Lease Flexibility

It’s times like these that we think to ourselves "what’s next?" But the conditions of our business haven’t changed too dramatically…yet. However, I remember the spring of 2001, when the economy went into deep freeze months -- after the stock market began its long decline. It was then when I began considering ways to save money in the business in even the smallest increments, in an effort to make sure Carmen Commercial Real Estate was going to be around when the economy began its thaw.

As a business owner, I learned something during that economic time that will stick with me and influence how I run my business, and most importantly, influence how I advise my clients, through the balance of my working career. The lesson: Flexibility. Maintain as much flexibility as possible within your facility lease agreements to allow you to modify your agreements in the event things change. And today all indications are that things are definitely changing.

One of my clients that may be the best example of how lease flexibility can help a business navigate turbulent economic times is Aprimo. Aprimo is a marketing software company with whom I’ve worked with since its inception in 1998. Aprimo grew during the tech boom of the late 90’s and to its credit, and a testament to Aprimo’s business model and service offering, weathered the storm of evaporating capital, marketing departments budget cutbacks, and just about anything else that took down many tech companies in the early part of this decade. From the start, we always negotiated lease clauses that allowed Aprimo to downsize, expand, and even terminate its office leases under certain conditions to ensure its ability to maneuver through challenging times. Click here to watch a video and hear Aprimo CEO Bill Godfrey discuss his company and to some degree, the flexibility I’ve discussed.