Articles About Commercial Real Estate

Building Out a Server Room or Hosting Elsewhere

Posted by: Garrett K.

As a young company that is launching or moving locations, unexpected costs are thrown at you every day. Also as a young company, every cost is monitored closely.  We wanted to profile a common cost that many businesses face as they expand or launch their business. Below are some key things to consider as you discuss having your companies’ server infrastructure within your space or outside it.

•    Some preliminary questions to ask yourself include:
o    Does your server room need to be separately cooled?
o    Would you be OK having your server in a hall closet?
o    Would you be OK having your sever in an equipment room?
o    Will you need to be adding servers over your lease period?
•    Do you have staff on hand who can deal with any issues that might arise
o    If you don’t have someone on staff all the time to manage this infrastructure, it probably makes sense to outsource the server hosting to a vendor who provides 24/7 customer support
•    Do you have 24/7 access to the building or does the building have Backup Power
o    Most building allow 24/7 access but things can go wrong if you can not access your space and server at night when an issue arises.
•    Is there a lot of remnant tech company space where server room infrastructure has been built out in the last 5 years that you can leverage?
o    Many technology-focused real estate markets have left over space from companies that have outgrown office space or gone out of business and this infrastructure is very valuable. If this can be found, there would be no need to build your own infrastructure but there is still increased electrical cost. Try and get the last companies electrical usage to get a rough figure of what it would cost to run your server or servers within the space
•    How long do you plan on being in this space
o    Are you going to be in your new space for long enough to justify installing back up power, separate cooling, or outside air
o    If you do move frequently, what type of disruption to your business will moving your server infrastructure cause?

At Rofo, we moved to different subleases 3 times over our first 24 months in operation and chose to outsource our server hosting. As we continue to grow and increase our server load and maintenance needs, we will continue to analyze our decision.

If you do decide to host your website elsewhere we can recommend Softlayer who’s pricing and support has been first class. For a free quote, please contact the Softlayer sales team below:
http://www.rofo.com/user/Softlayer

To find subleases with existing server room infrastructure, please search the Rofo system below:
http://www.rofo.com/
 

Last updated: 06.28.2010 10:15 AM

Glad to have found Rofo

Posted by: Hien Q.

 This website looks really promising. I hope it is real successful in helping me find tenants to fill my office space. 

Last updated: 04.21.2010 11:11 PM

Commercial Industrial Property Investments - Brokerage

Posted by: Whit H.

Commercial Industrial Property Investments - Brokerage

Commercial real estate broker services for San Francisco, Silicon Valley, San Jose, East Bay, Oakland. Investment sales, leasing, development: office, warehouse, retail, manufacturing, medical, hotel, R&D, land. Property agency for sale of buildings & facilities, lease or rent of commercial space, and site selection advisory. Free consultation welcome.

www.cipi-brokerage.com

Last updated: 04.15.2010 04:56 PM

Selling Your Home in Raleigh

Posted by: Shane P.

Even though this is not an ideal market to sell a property if you have decided to sell your home there are certain steps you can take to make it more attractive to potential buyers. In a difficult market it is often worth employing a professional to handle the sale as they have access to a larger pool of information as well as connections often making their fee worth the time you save. For example, a good Raleigh real estate agent will network with other agents to find a buyer for your home.

Of course, there are things you can do to improve his chances of selling your home at a higher price. Remember, your Raleigh real estate agent will want to get the best price for you because his commission will be higher as well but there are things he cannot do and one of those is making your home presentable and attractive to potential buyers. By employing the following ideas you will make your realtor's job much easier.

1. Clean up and de-clutter. No one is saying that you don't keep your home clean but piles of magazines and newspapers that are five years old will not improve the look of your home. It's all about appearances after all. Think about it. When you go and buy a product aren't you often tempted to buy the product with the best looking packaging? It's the same with selling your home, if the packaging looks nice then people will find it easier to envision themselves living there.
2. Organize your closets by grouping similar items and colors together as this will make your closets appear larger than they really are which is a very attractive point to any home buyer. You would be surprised how many beautiful homes get looked over because the closets seem cramped because people just throw their clothes in haphazardly. When someone opens the door and they are greeted with an avalanche the first impression is that the closets are much too small.
3. Help potential buyers visualize themselves living in your home by removing as much of “you” as possible. If your home is filled with family photos, your kids' artwork from 5 years ago and other very personal items, potential buyers will feel like they are visiting someone else's home and will find it difficult to imagine themselves living there. Visualization is a powerful tool and can make or break a sale, more so than the price.
4. Even if you have to spend money to improve your home, it will be worth it in the long run because a few thousand can increase the potential sale price by much more. Just put yourself in the shoes of a buyer and imagine what you would like to see when you are buying a home, what would make or break the deal for you.

These simple strategies will help your Raleigh real estate agent sell your home as quickly as possible for the best price.

Last updated: 01.14.2010 12:56 PM

Why Having to Lease Your Property on a Short Term Basis is Not a Bad Thing

Posted by: Andrew B.

One of the major misconceptions about signing a new short term lease on commercial real estate is that it’s horrible. The fact is that every Landlord who leases property these days complains about the short term leases they are having to sign with tenants. To Landlords, short term leases are inconvenient, provide no long-term leasing security and are a pain to deal with, time-and-time again. However, leasing property or office space on short term basis can actually be a great thing for Landlords; especially considering the current economy. You see, short term leases are great in this economy because you are not locked-in at a low lease rental rate when the economy rises once again, which is predicted to be around the year 2010-2011. Let us explain this:

In today’s commercial real estate market, rental rates are down (very low), but we expect they will be coming back in the next couple years. So as market rental rates recover, you can capitalize on the “upswing” of rental rates by renewing your Tenants at new, higher, rental rates. Another great advantage in this is that shorter term leasing tenants usually expect much less in Tenant Improvements, which significantly helps landlords to conserve cash they would have to spend modifying the space. For example, when a tenant moves in on a short-term lease basis, they typically won’t be as adamant as getting every nook-and-cranny specialized for them. They are usually content with the office as is if it is in good condition, because their short term lease expiration allows them the freedom and flexibility to relocate or make changes in the near future.

Another great advantage is that in short term leases, there are less rental concessions and free rent given to a Tenant. Also, short term leases also require less money being paid out by the Landlord in leasing commissions. Longer term leases always demand more in leasing commissions from a Landlord.

If you walk away with something from this blog post, make it this: long term office space leases in this market are less desirable, because it locks a landlord to commit to a lower rental rate for a longer period of time that will outlast the market’s upswing in rental rates. So, as a landlord you will want to take advantage of the higher rents in the near future. The way to do this is to be strategic, and sign short term leases that mutually benefit you, and the Tenant. Remember, you don’t want to be locked in at low rental rates when the economy rises in a-year-to-two. If you are a landlord, don’t worry about short term leases, they are often better for you than you think.

Last updated: 11.06.2009 09:19 AM