Office Space

[Jake 48]

I like # 5, since walk ins are not an issue
What is the parking situation?
How far from your ptresent location?

[Deleted]

If she is an independent agent I would think she needs to stay someplace visible so people know she's out there.
You could just up your advertising budget, I guess.

[midjd]

Aww, I thought we were gonna get to talk about Initech...

I'd vote #2 for a short-term prospect - you're still in the area, it's cheap, free wi-fi. But the distractions could be annoying after a while. How long will you be out of your building?

[midjd]

Ohhh OK, gotcha I thought by "mothballing" it was a temporary thing.

Hmm. I think knowing all the rents would make the decision a lot easier - just to balance out the cost savings/increases with the advantages and inconveniences of each location. You'd probably be able to eliminate some choices off the bat.

[bean29]

Well, DH is a captive insurance agent for a national company. We own his office building. It is the second office building we have owned with no parking. No parking = no snow removal costs. Not as bad as some might think.

I was initially very concerned about the no parking thing, but DH told me his clients live in areas where they have to park on the street, so it would not be an issue. He is right, business is great - parking is not an issue with his customers.

When I worked downtown, we walked everywhere on our lunch hour. Are your customers already parked and will just walk over?

I would be concerend about heating costs in an older building. What kind of lease will you sign? Will you have to pay for repairs if the roof leaks or the heat fails?

[maryjane]

Iggy, you mention how close these buildings are to your old office, but how close are they to your home? I live 7 minutes away from work and feel strongly that it gives me a lot more time and energy to devote to things other than commuting.

Also, I would avoid a landlord that has a "douche" reputation. We had really bad property management at our last building and it cost us morale and money. The lights were buzzing and flickering on and off for days and they tried to refuse to call an electrician. They would also send us bills for repairs that weren't our responsibility. The best was when one of their guys came in to change air filters after hours and unannounced. He went to the bathroom, locked himself out of our office, callled a lock smith and then they sent us a bill for the locksmith!!!! It is funny now, but we wasted a lot of time fighting them over utter nonsense. Time we should have been spending on offering our customers value and making money. Not surprisingly, their six floor office building now has one tenant.

[maryjane]

Have you called a realtor? You can save yourself the time of finding out all of the rents, etc.. We used one for the last two offices we leased. The landlord paid their fees and the realtor negotiated changes we wanted in the lease. Really convenient.

[maryjane]

Repeated post. Oops.

[bean29]

Iggy, I asked about repairs b/c some commercial leases require the tenant to pay for repairs...I am not familiar with retail leasing though so maybe it is not common in retail leases.