My father, John Ward, passed away from colon cancer at age 47-it took 60 days, and he was gone. Too young for sure, but he was able to garner wisdom in that short spin on this amazing blue ball. I was sitting on the edge of the hospital bed one typical February day in Georgia. You know them, 40 degrees, cloudy and a chill that soaks you. He said after a quiet moment, “Just remember, whatever you do . . . pay attention and write it down.”
Now as a 25 year old who was just taking the world by the horns and trying to grab the tail at the same time, I was a bit underwhelmed. “That’s it? That’s all you got for me?” But in my quiet moments, I have seen the wisdom of those words. Especially in the world of commercial real estate. “PAY ATTENTION” means slow down. As a tenant and buyer representative, I see businesses that wait until the last minute to renegotiate or start a site search. Then that panic and pressure to perform in the corporate world sets in, and they are not paying attention.
“WRITE IT DOWN.” We all have had the moment when an idea really comes into focus when we speaking to someone about it. But it really gets sharp when you put pen to paper or digits to keyboard. Same thing when we see a lease document or purchase and sale agreement. Each deal is creative and different in its own way because your business is creative and different in its own way.
Example 1. I recently read a lease in which the tenant had an ambitious plan to grow locations in several different states by a certain timeline in order to ramp up their value so they can sell to private equity on a certain timeline. Their lease had a clause for landlord protection in case the tenant didn’t perform, but there was zero clauses to protect the tenant if the landlord did not perform. Guaranteed, private equity firms will want to see all those leases. They were in a hurry and they were not paying attention.
Example 2. We talk about how the legalese of a lease is overwhelming. Why can’t a lease be simple? I saw a lease once that was so simple, we needed to add quite a bit of language to protect both parties and clarify basic responsibilities. Many times the trip wire of an agreement is what is NOT written. Write it down.
Thanks dad! If you would like to discuss commercial real estate strategy or other whimsical musings. Please ping me, email me, or find an ITRA member in your area here.
Have an amazing day!
Article submitted by Scott Ward, ITRA Global l Atlanta, Georgia USA
