You’ve done your research into the competition. You’ve checked out the demographics of the area where you would like to locate your business. Your business plan is ready. You have your banker’s backing. You’re ready to grab a space and sign that lease, right? Wrong!

  I would recommend that you engage a competent commercial agent to assist you in your search to find the right space. As I mentioned in a previous blog, there are many factors that go into finding the right space for your business. The area’s market conditions should be a very important factor in making your decision. Who else is going to know those conditions but your local commercial agent?

  You may run into lease terms that are totally unfamiliar to you. Do you know the difference between a gross lease and a triple net (NNN) lease? How about usable vs. rentable space?

  A Letter of Intent (LOI) is a very important tool to tell a prospective landlord what you want as it pertains to leasing his space. The LOI will outline such things as the length of the lease, the specific rental amount, pass-through costs, and incremental increases in the base rent over the life of the lease. Your agent can help you write a good LOI by asking you the right questions.

  A Request For Proposal (RFP) is a tool for you to solicit competitive bids from several landlords for the type of space you want or need. With an RFP, you determine basic requirements and get the landlords to give you their best offer to meet your requirements.

  If a landlord offers you a “standard” lease, you can bet that all the terms in the lease favor the landlord. You’ll need your own attorney to review any lease you intend to sign. Not just any attorney, but a local real estate attorney who is familiar with the local laws as they pertain to real estate.

  Stay tuned for more hints and tips in future blogs.

Where would you like to locate your business?  There are many factors you may wish to consider.  Are you just starting a business or are you relocating your existing business?  How much traffic will there be near your business? Is your business the destination or a stop along the way to someone’s destination?  Are you interested in purchasing property as an owner/user, or would you rather become a tenant in someone else’s property?

     For new business owners, let’s assume that you’ve decided the type of business you want to operate and you choose to lease rather than buy.  You’ve arranged for bookkeeping services, talked to an attorney about conducting business in your locality, and have presented your business plan to your friendly neighborhood banker who believes in you and is ready to back your dream.  What’s next?  You need a place to locate your business!

     Current business owners have already taken care of most of the preliminaries facing the new business owner.  However, you still have to contact your banker, printer, suppliers, and, most importantly, your customers about your relocation.

     How do you decide where to locate?  The success or failure of your business could hinge on the location you choose.  You will need to find out several things, such as the number of cars passing by and what time of day they pass by your business as well as the demographics of the surrounding area.  Of a more immediate concern are things such as zoning ordinances and terms of the lease.

     If the current zoning of the location you’re considering permits the use you intend, then you will have the opportunity to negotiate your lease.  Depending on the area and type of property, there are different types of leases available.  Many commercial lease rates are expressed as a dollar amount per square foot triple net (i.e. $18 SF NNN).  To help you figure out your cost per month, simply multiply the price by the square feet and divide by 12.  Then you’ll need to add the triple net costs (usually maintenance, taxes, and insurance) that are passed on to the tenant by the owner.  There are things that you can do to get the landlord to give you more favorable terms, but I’ll address those in a later blog.

. . . since I logged in to blog.  Quite a while.  More than a year, as a matter of fact.  I guess it's easy to do if you don't put yourself on a schedule.  A lot of things have changed in that time - guess I now have plenty of things to write about. 

 

First things first.  My main concentration is now commercial real estate with Sperry Van Ness.  It's been a very steep learning curve.  Fortunately, I've had a great mentor who keeps me on my toes.  One advantage that I've brought over from residential real estate is my willingness to think outside the box.  Don't get me wrong, there are quite a few commercial agents willing to think out of the box.  However, there aren't as many who will go searching for the tools that help get them out of the box.

I can also help out my better half with residential real estate over at Keller Williams since I now run a concurrent license (available to those with broker licenses in Virginia to permit working for more than one brokerage firm) there.

About every other month or so, I teach pre-licensing through Mosely Real Estate Schools over at the Keller Williams office.

Now I've put my blogging into my schedule so that I don't let it slip again.  The popular saying goes that if it's not scheduled it doesn't happen. 

My poor AVERATEC C3500's CMOS battery (the one that keeps the clock, among other things, going while it's shut down) died several months ago.  I've had the computer more than three years, so I suppose I can't complain.  But I finally had it with resetting the date every time I turned it on, and it eventually killed my regular battery.

