Listing my factory unit for lease - any other hints

H

handyandy

Hi All

Here is the link to our factory unit

http://www.randw.com.au/349068/#

After a drawn out fight with the tenant/sub tenant they have left and stuck their proverbials up as they left.

I thought I had it covered as the tenant owned property but it turns out he is in the middle of a sale of that property and no doubt the money will disappear (we will check). Unfortunately we didn't have a clause in the lease that we could raise a caveat. If we had we could at least block the sale. Rather cunning as he had the property on the market for a while and didn't exit until the sale.

I am arranging a 5 meter 'for lease' banner to be placed over the office area to increase the visual impact. We will also light this up at night. The property is located right on the corner of the M5 and Fairford Rd so there is a huge amount of passing traffic.

Any other suggestions appreciated.

Cheers

PS the address of the property is 2/60 Fairford Rd Padstow
 
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handyandy said:
Hi All

Here is the link to our factory unit

http://www.randw.com.au/349068/#

After a drawn out fight with the tenant/sub tenant they have left and stuck their proverbials up as they left.

I thought I had it covered as the tenant owned property but it turns out he is in the middle of a sale of that property and no doubt the money will disappear (we will check). Unfortunately we didn't have a clause in the lease that we could raise a caveat. If we had we could at least block the sale. Rather cunning as he had the property on the market for a while and didn't exit until the sale.

I am arranging a 5 meter 'for lease' banner to be placed over the office area to increase the visual impact. We will also light this up at night. The property is located right on the corner of the M5 and Fairford Rd so there is a huge amount of passing traffic.

Any other suggestions appreciated.

Cheers

PS the address of the property is 2/60 Fairford Rd Padstow
Click to expand...

Looks great as it is mate...

No expert here, but advice from my experience, it's not so much the marketing - you'll get it rented, but let's be realistic about expectations...I gave myself a year (absolute MAX) timeframe for ours to be rented out and we weren't exactly asking for much either.

The only concern I have though, is that I notice 2 other places in the same area as yours (Units 1 & 3) are also vacant?? How are you priced compared to them? How are you going to entice tenants to rent yours instead of theirs?

SELECT YOUR POTENTIAL TENANTS CAREFULLY!

I find 9/10 are mostly *ssholes to begin with so that is where you'll need to screen them under a microscope. Our little shopfront has been through 3 tenants within 5 years and I find that this is the hardest process...the property attracts potential tenants, rent is relatively low per sq meter, you'll get a few tyre kickers, but the biggest issue would be quality of tenants.
 
G'day Andy,


With these things, you could always do worse than simply going around the local vicinity and chatting with current business owners who are Tenants out there and try and poach one of them into your place.

Big signs and bunting etc always help.

Place presents well, so you should be right - don't know Padstow area at all...sorry - wrong part of the world for me.

I'd concentrate on getting the place filled to limit your loss, then go after your Tenant / sub Tenant in whatever form you can.....didn't quite understand exactly what the problem was or why they left, other than you are now high and dry.

Nothing beats a big fat 6 month Bank Guarantee to keep the bar stewards honest.
 
BMan said:
could you not try to put a caveat on anyway...? it might just work or scare him into paying up..?
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If he has no caveatable interest in the private property then the caveat cannot be sustained and can be removed. Not to mention that sticking caveats on peoples houses when you have no right to do so is gross misuse of the use of caveats.
 
Andy, if it is only on the agency website you're not in the market.

It has to be on the main commercial websites.

Using a cabramatta based residential agency is probably not the best move either (even if they are your relos/cheap). Local commercial agencies do have an advantage here.

Check your pms.
 
Scott No Mates said:
Andy, if it is only on the agency website you're not in the market.

It has to be on the main commercial websites.

Using a cabramatta based residential agency is probably not the best move either (even if they are your relos/cheap). Local commercial agencies do have an advantage here.
Click to expand...

