💯 they are happy people aren’t moving in and out non stop and going through all that hassle. June 26th will be my 10th year there. Customer ask me how do you like him. I tell him he’s amazing! He leaves us alone and we leave him alone. He’s extremely busy and doesn’t have time for me calling him and telling him my toilet keeps running or anything else that one of guys can fix. He told me day 1 if you can fix it then do it and take it off the lease and your time too. If not call his handyman and he is there in 30 minutes or less. He comes over around Christmas and gets gift cards for his female staff and their bonuses. But that’s a huge chunk in December for us. No, I have no desire to move the furniture store ever. He will never sell it. It would be crazy for me to “buy” it when I have everything I want and need now minus his bills for ownership of it. I’m good with that!
Ouch! Renting can be really steep! I've never rented a building; only houses when I was younger, and I didn't have anything like that—just utility bills, mowing, and plowing. That was decades ago. This situation definitely raises a red flag that new business owners should be aware of.
So, you fix all the issues, replace everything, and the building ends up in top-notch condition. Even with a year-long rental agreement, the landlord could still sell the building, and you just providedy a new one for him! That's just crazy. So far, it seems like you've earned the title of a bad landlord!
I've been thinking about my own landlord, who will sends over his maintenance man guy usually in spring and fall time to just checks everything over. He always asks us if we have any other issues or anything else he can help with. I mentioned that our hot water doesn’t stay hot for very long. I'm not sure if the problem is because the water is so hard, but he checked it out. He concluded the hot water heater was too small and suggested upgrading to a larger, newer one along with a functional water softener.
He also looked at the restroom and decided to replace the toilet and sink because of the rust and their condition. He wanted to address it all at once. He noticed the furnace, which worked fine but was from the early '80s. He mentioned they had just replaced theirs at the main office, not because anything was wrong, but because the ladies wanted quieter units. So, he replaced ours, and now I can't even hear it running. I’m guessing that all this work cost around $30,000, but I never received a bill.
You definitely take first place when it comes to bad landlords! I think this is why we haven't jumped into owning our own building. Right now, leasing from him is like owning it without the cost of it is easy, and we can do as we please without any issues. Is it hard to find buildings in your area? In ours, most downtown properties don’t sell; they get passed down to family members who take over the buildings. I absolutely hate moving, but I recently decided to open another business for two reasons: the same landlord I lease from called me to say that one of his stores three doors down from my furniture store became available.
Currently, my furniture store has 12,000 square feet of floor space and about 6,000 square feet of workspace and inventory. The new building is about 7,000 square feet and comes with a large office, a second bathroom, and storage space. It used to be a busy decor, handmade, and gift shop featuring local artists. They had booth spaces and rented out areas for things like candles and soaps. I'm planning to do something very similar. When he mentioned the rent would be $500.00 a month, I didn't even need to discuss it with my husband; I took it right away.
It took two extra months to move in, and no rent is due until my first full month there. Training starts today and Wednesday, and some vendors are still setting up their areas. Our lease payment will start in April, but he told me I could open whenever I’m ready. I have the option to choose a lease term of either year-to-year or five years, and I chose five years.