So, I cleared off a section of the better half's desk and pulled out my trusty Leatherman and got to work.  On a desktop its a relatively simple procedure to replace the CMOS battery - open up the side, remove battery from motherboard, replace and close it up.  A laptop, on the other hand is quite another story.  A laptop uses compact parts - that's why they're so expensive.  It would be simple to replace the CMOS battery if it was put someplace accessible - but it's not.  In order to get to it I had to separate the screen from the body, remove the keyboard, open up the body, remove the motherboard, then pull the CMOS battery off the motherboard (it's glued on to the motherboard) and disconnect it.

With the help of Google, it was relatively easy to find a replacement. I ended up ordering this $8.00 battery from a Malaysian company (via their rep in Vegas).  Shipping was $10 (FEDEX).

I now have several plastic baggies with very tiny screws and other parts sitting in my office. They're just begging to be put back together.  If I'm lucky, I'll get everything in the right place and it'll all work. Maybe I won't even have any extra parts left over!

You may think I'm nuts for taking it apart and not sending it to a shop, but I enjoy gutting and/or fixing computers - so it served as relaxation time.

After the battery comes in I'll update this post.

 

Post update:  Just goes to show how much I use it - I still haven't put it back together and it's now March!  I guess I'll have to make the time over the next couple of weeks to get it done.  You can bet, however, that I will back up the hard drive before I power it up!

I realize that the more successful bloggers tend to blog daily.  But I do hate to sit down at the computer and start writing just to have a post that day.  For the most part, I'd rather wait until I have something to say that might be of use to someone.  

My favorite of all the blogs I write are about how to save money while still conducting business.  There are all sorts of tech toys out there that we all tend to want.  I believe that you shouldn't have to overpay to have those toys.  One of my favorite places to save money is at www.cellphoneshop.net.  If I'm in need of accessories for my phone and/or PDA (especially batteries) that's the place to go.  They are located in Hong Kong, and most of the cellphone accessories are made 'next door' in China.  The prices on batteries are about half of what you can buy them for at the wireless company's sites.  You can even get free shipping if you spend $30 or more (yes, it can be hard to buy $30-worth of stuff).  The orders shipped to me here (via USPS) in Virginia arrive in about 7 days.  So, go take a look and see if they have anything that will save you some $$$$.

I'll admit it.  I did it to myself.  As the pets got older I told the better half there'd be NO replacements when they were gone.  I should've known better.  

Our two house rabbits (they were litter trained) died within a month of each other.  Our 12 year old dog started managing to be incontenant (one time within an hour of being let outside) when we weren't looking.  Most unfortunate that it wasn't the wet kind.  So, we have to keep her outside when we're not home.

I'll be the first to say that I'm more of a cat person than a dog person.  When one of my co-workers brought one of her miniature toy poodle puppies into the office, I sorta fell into like.  I figured that he'd make a nice early birthday present for Rhonda (the better half).  The puppy however had other plans.  He chose me as his human.  Sure, he'll go play with Rhonda or our son, but it's me he looks for when he wants to cuddle.

The day after we brought him home our 55-pound Rottweiler/Husky (Baxter) decided to show him who was the top dog.  I got a panicked call from our son saying that Baxter had attacked the puppy (we hadn't named him yet) and that there was blood coming from the puppy's nose and mouth.  Talk about along drive home.  I figured that Baxter had grabbed the puppy by the middle and had done some sort of serious internal damage.  Fortunately, Baxter had only gotten him by the nose and shook him when he got too close to her food dish.  Our son's panic made things sound worse than they were.  A little cleaning by the vet, a shot of penicillin, and another shot of painkiller and the puppy was as good as new (well, a little sleepy until the painkiller wore off).

As you can imagine, it's been an adventure over the last 10 days with a puppy in the house.  Whining at night, whining during the day (and that's just from me due to lack of sleep), accidents on the carpet (thankfully it's old carpet).

Baxter and the puppy are learning to get along.  Baxter has a little more patience with the puppy chewing on her and the puppy gives Baxter's food dish a wide berth.  I hope to be able to get a little more sleep soon.


By the way, the puppy now has a name:  Little Bear (because he has a teddy bear face).  Of course that's the short version of his name.  The long version is Little Bear Who Thought He Could Take On A Big Dog And Lost.

