I spent a lot of time on my recent vacation looking for a new store. The
lease at our present location is coming to an end, and we desperately need a
larger space. We outgrew our present location about 6 years ago, and have
been cramming more and more stuff in to the point of suffocation. So we're
on the hunt for a bigger space.
While on the hunt, it reminded me of what an "interesting" sub-species of
the human race the Landlord is. In my adult life I have rented a lot of
premises for various jobs I have done, and I gotta say, Landlords are a
peculiar lot. As you tour place after place, it becomes fascinating trying
to figure out the psychology. Do they really want to rent this space? Would
it really kill them to close the gaping hole that rats and god knows what
else could crawl into? Leaks that haven't been fixed in years? Would it
really kill them to spend half-a-day cleaning the place up?
And don't get me started on real estate prices. We briefly considered buying
a building, but that dream quickly died a quick death. You would be amazed
at what a small, lousy building $900,000 buys you in Toronto. I predict a
big drop in commercial real estate - pricing is psychotic.
This time around though, I gotta say, I was impressed with the real estate
agents. Professional, knowledgeable, and helpful. Can't say that has always
been the case, but all around a good bunch of agents this time. Refreshing.
I'm sure any landlord reading this will have counter-arguments about how
horrible tenants are, but if they want to vent they can launch their own
blog.
