Equipment lease financing is very beneficial to businesses, especially to those who are in a financially tight position and to those who operate in a rapidly changing technological environment. In leasing, business organizations won't have to purchase the business critical equipment, they just need to pay a monthly rental fee to the leasing firm to use it.
All types of equipment from major manufacturing equipment to smaller items, such as computers can be leased from lenders like banks, finance companies, bona fide business equipment/office equipment leasing companies, equipment manufacturers or retailers.
Tips for getting the right deal
1) Find the Right Leasing Partner
As you will be dealing with the leasing company for a long time and it is the question of your business critical assets, take great care in choosing the right leasing firm. This way you will be able to save time and avoid later problems because of a substandard lease. Look for a business equipment or office equipment leasing company who are experienced, have good reputation, are in good financial shape, and have a relationship approach to the business.
2) Choose the Right Lease
When choosing the right lease give utmost attention to details like lease pricing, lease flexibility, balance sheet considerations, equipment obsolescence, the anticipated period of equipment usage and your firm's credit status. This analysis will help you arrive at the right decision with regard to the type of lease most beneficial to your business and finances. The lease types you can choose from are a capital lease, finance lease or operating lease.
3) Opt for short End-of-lease Notice and Renewal Periods
Usually the notice period ranges from one to six months. And if proper notice is not served, automatic renewal kicks in which can last from one month to 6 months. You can opt for short notice and automatic renewal periods to avoid paying unintended lease charges.
4) Minimize Interim Rent
Interim rent is the amount paid to the leasing firm for using the equipment between the equipment acceptance and lease start dates. You can opt for delivery and acceptance towards the end of the month as the first day of the month is usually the official start day for leasing firms. In case you fail to do so, you can request a limit on interim rent.
5) Make sure that Lease Term and Projected Equipment Use match
This is important because your lease might run out before your project is over resulting in extra expenses and disruption in work or idle leased equipment for which you have to keep paying. This might also result in premature surrender of the lease which itself will attract penalties. So be very careful in determining your requirements and the expected period of use when deciding the lease period.
6) Identify and Understand All Potential Fees
Leasing proposals are replete with a myriad of fees and penalties such as commitment fees; non-use fees or facility fees, per schedule documentation charges, attorney fees, penalty charges for late rental payments, early lease termination charges etc. You can save a significant amount of money if you can prove yourself to be a good potential customer on the basis of your financial position, market position etc. So understand all the inherent fees and charges and negotiate hard. Remember that if you are a strong candidate there are numerous business equipment/office equipment leasing companies in the market.
Showing posts with label Deal. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Deal. Show all posts
Tuesday, May 22, 2012
Tuesday, May 8, 2012
Leasing Retail Space - Negotiating The Right Deal
Letter of Intent (LOI)
Retail space negotiations are complicated and time-consuming. Once you have located the retail space which is ideal for your business, the next step is to negotiate an agreement which protects you and is acceptable to the landlord. Industry practice for retail space is to negotiate a letter of intent before negotiating the lease.
Use an Attorney!
Engage an attorney to assist in the letter of intent negotiation. It probably seems that the letter of intent is informal and can easily be negotiated without an attorney. However, there are issues you should address in the letter of intent which may not be obvious if you have not previously negotiated letters of intent for retail.
Wow! This is Complicated
Common factors for a retail space letter of intent include: defining the parties (leasor and leasee aka landlord and tenant), defining the space, defining the rent including any percentage rent, defining the basis for calculating sales or net income if they are involved in calculating rent, the initial term, any renewal options, rent for renewal options period, the day at which lease payments commence, the date of occupancy, the condition of the space when the landlord provides it to the tenant, tenant improvement allowances provided by the landlord, who performs the tenant improvements, is the tenant required to use union labor for tenant improvements, is the tenant required to use a general contractor for tenant improvements (TI), who pays for the cost of the ADA compliance, who maintains what (i.e roof, HVAC, electrical, plumbing, etc), who pays which expenses, calculating the payment for CAM (common area maintenance), free rent, and identification of the broker and payment of the brokerage fee if relevant.
You Mean There is More!
Other issues which you may want to address in the letter of intent include expense escalations, co-tenancy issues, eminent domain, foreclosure, maintenance standards, definition of the amount of leaseable space, personal guarantees, purchase option, subleasing, required hours of operation, dedicated parking, who is responsible for obtaining variances related to signage and usage of the retail space, expansion options, first right of refusal, can the tenant keep the TI allowance not needed for construction, can the landlord relocate the tenant if the space is needed to accommodate another tenant, late payment fees, the mechanics of providing notice of default and any options for the tenant to cure the default, mechanics of dispute resolution between the landlord and tenant, and a right to terminate if your sales do not stabilize at a minimum level.
Complete LOI First
Complete and obtain an executed copy of the letter of intent before beginning on the lease agreement. The primary objective of the letter of intent is to negotiate and agree upon the business issues. The lease documents these agreements. Discuss fees to negotiate the lease with your attorney. Agree upon an hourly rate and estimate of the total fees. Agree the attorney will call if it appears the cost is going to exceed the estimate.
The following sections of the leasing retail space article focuses upon issues which merit commentary.
Percentage Rent
Percentage rent -- make sure the agreement regarding percentage rent is clear. If percentage rent is based on sales, define sales. For example, is sales-tax remitted to the city and state included in sales? It is even more difficult to define net profits, which is why most percentage rent leases are based upon sales instead of profits. Attempt to look at the definition of net profits from a detached perspective. If you gave the definition to a six grader, could they understand it?
