“There was a lady who owned an ice-cream shop that had been there for 30 years and had a great customer base,” said Greg Sausaman. “The lady who owned it had lost her husband four years previously, and she missed her deadline to re-up for the lease. The landlord approached us and asked us to lease the space.”
Sausaman said no.
He knew the woman and her family. Instead, Sausaman alerted her that she was in danger of losing her store and encouraged her to work out a deal with the landlord. But for Sausaman, who is CEO and co-founder of Topper’s Craft Creamery and a CFE (certified franchise executive) with the International Franchise Association, the situation was about more than that one ice-cream shop. He was thinking about all the business owners who have limited resources and a lot to lose.
“How do you protect yourself from losing that legacy you’ve built as an operator for so many years that you intend to either pass on to the next generation or sell to be your financial nest egg,” Sausaman said. “Everything’s changing at breakneck speed. You need a fully automated lease management solution to avoid that misstep.
“With Leasecake, that will never happen to you. It’s the future of breakthrough technology in lease management. It’s a solution that can solve all your needs — and it’s on my phone right now.”
Recipe for Success
With the lines between business and life so blurred these days. Landlords, brokers, and multi-location operators are hungry for technology solutions that meet them where they live, work, and play. They want a human-centered, mobile approach that simplifies complex tasks.
For a long time, the commercial real estate industry had a reputation for being slow to adopt new technologies. However, tech is having a profound impact on CRE as more firms show a willingness and enthusiasm to embrace technology that can solve business challenges.
Leasecake answered the call with a platform that reduces risk, increases cash flow, and delivers information quickly to enable better decisions. It helps you keep track of all the lease events that were traditionally trapped in spreadsheets, filing cabinets — and that dusty box of leases under your desk.
Better When Shared
The beauty of Leasecake is that it’s role-agnostic. There are different flavors for asset managers, tenants, and brokers. And it gets even better when all three parties have accounts and operate in the same ecosystem.
Leasecake’s power really shines through when you share role-restricted access with team members such as maintenance technicians, bookkeepers, and unit managers. They can all be more efficient, proactive, and self-sufficient when they have access to all the information pertinent to their jobs.
“I let our accounting folks know about Leasecake immediately because they handle all our payables,” said Tim Doktorski of Team Wow, a Domino’s franchisee operating in California, Colorado, and Texas. “They’re sending out the checks to all the landlords. So it’s a great way to let them know automatically when there’s a change in base rent.”
Doktorski says there have been countless times his company missed those rent escalations and continued sending out the old rent payment. Eventually, they’d get a phone call or letter from the landlord reminding them the rent went up a few months earlier.
“Of course we apologize, immediately make them whole, and then change the amount going forward,” Doktorski said. “But as you grow, it’ll happen more and more. There’s no possible way you can keep track of all that, which is why Leasecake is so perfect.”
For Owners
When you manage an extensive real estate portfolio and need to stay on top of critical dates and events buried inside leases, it’s hard to find a simple, affordable solution.
“It’s all about saving time,” said Danny Levison of Atlanta Investment properties. “When there are only two of you, and you’re busy, every 10-minute increment of saving some time can kind of add up pretty quickly.”
With Leasecake, Levison gets instant access to his whole portfolio — from the entities that own the buildings through the dozens of tenant leases that make up his business.
“At the end of the day, it all flows down to my pocket or my investors’ pockets,” Levison said. “I’m in a small, entrepreneurial business. If I don’t capture a tenant’s rent increase, or if I don’t go back and do an operating expense, then that’s a big problem. I’ve calculated all that when I’ve underwritten the building and sold the return to the investors.
“And if I’m missing things on a regular basis, then I’m not going to hit my mark. Which means the next time I go ask them for some money, they’re going to say no.”
For Multi-Location Operators
When you’re a tenant who manages even a handful of locations, it’s super important that you stay on top of critical dates and events buried inside leases.
Now imagine what’s required to manage a business with more than 105 retail locations. Managing all those lease agreements, renewal deadlines, landlord issues, and more with tools not designed for the job is complicated and time-consuming.
When Brian Dixon of Team Oney Brands discovered Leasecake, suddenly, he had a tool designed to keep all the information at his fingertips and a partner committed to creating solutions for him, the franchisee, not just the landlord.
Leascake gave Dixon an app-based tool designed to provide access to everything he needed wherever he is.
“Before, if someone asked me a question about a lease and I wasn’t in the office, I could go through 15 steps on my phone and get the information they needed. But it was time-consuming,” Dixon said. “Now I use Leasecake, and all the information is at my fingertips on my phone, on my iPad, and on my desktop.”
For Brokers
As a commercial real estate broker, strong business relationships are everything to Bobby Palta. Beyond helping his clients find the right location at the best price and then negotiating favorable lease terms, Palta wants to set himself apart and cement a long-term bond with his customers.
“Once I help a retailer, restaurateur, or corporate tenant find a location, I don’t want it to end there,” said Palta, who is a first vice president with CBRE. “My goal is to show value on a broader scale and become the general broker for their entire portfolio. That’s why I love recommending Leasecake as my preferred lease management software.”
Brokers can offer Leasecake to landlords and tenants to help manage payments, insurance, and leasing logistics. In turn, the app provides brokers with critical insights to client renewals, expirations, and a range of relevant leasing events.
Palta suggests Leasecake to commercial landlords and tenants so they can have the peace of mind that goes along with maintaining all their leases in the cloud.
They can easily manage and monitor all the information and essential documents related to their leases. And when brokers introduce landlords and tenants to Leasecake, they cement their position as an integral part of the client’s portfolio. That enhanced relationship helps set the stage for future deals.
Get a Slice
It doesn’t matter where you are in the commercial lease ecosystem. Brokers, landlords, and tenants all need to keep track of rent increases, expirations, critical clauses, and lease-related documents.
Leasecake puts it all at your fingertips 24×7. It’s your back office in your back pocket.
Tim Doktorski from Team Wow summed it up:
“What I love about Leasecake is that it’s set it and forget it. Once you’re set up — it’s a piece of cake.”