so My Twitter Update from around 1pm (and imported to facebook) said:
"seems like over half the office took the rest of the day off. ;) Not me, though...still working away..."
and THEN I discovered a voice mail left from a broker for me, wanting to move forward with a deal that wasn't even put together on our side...and both our in-house leasing agent for that property (who's also the property manager) and the managing partner for that property were GONE for the afternoon. ACK!!!!
Here's the situation: This broker and his client had toured 2 available units that were next to each other in one park, and he liked both of them, but wasn't quite sure which one to take. He finally told us Unit A, so we rushed to put paperwork together (this guy wanted/wants to move in this weekend, of course) for unit A. Wasn't able to finish it Thursday afternoon (cause paperwork turned into us Lease Admins so late in the day), so it was finished 1st thing Friday morning. Only when we told our guy that it was ready (been approved by the managing partner and everything), he said to hold on sending it/printing off the hardcopies for the client/potential tenant to sign as the guy is now waffling on which unit! Gah!! He may want unit B after all.
Ok. Hold on that. Sure, I can do that. No problem. If it changes I'll just get new paperwork for the new address (suite B) with instructions for a different lease. (They were different square footages and different floorplans, so while the rental rate would be the same, I would have different $$ amounts to enter into the lease, different Lessee's Share % to calculate out for the new lease, new floorplan to draw up, etc...a trickle down effect where I would have a lot of changes to make and not just simple swap out one address for another on the already drawn up lease).
I came back from my lunch break and discovered:
1) The Managing Partner for this property (think ultimate boss that all deals go by since he signs off on them, literally) was out for the rest of the day, [Call him "T" for this narrative]
2) the Listing Agent/Property Manager for this property was out for the rest of the day, [Call him "J" for this narrative] &
3) I had a voice mail from the Potential Tenant's Broker saying they decided they wanted Unit B after all, and how quickly could that lease be gotten to him (& email him a copy) cause his client wanted to sign and get keys today?
ACK!!!!
I never even GOT a new lease request for unit B for this potential tenant from "J" (the Property Manager/Listing Agent) before he left for the day....so I had no numbers, etc.
Twitter update around then (not imported to facebook):
"Frantically scrambling to keep a deal from falling through. Ack!!!"
On our Internal electronic In/Out Board (system's called Gatekeeper :), the "T" (Managing Partner) had at least said that he'd be available by cell, if needed. So I called him and updated him on everything that's happened.
He had me check our listing to verify that both units were listed at the same rental rates (and that they were different square footages), and told me to go ahead with writing up the new lease (but I would obviously need to calculate out all the various differences, figure out what the percentage increase bumps in rent were for this guys Options to Renew cause I would have to duplicate that percentage with the new rental numbers, calculate out the new Lessee's Share % of the park - individual unit Square Feet divided by entire park's Square Feet - and use that % to re-calculate Base Year amounts,...etc. )
So I begin pulling all the necessary documentation together, working on the new calculations, found an original floor plan for the unit in our Plan Room and re-drew it in Microsoft Visio so I could then use the drawn image in a Word Document Exhibit, and just in general being frantic busy all afternoon.
Outside Broker, of course, called about and hour after I picked up his voice mail message in order to follow up on his previous message. I gave him an update (not exactly the one he wanted - he wanted it all done and ready right then & there, of course), and told him that both our broker ("J") he was dealing with was gone for the rest of the day and that the Managing Partner ("T") who signs off on things was also gone, so I had to scramble to get approval of the deal (cause I have no authority to sign off on deals - whew!! :) and was now working on it. And that it was more than a simple switch of the address cause this unit was a different square footage so I had to re-do a lot of the work from scratch (including various calculations) and that I was actually in the middle of re-calculating the rental schedule when he called. So, he left me to my work with my promise to keep him in the loop.
(whew!)
About an hour or so later (I'm still frantically working), I get a call from "J" checking in to see if we had ever heard back from the outside broker. Boy, had we ever! I filled him in. Not much that he could do for me, though, being unavailable to come back to work. He thanked me for stepping up, though. Oh, and I think it was that call from "J" saying he had just talked to the outside broker. And I'm like? What?!? Why is he calling you? I TOLD him you were off for the rest of the afternoon, and *I* just spoke with him/gave him an update like an hour ago.
