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Commercial
Lease
Admin
Services
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Commercial Lease Administrative Services (CLAS)
FAQ:
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Frequently Asked Questions About Your Lease Documents: |
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Question: I can’t afford to have a service like yours. |
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Answer: If you have a real estate portfolio of at least 20 locations or more, you need to have your data organized into a database for reasons explained in the Software Choices section of the FAQ's, and you need to have one or more commercial real estate lease knowledgeable employees on board. (If you do not have such a person or persons in your employ, chances are that you will have to rely on the information furnished by your Landlord or broker.) As an example, if your company has 50 leased locations we can maintain your entire portfolio, including all updates to all leases on a continuing basis, for less than 50% of what you would pay an entry level clerical person. How can you not afford us?
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Question: Can you save me any money? |
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Answer: Yes, we are confident that you can achieve real cost savings while also gaining improved access to critical lease-related data. There is no cost for development and maintenance of our database software. CLAS,LLC. provides the finest professional lease administration services, allowing you to re-allocate your personnel to other tasks. CLAS professionals serve as your staff at part time costs.
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Question: Why do I need a Lease Administration system? |
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Answer: There are as many reasons as you will see in our list of services and benefits. The most important reasons are (1) the dramatic improvement in the control of lease-related information so that critical dates are known and dollar obligation amounts are verified, and (2) the opportunity to reduce costs.
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Question: My current way of administrating leases is doing well. |
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Answer: Many companies whose core business is not related to real estate can sometimes underestimate the complexities of managing a real estate portfolio. Critical dates must be known for exercising options. Exact amounts of rent and additional rent must be determined by comparing multiple sources of data. Landlord expense recoveries must be scrutinized for accuracy and trueness to the wording of the lease.
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Question: Why should I pay you to abstract my leases when I just had them done by someone else just last year? |
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Answer: There are 3 reasons: First, there can be no assurances made by us that prior abstraction was done with our level of accuracy and integrity. Second, our database is extremely comprehensive; it is possible that prior abstracting did not capture sufficient data for us to present in our database. Third, Real Estate Leases are dynamic; it is very possible that some of the terms and conditions have changed.
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Question: Can you customize your reports for me?
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Answer: Yes. Every client has unique needs. There is no way to know in advance of all requirements in advance. That is why we developed our software on the most flexible platform so that additional reports can be added quickly and with a minimum of additional cost.
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Question: I am concerned about my data being secure. |
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Answer: There are up to 3 levels of security that can be implemented. The first, and most common, level is that of username/password for the database application. The second level of security is for the provider to purchase “secure location” software known as SSL security that encrypts the text as it is in transit, then unscrambles it on your workstation PC. Your data on the CLAS database is secured by the first two levels, which is considered by most users as more than an adequate level of security. If desired there is a third level to provide even greater security, which involves the use of username/password for entry into the operating system prior to username/password entry into the application.
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Question: Yes, but I am also very concerned about my data being kept private. |
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Answer: We consider the privacy of your data to be of utmost importance. We are concerned about the integrity of your lease data, and only want to serve your lease administration needs. Lease Administration is not just our core business; it is our only business.
Our system has been designed so that you can grant access to your data on different levels. Not everyone has to see every lease.
Furthermore, our system has been developed so that each client’s database operates totally independent of any other client’s database. As a result, there is no chance that data could become mingled or compromised.
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Question: Do you carry insurance? Are you licensed? |
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Answer: Yes. Keep in mind that there is no such thing as perfection. We will do everything in our power to maintain the highest level of accuracy, but in some situations Commercial Lease language can be vague or difficult to abstract. (As part of our service we will alert you to situations where lease language is not clear.) We are Real Estate licensed and are covered by Real Estate standard “Errors and Omissions” insurance.
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Question: We are thinking about buying our own software so we can control everything in house. |
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Answer: You are headed in the right direction, but consider that our service does not remove control from your department. Also, consider these possible situations with regard to purchasing a software package. Some software packages are very large and do not perform a comprehensive job for lease administration. Some software packages are excessively large and complex in order to accommodate “all possible client needs and sizes”. Most software packages are expensive and require considerable training (and cross-training) of your personnel. Most software packages require additional money for “license renewals” and “upgrades”. And after spending all that money, you still need to have a real estate lease knowledgeable staff to abstract into it and maintain it.
We charge nothing for software; nothing for software upgrades of a generic nature; nothing for annual license renewals; and nothing for the minimal training required.
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Question: With all these spreadsheets, it is getting confusing to search for the right lease |
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Answer: With your data loaded into a database, searching for a particular lease is easy. Using our “CLAS” database, you can simply click on the desired file number or building, city, state drop down lists. Or you can click on “view all leases” and easily scroll down to find the location you are looking for.
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Question: I want to know when my options need to be exercised and I need to know what leases expire within the next 6 months |
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Answer: These are the kind of questions that real estate managers want quick answers to, but only data organized into a database can respond to your inquiries about which leases have options, when those options can be exercised, or which leases are due to expire in the next 6 months, or in the next 9 months.