Renewal Options
Renewal options -- tenants love them and landlords prefer to avoid them. In general, a larger number of shorter renewal options are better for the tenant. In addition, shorter notice periods to announce the tenants intend to renew are desirable for the tenant. Landlords prefer as much notice as possible regarding whether or not the tenet plans to renew.
Renewal Option Rental Rates
Renewal option rental rates -- tenants typically want fixed rental rates for renewal periods. Landlords typically want the rental rate based upon market rent. Agreeing upon market rents can be difficult and expensive. Reasonable people can disagree regarding the level for market rent for a retail space. For example, should the premium for an end-cap space be 10% or 100%? Retail space is not fungible. It recently signed lease for retail space within the same center provides insight into market rent. However, in most cases it will not clearly defined market rent.
The Market Research and Consulting division of O'Connor & Associates provides information necessary to make decision to commercial real estate professionals. Occupancy and Rental Data, ownership and management information are routinely gathered for four major land uses multifamily, office, retail and industrial. This information allows investors to compare competitive properties, facilitate business decisions and track market and submarket performance. In addition the data is useful to brokers who for example continually monitor Houston retail space leasing, Houston office space leasing, Houston industrial space leasing, Houston apartments, Dallas apartments, Ft. Worth apartments, Austin apartments, and San Antonio apartments.
Retail space negotiations are complicated and time-consuming. Once you have located the retail space which is ideal for your business, the next step is to negotiate an agreement which protects you and is acceptable to the landlord. Industry practice for retail space is to negotiate a letter of intent before negotiating the lease.
Use an Attorney!
Engage an attorney to assist in the letter of intent negotiation. It probably seems that the letter of intent is informal and can easily be negotiated without an attorney. However, there are issues you should address in the letter of intent which may not be obvious if you have not previously negotiated letters of intent for retail.
Wow! This is Complicated
Common factors for a retail space letter of intent include: defining the parties (leasor and leasee aka landlord and tenant), defining the space, defining the rent including any percentage rent, defining the basis for calculating sales or net income if they are involved in calculating rent, the initial term, any renewal options, rent for renewal options period, the day at which lease payments commence, the date of occupancy, the condition of the space when the landlord provides it to the tenant, tenant improvement allowances provided by the landlord, who performs the tenant improvements, is the tenant required to use union labor for tenant improvements, is the tenant required to use a general contractor for tenant improvements (TI), who pays for the cost of the ADA compliance, who maintains what (i.e roof, HVAC, electrical, plumbing, etc), who pays which expenses, calculating the payment for CAM (common area maintenance), free rent, and identification of the broker and payment of the brokerage fee if relevant.
You Mean There is More!
Other issues which you may want to address in the letter of intent include expense escalations, co-tenancy issues, eminent domain, foreclosure, maintenance standards, definition of the amount of leaseable space, personal guarantees, purchase option, subleasing, required hours of operation, dedicated parking, who is responsible for obtaining variances related to signage and usage of the retail space, expansion options, first right of refusal, can the tenant keep the TI allowance not needed for construction, can the landlord relocate the tenant if the space is needed to accommodate another tenant, late payment fees, the mechanics of providing notice of default and any options for the tenant to cure the default, mechanics of dispute resolution between the landlord and tenant, and a right to terminate if your sales do not stabilize at a minimum level.
Complete LOI First
Complete and obtain an executed copy of the letter of intent before beginning on the lease agreement. The primary objective of the letter of intent is to negotiate and agree upon the business issues. The lease documents these agreements. Discuss fees to negotiate the lease with your attorney. Agree upon an hourly rate and estimate of the total fees. Agree the attorney will call if it appears the cost is going to exceed the estimate.
The following sections of the leasing retail space article focuses upon issues which merit commentary.
Percentage Rent
Percentage rent -- make sure the agreement regarding percentage rent is clear. If percentage rent is based on sales, define sales. For example, is sales-tax remitted to the city and state included in sales? It is even more difficult to define net profits, which is why most percentage rent leases are based upon sales instead of profits. Attempt to look at the definition of net profits from a detached perspective. If you gave the definition to a six grader, could they understand it?
Renewal Options
Renewal options -- tenants love them and landlords prefer to avoid them. In general, a larger number of shorter renewal options are better for the tenant. In addition, shorter notice periods to announce the tenants intend to renew are desirable for the tenant. Landlords prefer as much notice as possible regarding whether or not the tenet plans to renew.
Renewal Option Rental Rates
Renewal option rental rates -- tenants typically want fixed rental rates for renewal periods. Landlords typically want the rental rate based upon market rent. Agreeing upon market rents can be difficult and expensive. Reasonable people can disagree regarding the level for market rent for a retail space. For example, should the premium for an end-cap space be 10% or 100%? Retail space is not fungible. It recently signed lease for retail space within the same center provides insight into market rent. However, in most cases it will not clearly defined market rent.
The Market Research and Consulting division of O'Connor & Associates provides information necessary to make decision to commercial real estate professionals. Occupancy and Rental Data, ownership and management information are routinely gathered for four major land uses multifamily, office, retail and industrial. This information allows investors to compare competitive properties, facilitate business decisions and track market and submarket performance. In addition the data is useful to brokers who for example continually monitor Houston retail space leasing, Houston office space leasing, Houston industrial space leasing, Houston apartments, Dallas apartments, Ft. Worth apartments, Austin apartments, and San Antonio apartments.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)