All Posts by Guy Gray

Checklist for Successful Lease Administration Software Implementation

By Guy Gray | Uncategorized

Every commercial real estate professional has goals. But how many actually reach them? We can’t say, but those that have a plan are usually the successful ones. You can have all the goals in the world, but if they just remain goals, you’ll never get anywhere. This applies to everything from portfolio management to lease administration.

We’ll be covering the latter in today’s post. Specifically, how you can begin with a goal and move toward actionable steps for accomplishing that goal. As esteemed Greek philosopher Shia LaBeouf once said, sometimes you need to “just do it.” 

Here’s a checklist for successfully implementing lease administration software:

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3 Ways Lease Administration Software Can Streamline the Inspection Process

By Guy Gray | Lease Administration Software

Few things in life create anxiety quite like an inspection. If you’re in the military, for example, you worry about inspections for your uniform or barracks. If you’re a car owner, you take your car in for a worry-inducing inspection once a year. Homes, businesses, taxes… the list goes on.

For commercial real estate professionals (CRE)s, however, property inspections rank at the top of the list of things to worry about. As unnerving as a tax audit, property inspections are a necessary evil that can lead to findings that affect your bottom line. However, missing inspections can cause a bigger headache. Here are three ways lease administration software can help.

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A Guide to the Quarem Blog: 5 Posts You Need to Read

By Guy Gray | Commercial Real Estate Blog

Did you know that Quarem has been publishing blog posts about commercial real estate since May 2016? Many of our posts throughout the years have been informative and educational. Others are commentaries on CRE news and challenges. We also have posts that focus on the different features of Quarem. 

But which posts are the most important and popular? Whether you’re new to our blog or you’d simply enjoy a trip down memory lane, here are five posts you need to read.

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Auditing Your Portfolio with Quarem’s Commercial Real Estate Software

By Guy Gray | Auditing

Transparency. It’s a condition that can take an ordinary material—ice, glass, plastic, etc.—and turn it into something extremely beneficial for the user. Take eyeglasses, for example. How useful would they be if the lenses were semi-transparent or opaque? Windows, light bulbs… the list goes on.

Transparency is also important for commercial real estate (CRE) professionals, especially when it comes to reporting. By taking an unfiltered look into your business operations, you can gain actionable data on the strengths and weaknesses of your portfolio. 

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A Look at Parking Ratios and Commercial Real Estate

By Guy Gray | Parking Ratios

If you’ve ever eaten a bowl of cereal, you know that ratios are important. After all, you need to ensure you have the right ratio of milk to cereal. Too little milk and you’ll have to get a refill before you’re done unless you want dry cereal. Too much? Well, you’ll just have to get more cereal to avoid wasting the milk. Either way, it can spiral out of control pretty quickly.

Ratios are also important when it comes to commercial real estate (CRE), particularly when it comes to parking. There needs to be the right balance between need and availability; otherwise, you have to ensure your property is still appealing and meeting the needs of its tenants. Let’s take a look at the considerations a CRE pro must have concerning the availability of parking spots.

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Oh Rats! A Look at How Property Management Software Can Help with Pest Control

By Guy Gray | Pest Control

Aside from Willard, a fictional young man who had an unusual connection with rats, most of us don’t like thinking about pest control, let alone having conversations about it. Unfortunately, pest control is a reality for all forms of property management, including commercial real estate. 

From cockroaches and ants to rats, bats and more, property managers have to deal with a wide variety of unwanted pests. How is this even possible when there are so many other tasks property managers need to complete? The key lies in this truth: pest control needs to be preventative, not reactive. It needs to be top-of-mind for a commercial real estate professional to save money and protect your reputation in the long run.

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7 Tips to Lower Your Commercial Property Insurance Premium

By Guy Gray | Insurance

While certain animated geckos would like you to believe that you can save money on car insurance with a simple phone call, changing car insurance companies can be a tremendous hassle. Instead, most of us would rather try out practical options for cutting costs on auto insurance. For example, did you know a dashcam can reduce your car insurance rates? Most don’t unless they’re an Uber driver. 

Commercial property insurance is the same way. There are several ways to reduce your business insurance premiums, but many commercial real estate professionals aren’t aware of them. To help you out, let’s take a look at seven of them.

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Urban vs. Suburban Commercial Real Estate Investment – What’s Best for You?

By Guy Gray | Commercial Real Estate Investing

One of the beautiful aspects of commercial real estate investing is its diversity. Urban, suburban, rural… you have plenty of options in the route you want to take. A popular debate CRE pros have with each other, however, is whether urban or suburban is a smarter play. 

This is a bit of a seesaw argument here driven by fluctuations in generational factors, costs and consumer habits. There is not a right or wrong answer. That being said, let’s take a look at the pros and cons for each to allow CRE investors to further make educated decisions on investing in urban or suburban areas.

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4 Types of Amenities CRE Pros Can Start Offering Tenants

By Guy Gray | CRE Tenant , Tenant Experience

Attracting new tenants and retaining current ones are at the top of the priority list for many commercial real estate professionals. It doesn’t matter if it’s an office building or retail space—your tenants are your lifeblood. They should be treated as such.

A big potential issue, however, is that CRE spaces often have lots of competition. So it’s no surprise that tenants relocate fairly often. According to Priceonomics, 44 percent of mid-sized companies moved at least two times in the past decade (with 23 percent moving three times or more).

So, what types of amenities can CRE pros start offering tenants to keep them from moving on? Here are four ideas to consider:

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Top 5 Types of Shopping Malls Excelling Into 2020

By Guy Gray | Shopping Malls

Netflix’s hit television show Stranger Things is stirring up nostalgia in all who watch it—especially those who grew up in the 1980s. The latest season of the show, which is set in 1985 and was released earlier this summer, centers around the fictional Starcourt Mall and is full of familiar sights: neon signs, department stores, a food court and lots of teenagers. While the mall used in the show is a dead mall in real life, it begs the question for commercial real estate professionals: are malls a sound investment?

The truth is, malls aren’t dead; they’re just evolving. 

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