Real Estate Naivete

Taken from The Buyer Advocate, great representation for buyers (um, if you're in Colorado)

I haven't been sleeping well. I wake up with my fists clenched and an ache in my jaw from gritting my teeth.

The unit I preferred wasn't available, but I've taken up another unit a few doors down. It's in better condition, and the feng shui is more favourable...but the whole thing is still stressing me out because my agent is not on my side.

The brief was to find a commercial space from which I could run and operate a test kitchen. Chiku ticks many boxes but on Friday night I receive a call from my agent asking me not to proceed with license approval for the business.

Why? Because the premises aren't approved for commercial use.

I've managed to find a loophole from which to run the business (more on that later) but am very much the wiser when dealing with estate agents. Always ask if they are a seller agent or a tenant's agent. I asked the question - everyone said they work for both but now I know the difference is that a true buyer's agent will work to take their commission from the landlord. They are hard to find these days. My friend, a successful retailer has given me some of his contacts so drop me a line if you need a hook-up.

I know - WHY didn't I speak to him sooner? His abuse is still ringing in my ears. I have written to the IEA to ask for advice re tenant's rights. I could drop the agent and work direct with the landlord's agent but my conscience won't let me. She has been a huge disappointment and let down, but I'd still like to come to equitable agreement. You never know, she may offer to return the commission.

Ok, I'm not THAT frickin' naiive!!!! Hahahaha!!!

So now I have a decision to make.

We're getting the renovation quote tomorrow and I will probably make my decision on how much that comes to. If it's reasonable enough to justify the short-term then I will go for it. The pros are pretty ideal for a start-up situation and I'm confident I can find solutions for the cons.

Sigh. Where the hell is a good crystal ball when you need one??

A Pro & A Con

Look at my hands.

A chiromancer would say that I think and worry far too much, and he would be right. It's in my nature to project and extrapolate, to worry a situation to bits until I feel confident I've got everything covered.

Being on my own really tests some of my limits. Today's real estate drama for instance. My natural anxiety levels double because (a) there's no-one to fall back on should things f*ck up; and (b) it's my money that I stand to lose - not an agency's or client's corporate dollars which can be written off as a tax claim at the end of the year. It's money from my own pocket.

It turns out that the unit I had looked at over the weekend was not yet available because the existing tenant had broken a contractual agreement, and the landlord had to tread lightly because of an existing relationship. So it's 70% likely they would be moving out, but they may stay if the LL and tenant come to an understanding.

If they stay, I would get another unit a couple of doors down. Not as ideal in terms of positioning, but still good.

Why did both the agents feel the need to pressure me by saying all the units had been taken up, pushing me to put down a deposit and sign an LOI before soneone else nabbed it when it wasn't the truth? *shakes head*

Now - if they had been transparent about this situation right up, it would have saved alot of grief. I would have agreed to it anyway, there was no need to bullshit me.

A Con: Starting-up means dealing with things beyond your control and bearing all the responsiblities and consequences of your decisions. There's no-one to blame or fall back on, and even if there was, you'd still have to clean up the mess.

In any case, I have decided to trust. I believe that given a choice, most people will do the right thing and I also believe in karma. I deserve to be treated with fairness so....I trust that things will work out, eternal optimist that I am!

I also came across a remarkable insight the other night as I was squirming in bed, excited about the future.

As scary as it is to take a leap of faith, there is a huge liberation and freedom once you've taken the plunge. It's so different from anything I've experienced before.

Like, when I was working it would be totally exciting waiting for the result fo a pitch, or the night before starting at a new agency. But the excitement was limited. There was a box in which everything would or could happen. A structure in place over which I had very little control. So the worst, and the best, that could happen lay within the boundaries of that constraint.

Some would think that security and risk-free environment is good.

But the way I see it - when you leap into the abyss, the world is your oyster. You are at the helm of all possibilities.

I'm a huge HUGE fan of Neil Gaiman, and no wonder because his graphic novel series, The Sandman, is about the god of Dreams. Vol. 6: Fables & Reflections opens with a story called Fear of Falling - it's about a young man who has become paralysed by fear. One night, he falls asleep and meets the Sandman in his dreams. Here is an excerpt* from that story. Click through to Flickr to read them properly.

Learn how to embed your own flickr slideshows to your blog here.

A Pro: When you fall for your dreams, sometimes you will wake. Sometimes the fall will kill you. But sometimes when you fall, you fly.

*I know I shouldn't be posting something I have no permission to use. If anyone objects, tell me and I will take it down.

Chiku Pek*

Yay yay yippee yippee yay!!! *gyrates and shimmies across the room*

I found a location!! Wow wow wow! I'm so excited!

I was really quite down in the dumps on Friday because things just didn't seem to be moving, I was annoyed with myself for slacking off just because the Dolphin was home and was on the verge of sending CVs out to agencies because the Universe seemed to have lost interest. I know...D-R-A-M-A!

An agent had taken us to view Tempco Technominium in Ayer Rajah, and altho it was a nice well maintained building - it just wasn't right for us. Completely off-brand. I suppose the name should have given it away :P

Later in the evening, we had an appointment to see a place in Joo Chiat, which is out in the east. I've been a west side girl all my life, so was mainly focusing on locations in my parts and didn't have alot of expectations for this viewing. BUT I had told myself to see and be open to everything that came my way.

And wow - it was another one of those instants when you see something, or someplace - and immediately a flower blooms in your gut. Do you know the feeling? It's simliar to recognizing a good idea. It was a refurbished pre-war single level shophouse.

A List of Things that make it Perfect

• Space for a kitchen
• A private car park that backs right up to the back door for easy loading/unloading
• It's in an uber-retro neighbourhood that is right on brand - they still have old-skool barbers and Chinese medicine halls right down the street!
  
• The name of the road is Chiku, which is one of my favourite fruits and relevant to the NewBiz
• The space is a beautiful blank canvas on which to paint all my ideals
• I am surrounded by my target market who live in the neighbourhood
• It's just the right size and just the right price
  

The shophouse exterior

A beautiful blank canvas

And guess what? We met one of the tenants (an interior design firm) and discovered he is the brother of one of my good friends and wakeboarding mentors!!! Can you bloody believe it??!

So the Dolphin and I immediately went home and drew up a rough plan.
And then the MooMoo made a FABULOUS suggestion to use the space more effectively and generate revenue in the mornings which I'm super excited about!

Oh! IKEA have this AMAZING tool they use to plan their kitchens and it's perfectly handy for planning any sort of space as well. Check it out, I've been having so much fun with it over the weekend.

And then the next day, I went for my cupcake baking class (still semi-drunk and very bleary-eyed) which I will write about in my next post. It was so much fun!

And today, I'm going shopping for the office! Yay!! I can get my KitchenAid appliances now - and if you love retro reproductions as much as I do, you'll now exactly why I'm grinning like a cheshire!

And...the Great Singapore Sale is on right now this very second!

I'm the luckiest girl in the world!

* For my non-Singaporean friends, the post title is a play on the Singlish (Singapore English) phrase "Chee Ko Pek" which means dirty old man. Hehehe....it's a perfect description for Joo Chiat which turns a darker hue of shady once the sun goes down!