Two very good points from Scotty.
Your ad will be first seen on either realcommercial.com.au or commercialrealestate.com.au so if you're not there, you're invisible. Most reputable agents will have subscriptions (ad's) on both.

Also, some non local agents won't be overly enthusiastic about leaving their nice warm office to brave the cold and drive 15 Klm's to show potential tenants through your place so they may vet them a little to vigorously and limit someone who may seem not interested to begin with then change their mind once they've seen how well it presents.

As for other small housekeeping, yes Dor is spelt Door.. and I'd only be mentioning the car parks on your title only which appear to be 3 and not 11 as indicated.
Large signs never hurt and given the proximity to the main road, it appears as though a sign above your door will be clearly visible to the street despite it being a strata title.

And as Dazz mentioned, you have a large number of comm neighbours who may be interested in upsizing (or even downsizing) so a mail out might be something extra to consider.

Oh and one last point would be to ring the agent of your 2 x neighbours vacant properties and find out the terms being offered.

Good luck.

B.D
 
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I suggest you get some higher res/better quality photos, wide angle lens and decent lighting (bring in additional lighting for the photos). Maybe even get an aerial photo or pole photograph so people can see your property in respect of vicinity to highway / etc. I don't know the area but is there any statistics on the highway like so you could put "Exposure to over 45,000 vehicles per day".

Like the first office photo, with the maroon wall - is that vertical blinds or a wall? If its blinds can they be opened for the photo or ??

Is that photo where there is purple walls/doors everywhere the front entry? I'd consider a simple splash of paint to an off white colour to make it a bit more neutral.

Other comments are good, real commercial websites and leasing signage sound like good ideas. You could print colour brochures and do a letterbox drop at all the local factories/etc / hit the pavement / do a PO box drop, you never know someones lease might be about to expire and your property could be better.

I would put some details about signage opportunities if the exposure of the property is extremely good.
 
Hi All

Thanks for your comments.

There are 11 car spots on title so that's whats advertised. Its not just the spots in front of the unit.

There are no other units for lease onsite. Maybe you are seeing old listings. The unit directly to the left has just sold and is now owner occupied. This unit is a clone of mine at 512sqm. Unit 3 hasn't been for lease (as far as I am ware) for a long time and is a baby unit with an awkward shape. Basically it is an office area on one side and garage the other side with the office space having a triangular config.

I looked around where to obtain traffic flow info but was unable to locate.

It's Main road. Exposure!!!! Rather than Main road exposure. But either way, the punctuation isn't correct.

As far as the agent. This is the agent that looks after the bulk of my resi properties and will have no problem traveling 15km to show a prospective tenant. If he wasn't available and it was crucial to show a prospective there and then then I would simply show them.

The com rel site is a challenge. The agent does not have a subscription as is mainly resi. A one off subscription, good for 90 days, is something like $450. We are discussing this tomorrow.

I previously used a commercial agent in the area and found them to be next to useless, lots of promise and then nothing but tyre kickers for close on a year. (I wasn't in a hurry at that point:eek:) They then finally found me a 'crash hot' tenant who effectively went belly up 5 months into the lease.

I think I can achieve a better result managing the process a bit more this time.

I agree re the colour but am not about to change it as no doubt the next tenant will have another colour scheme in mind.

The position of the unit is good but it is strata-ed and as such the signage possibilities are restricted to the number pillar and the areas over the window and roller door.

Some pics of the for lease sign including visibility from across a 8 lane road.

http://somersoft.com/forums/gallery...92&title=just-starting-to-put-up-sign&cat=506











The site is starting to come up in searches so I had better not say anymore about the ex tenant.:D

Cheers
 
I hear your point about the agency manages your other residential properties but this is no reason to use them for this one. The sign looks great (bit hard to notice which agency has it as the R&W is quite small & parking is restricted across the road so it may be hard to take down agency details).

Is there a signboard at street level?