There's only so much advertising and so many signs (with balloons) that we can put out for an open house.  The people that are going to show up are the ones who will show up.  The big question for me was "How do i make them comfortable enought to look around with an open mind?"

Of course I don't want to hover around them like a pushy salesman, nor do I want to completely ignore them.  I need to be close enough to answer their questions without being so close that they feel that their private conversations are being monitored.  Nervous open house guests aren't usually the best kind to have around.

I have read many suggestions for an open house.  Some of them I use as is, some I modify, and some I have created as I hold opens.

I try to put out at least 8 signs with balloons.  To eliminate the need for helium, I purchased some of the Stand-a-Balloon holders from HAR.  I could have went to the manufacturer's online store to get them, but I thought my money better spent buying them from a REALTOR Association store.

The next thing I do is to remove any outside brochures from the brochure box.  This makes it so passers by have to come in to get any written information.

As per Rick Barnes, I have a 1/2" thick black binder with a sign in sheet and a bowl of Hershey's Kisses a handspan away from the sign-in sheet.  Another suggestion from a Rick Barnes seminar is to sign in a 'fake' name - preferably a Doctor, so that everyone else will sign in.  The only time I had a minor problem with this is when a seller had seen the sheet and asked about the Doctor that had seen the house.

I also spread home and self-promotion brochures, along with business cards, throughout the home.  The visitor might be more inclined to take my information if they are not made to feel oblogated to me because I saw them take one.

It's a good thing to follow up with the open visitors within 24 hours (before they for get who you are).  This way you keep the lines of communication flowing.

Almost forgot - I did mention a secret weapon.  Smell is a very important trigger when someone enters a house.  Some agents will advocate for potpourri or scented candles.  I don't.  I quit smoking 6 years ago and artificial scents tend to bother or annoy me.  My secret weapon is my bread machine.  I bring it in an hour or two before the open so that the aroma of the baking bread saturates the air inside the house.  I have yet to meet anyone who doesn't like that particular smell.  I also tends to relax people as they tour the home.

What are some of the touches that make your open houses a success?

Even though I get an email notice that my cellphone bill is ready to view online, I rarely do more than look at the total.  Somehow, it just doesn't make sense to try and read all 27 pages online.  I can't pick up the totals for one phone and look at the same area on the other phone's total.  So, for the online version, I look at the total and, if it seems correct, I pay it.

Today I got the most recent paper copy - I know think of all the trees, but I'd kill more trees if I printed it out myself because my paper isn't as small as theirs.  As I looked at the total, I realized that it was $20 more than usual.  Did the New AT&T (formerly Cingular) add something to my bill due to the name change?  Did I, for some reason, not pay my bill in full last time?  Or, maybe I paid it late and got hit with a late charge.

For those of you who actually try and read your cell phone bills and make sense of what is charged for and what isn't, you know how long it took me to find the 'extra' charges.  After a 15 minute search of all those lines of text, I finally found the "Credits/Adjustmens/Other Charges" section of the bill.  Oh no!  Under that section, it just give me an amount.  It does however tell me which phones (I have three on this plan) the charge was added to.  (Watch all the English teachers shudder - I just created a split infinitive by ending the last sentence with the word 'to' - sometimes I just let my wild side go and forget the correct way to write in English).

AHA! Here's the first one buried on page 12 of 27.  It's something called DirectBill Download.  The merchant's name is m-Qube Inc.  I have never heard of them or their product (something called Buongiorno).  So, I go looking for the other charge.  Seems I missed this one the first time through.  It's on page 5 of 27.  Same company.  The product this time is called Nevis Mobile.  

Now, I'll admit that it could have been possible for my technology-challenged better half to accidentally download something on her phone and not know it.  The second charge would've taken someone better than Houdini to actually download to that phone - It's been sitting on the filing cabinet with a dead battery for about four months.  I use it exclusively as my voicemail for Spanish.  It's directly forwarded to Callwave (which sends the recording to me via email attachment).

I called AT&T and after a couple of minute wait (they're still fielding inquiries regarding the iPhone), got to talk with a very nice gentleman who not only removed the charges (well, they're credited to next month's bill), but placed a block on any DirectBill downloads.  All that means is that if I want a new ringtone, then I have to pay for it, then download it and not the other way around.

So, next time you think about not reading your bill, you might want to think again.