She Owns It
Portraits of women entrepreneurs.
Suzanne DeChillo/The New York Times Deirdre Lord prefers renting.
At a recent She Owns It business group meeting, the conversation focused on real estate. The business owners also touched on the related subject of working remotely, a topic we’ll explore further in coming posts.
The Megawatt Hour, a start-up owned by Deirdre Lord, rents an office in shared space. To try to lower costs, the company has moved three times in the last two and a half years. When its lease on “really dumpy space” in Queens was up, Ms. Lord said she found more centrally located space in Manhattan that eased commutes for the staff. Ms. Lord does not foresee owning. “We rent, and we will only rent,” she said.
Considering the cost of office space, she wondered what the group thought about letting employees work remotely.
“I feel you really lose something,” said Beth Shaw, who owns YogaFit. In fact, she feels so strongly about the issue that she regrets installing separate offices in her current space. Even walls can render your employees too remote, she said.
“It’s really funny that you brought that up,” said Alexandra Mayzler, owner of Thinking Caps Tutoring. She said she approved employee requests to work from home once a week. But then it turned into twice a week. Although she says she believes that productivity can increase when employees work independently from home, she doesn’t think working remotely is good for the company culture. “Somebody’s out one day, the next person’s not there the next day, and there’s no structure,” she said.
“I had that same issue in my office,” said Ms. Shaw.
Susan Parker, who owns Bari Jay, a dress maker, returned to the issue of renting or owning commercial real estate. Her company rents space in Manhattan’s Garment District. When she and her sister took over the business, Bari Jay had two months left on its lease. “We ended up just getting a year extension, and it took us over six months to end up signing a lease for the same exact space,” she said. “When you have 11,000 square feet, you cannot find a lease.”
She said she considered moving to an identically priced, slightly smaller but nicer space with 24-hour access (her current building has limited hours, six days a week). But ultimately, the thought of moving and uprooting operations persuaded her to stay put. “I’m here for a long time,” she said.
Johnson Security Bureau, which is owned by Jessica Johnson, operates from a townhouse in the Bronx. The company bought the building in an estate sale almost 20 years ago. Before that, she said, Johnson Security rented space in the neighborhood. Ms. Johnson said she was happy that she did not have to worry about long-term leases and utilities, which would be more expensive if she rented.
Ms. Mayzler runs Thinking Caps Tutoring from a rented Manhattan apartment (not her residence). The company’s branches in Texas, in Austin and Houston, operate remotely with employees who work from home.
“Have you thought about incubator space for Texas?” Ms. Johnson asked.
Ms. Mayzler said that, for now, she needed more space only when the company hosted pizza parties for its Texas tutors. So far, she has rented conference rooms for that purpose. But this year, there will be more tutors. Additionally, it would be nice to find inexpensive space as Thinking Caps begins to do more team-building activities.
YogaFit is seeking less space. Ms. Shaw has been trying to sell the company’s building in Torrance, Calif., on and off for a year. She said she bought it for $1.4 million in 2006 and did extensive renovations, including creating the offices she now wishes were gone.
“If everybody was in one place, there would be more communication and productivity,” she said — not to mention less texting and eating at desks. The office walls aren’t the only drawbacks to the space, which is in a rather isolated area 30 minutes from Ms. Shaw’s home on the west side of Los Angeles.
Even though she invested in renovations, Ms. Shaw said she would be happy to sell the building for the price she paid. She would then like to buy much less expensive loft space in downtown Los Angeles. But her building hasn’t come close to selling. She wondered if she is using the wrong agent.
She said there was a large Asian community in the surrounding area and that it’s a popular location for Japanese companies, including Honda, Nissan and Toyota, all of which have offices nearby. “Maybe I need a Realtor that will market the building to the Japanese or Chinese market,” Ms. Shaw said, adding that Chinese investors are buying in Los Angeles.
“Have you thought about having an event where you invite Asian fitness professionals in and then maybe that will help spread the word?” Ms. Johnson asked.
“I love that idea,” Ms. Shaw said.
“Who decided that you should buy the building?” Ms. Parker asked.
“I decided because I’m not a good renter,” Ms. Shaw said. “When YogaFit started, we were under a bar, and beer leaked into our yoga studio for seven years.” Unlike Ms. Parker, Ms. Shaw said she had not worked with a business coach or a group like Entrepreneurs’ Organization to help with such decisions.
How has your business handled the real estate decision?
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Article source: http://boss.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/08/15/buying-versus-renting-owners-consider-the-advantages/?partner=rss&emc=rss