 3200sq ft which is much better. See if they have any plans to move or expand as it may effect your decision.
I used to put a bit of time in at Toshidos which is a great MMA club in town too. At the risk of sounding soft I didn't like how hard some guys would go in sparring and had to spend some days recovering instead of training, didn't like that too much. I talked to the coaches and told them the same and they assured me "they don't break their toys here...". I have no problem going hard in straight up BJJ but as I get closer to 40 and have a mortgage, kids and other hobbies I don't need to risk injury for something that's supposed to be fun. Toshidos is awesome no doubt, just not the type of training that suites me at this point in life.
Biggest thing I'd say is to make sure you like the culture/enviroment. If students and coaches are douche or military style I'd pass.