I will reiterate that being on either realcommercial.com.au or domaincommercial.com.au is essential (commercial agencies have a subscription but pay for a 3 month advert if necessary).

Managing commercial property is also best left to someone who does it day in & day out as getting the best tenant, applying tenant retention strategies and enforcing the lease are totally different things to keeping a resi tenant in place.

I can recommend a couple of decent agencies in the area whose results speak for themselves.
 
Hi Andy

I drove past yesterday morning. The sign is visible better than at street level. Other than being R&W, difficult to know which franchise to look up.

Have you got it on realcommercial or commercialrealestate.com.au?
 
I've been looking at some threads on Somersoft lately but had never signed up until I saw this thread and I felt the need to give some advice.

handyandy said:
There are 11 car spots on title so that's whats advertised. Its not just the spots in front of the unit.
Click to expand...
11 car spots for a 500sqm property seems over the top - did you get this number from the plan? Under Penrith council, my understanding is that you require a parking spot for every 100sqm of factory/warehouse space and 1 spot for every 75sqm of office space. Noone building factory units will give you double the amount of car spots when they could use that space to increase the size of the units and receive an extra $1300+ for every additional square metre they sell.
However, I'm not familiar with the complex or the requirements of the local council with jurisdiction over Padstow so I could be wrong.

handyandy said:
As far as the agent. This is the agent that looks after the bulk of my resi properties and will have no problem traveling 15km to show a prospective tenant. If he wasn't available and it was crucial to show a prospective there and then then I would simply show them.
Click to expand...
It's great that the agent is dedicated to helping you, however you should definitely use someone from the local area. He can be the best agent in the world, but the fact of the matter is he wouldn't have people on his database who are looking for a 500sqm factory in the Padstow area - a local agent, however, would have this advantage. The moment you list with a local agent, your property should be sent through to anyone on their database looking for a property of that size, in that area etc etc

Also, I find that people will drive around an area and call the agent with the most signs - for example, you drive through Padstow and see 100 LJ Hooker signs and 1 R&W sign, who are are you going to call to ask if they have a 500sqm factory available in Padstow?

Secondly, you go on RealCommercial and look for a property in Padstow. You see nothing but LJ Hooker ads on the first 5 pages. Who are you going to call to help you find a 500sqm factory in Padstow?

handyandy said:
I agree re the colour but am not about to change it as no doubt the next tenant will have another colour scheme in mind.
Click to expand...
Don't spend a dollar on cosmetic changes. A tenant will not care if there are pretty pink flowers painted on the wall. They will not care if there are too many offices or not enough partitions.

I also wouldn't bother spending money on getting professional photos etc. Yes, photos look better with more natural light, but this is a factory unit. People do not lease factory units because they are painted pretty colours. They want something with good access for loading/unloading, good clear span workspace, a good sized showroom (depends on tenant), access to motorways etc. Industrial tenants will not make emotional decisions like in resi.

RE: Pricing
I'm not familiar with the area so can't advise you here. Look at similar properties and see how much rent they're asking per square metre. Compare access, clearance, frontage to street etc

Also, the ad says $57,600 - Is this gross or net? Is this including or excluding GST? I assume it will be gross excl GST but it should definitely be specified.


RE: High Roller Door Clearance
If you have a laser, I'd measure the height next time you're there. Looks to be about 4.5 metres or so.


Excuse my blunt approach to providing my responses but I'd hate for you to spend money that you don't have to, or for potential tenants to go elsewhere because your property has not been marketed suitably.

Hope this helps out somewhat!
 
All leased out.

Tenant finally signed on Friday at the price and conditions I wanted.

We did have an interested prospect in the wings but no doubt would have been more time to bring that in.

Ended up with a 2 year lease which on balance really means a lot of mucking around etc for the equivalent of 3 of my units rent. In the case of our unit we would only do a 1 year lease so this commercial lease took way more time for only 1 extra year.

Cheers
 
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