Sheesh!
Needless to say, "J" said he didn't realize that the outside broker & I had already talked, and that we were working on fixing the deal...and basically apologized for not getting me the paperwork I needed before he left.
I go back to working on the stuff.
The one remaining Managing Partner (I have 4 in my office, and they cover different properties, so we always try to have 1 around at all times...just in case) - let's call him "F" - was in his office, so I went over to him and filled him in on the situation and asked if he would be around to sign the deal, assuming I got all this paperwork done in time. He said Yes, that he could make sure he was around, and then proceeded to leave the office to check out the unit himself (to verify its move-in condition) and retrieve the key in the lock box. (Yay! :)
Around now I called the Insurance Broker for the potential tenant (we had spoken yesterday, cause the guy was trying to start the insurance process in advance so he could have it when he signed the lease - we require proof of Commercial Liability Insurance that covers the premises leased before we hand out keys) and left a message with the guy saying I know he was working on an insurance policy for his client covering unit A, but the client now wants Unit B, so while we're re-drawing up the lease documents, we need him to change the policy to cover the correct unit. About 5 minutes later, I get an email from someone in their office sending me a copy of the Insurance Certificate (for Unit A). Wow! So I email her back with my request, and she's like "no problem, here you go!". AWESOME!! One hurdle down. :)
Back to frantically working....I get the other Lease Admin to double check my numbers on my calculations for the new unit. Yay, we match. :) "F" comes back from checking out the unit, I get him to verify that the floorplan I just drew up is correct and matches what he saw (yay!), and then I finish putting all the pages together of my new DRAFT of a Lease Agreement (with all its supporting paperwork too) . "F" then reviews the new lease and says its good to go. So I finalize it all, including printing to PDF files...and then compiling the various files down into 2 PDF files - one for the entire Lease Agreement with Addendum and Exhibit Pages and the other for the various lease supporting docs like the initial bill statement, a memo re: our late rent policy, Utilities and maintenance information, etc. - and then emailed off those PDF files to the broker. Then I called him to give him the good news.
:)
By now is was just after 4pm, so we were calling it close to get this deal signed, but he was very happy that the lease was ready for signature and said that he'd call his client and let me know if/when they were coming over to sign.
So while I waited, I called both "T" & "J" to give them the updates. (And also let them know that "F" would be able to countersign the Lease and give keys to the new tenant).
Outside broker called back and said his client (and himself) would be there in like 15 minutes. He wanted to know if his client needed to stop by the bank for a cashiers check first or not, but we ("T"s & "F"s decision) said it wasn't necessary as his client had such good credit. (We generally require that if you want to take possession immediately upon signature, you give us a cashiers check. You wouldn't believe the number of initial checks we've gotten that have bounced. Sad, but true).
The client/potential tenant arrived first, and I put him into our small conference room to start going over the paperwork with him. His broker arrived a few minutes later and joined us. And then I got "F" so he could answer the questions that were starting. (Better that answers were coming from a more 'authoritative' source than myself)
One last thing to figure out while they were going over the Lease - "F" asked me if Trash was included in the Common Area Operating Expenses or if the tenant was responsible for his own services (as he wasn't the managing partner so he didn't know). I wasn't 100% sure myself, I quickly scrambled to look through various past CAOE reconciliations and asked our Accounts Payable gal. I called "J", since he IS the property manager, but he was no help and couldn't recall off the top of his head if it was or was not. (Doh!) Fortunately, after talking with Accounts Payable gal, we verified that Trash was NOT included in Common Area stuff, the tenant was responsible for his own trash service. (And therefore my Tenant Utilities & Maintenance information sheet was still correct! Whew! :)
My Twitter Message when they were signing:
Woo-hoo! My scrambling paid off and the deal is being finalized (signed) right now. Yes!!! :)
By 5:00pm, the lease docs were signed, keys handed over, and the new tenant was walking out with his executed copy of the lease, ready to start moving in this weekend.
WHEW!!!
What a rush! But a good one.
:)
Great way to start the weekend!
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