The CLAS database can answer these and other questions quickly and easily.
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Question: My spreadsheets don’t have enough information |
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Answer: It is possible to create a gigantic spreadsheet for each lease, but that will defeat the purpose of being able to find what you want, when you want it. By using a database like our “CLAS” database, it is easy to capture all the pertinent information about each lease because each category of information is organized for easy entry in forms that are designed for that purpose. Most spreadsheets are data entry and data display, all in one sheet. That makes it nearly impossible to be efficient at both. On the contrary, with a database the data entry is separate and is designed for efficiency. Data display is done in a different area, an area that is designed for ease of reading.
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Question: I need to know my current rent obligations for each leases, all leases combined for next month so I can compare to A/P |
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Answer: Quite simply said, only a database can respond to an inquiry such as “what are my obligations for this month, next month, next year. Because databases are so much more “programmable” we can call for data in any way you want it to be displayed. The “CLAS” database has a standard report developed especially to make it easy to know what your obligations are for any day of the month for any year
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Question: I can’t get any reports out of these spreadsheets |
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Answer: As we may have mentioned before, a typical spreadsheet has to serve as both the data entry form and the report --- one form and one report. Databases are unlimited in the number and types of reports that can be developed. All that is required is the capture of data in fields so that this data can be displayed in any relationship, in any format that you want.
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Question: To make a change or addition by adding a field, I have to make the same change to all 85 of my leases, one spreadsheet at a time |
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Answer: When entering data into our spreadsheets we replace the previous data, so we end up losing historical data. If we retain historical data by adding new cells and lines, then each spreadsheet is a different size, with data in different places. The same data would be in a different place in each spreadsheet and it would take much longer to find what we want.
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Question: We tried an Access® database that our IT department created, but it took too long to develop and the IT people didn’t understand what we needed. |
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Answer: Even though databases are superior to spreadsheets for Lease Administration, not any database will perform the way you want. Access is a great starter database that can serve many needs. “CLAS” programming and formatting goes far beyond what Access could provide for our requirements, especially for a database that needed to perform efficiently as a web-enabled application. It takes a great amount of time to develop database software, even by people who understand real estate lease administration services. If you can use advanced lease administration software that provides all the basic needs plus allowing for fast, inexpensive customized reports, all at no cost, why would anyone want to develop their own or purchase a software package?
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Question: Our company just expanded from 15 to 40 leases and I need new solutions to administer my leases. |
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Answer: Companies tell us that when they reach 20 to 30 leased locations, it becomes more difficult to stay in control of all dates and dollars. It is time to consider not only moving to a database solution, but to a solution that requires no direct software cost, a solution that comes with expertise in the real estate commercial lease administration field that would be much more expensive to acquire if you needed to hire full time employees.
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Question: We looked into purchasing a software package, but most packages were “canned”, very expensive, and very complex. |
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Answer: Our “CLAS” software has been developed to provide the basic reporting information that all companies need, without all the excessive bells and whistles that pre-packaged software sometimes gives you. Most package software is very expensive to acquire, expensive to renew, complex to learn and run because it has been developed to cover “every possible situation”. And after spending all that time and money, you may still not have the staff with the necessary skills to make it work for you.
“CLAS” software costs you zero dollars to use when you use our lease administrative services, and zero to maintain because we maintain it and upgrade it at our sole cost. “CLAS” software is designed to be simple and efficient to use. Custom reports are simple and inexpensive to add. And when you consider that we will abstract all your documents, load the data into the “CLAS” database system, maintain the database, and contact you regularly regarding all date and dollar issues, it is clear that you can get the final product from us that is superior for less cost.
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Question: We just had a layoff --- I need something simple to use, easy to understand, and something that will make us productive in a very short amount of time. |
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Answer: Many companies have been forced to reduce staff, and the real estate administrative area has been hard hit. We offer an excellent outsourcing solution because our emphasis is on a total service that becomes an extension of your department. We provide the necessary software at no additional cost and we provide the most professional lease administration services in the industry. We really do want to become your partner in the administration of your lease portfolio, but we want you to be in control at all times.
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Question: My Excel spreadsheets tell me everything I need know, like expiration date, options, rent schedules, etc. Why do I need a database? |
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Answer: A database is clearly a superior way to organize lease related data. Only a database can display relationships of information in the form of reports that make lease administration quicker, easier, faster to update, and much more comprehensive. It is much more efficient to “query” a database to find specific leases that meet your customized search criteria. It is all about improving your ability to control and access information.
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Question: Why do I need to have my lease information/data on a website? |
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Answer: A web-enabled database is the ultimate in database lease administration management. Your data is organized and displayed 24 hours per day, 7 days per week. Your data can be viewed anywhere in the world where you have a phone line or cable connection to the web. For example, if you would like your associates in other cities to view the same data at the same time you view it, the web is a perfect solution.
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