hey everybody just wanted to give you
all an update on this real estate series
so on that 30th Street space I finally
got a lease sent out from the managing
agent it's 64 pages to put that into
perspective before doing any negotiating
with my current space the lease was 15
pages this lease is 64 pages so
something tells me that between the
Jewish holidays coming up that my my
lawyer and the managing agent of that
company both partaken and the length of
that lease that we are of far away's off
from signing something or getting a deal
but that is still the front runner so
let's just talk about why the 30th
Street space from one out over the other
two spaces that were the final
contenders which are the Avenue B and
East Fourth Street restaurant and also
the 28th Street and Lexington hindu
statue store the place with two levels
so when it comes to the restaurant the
first reason that they lost out even
though I was fully willing to go ahead
with the deal at $10,000 a month was
because they wanted zero concession so
no concession no free rents even though
I have to kill thousands of cockroaches
card a bunch of crap out of their clean
up a bunch of grease and do quite a bit
of construction adding a gate fixing up
the windows everything before I can use
it he played hardball and he lost so
what he could have done is say will give
you two months not even the three months
that other places are offering you or
six months that the places that are as
screwed up as this are offering you
we're giving you nothing if he had even
given me two months I would have signed
the lease when I got it then in there
after having a contract or do the
walkthrough the problem is that he he
stayed hardball on the zero months and
when Steve showed up and I showed up and
Steve spent about 40 minutes
back-and-forth with that guy trying to
get anything out of him he got nothing
zero zilch she said it doesn't make
sense why would I do that when this yeah
I could charge a restaurant fifty
thousand dollars to take the space it
doesn't make sense that I give you
anything I'm giving you register on
equipment for free you should be happy
with it
so I decided to keep looking at that
point because I just said okay well
seems like this is not gonna work and
that's when I found the Allan space at
West 30th Street I had no idea that 70
dollars per square foot was available in
midtown Manhattan I didn't believe it I
had no idea I was pigeon-holed into this
idea that I need to be in Alphabet City
because that's all I could afford
because if it was any nicer I couldn't
afford it as John burrows Barden would
say but that was not true and the reason
I was able to find out that that wasn't
true is because the restaurant managing
agent played hardball and he lost so he
came back to me and said we'll give you
one month free rent what about two
months okay now what about three months
no what about six months no and then let
a few days ago he finally got back to me
and said we'll give you $9,000 in six
months free rent and I realized that
where we're going down the the road at
this point to where you're probably
gonna give me this restaurant for free
so I said that I had saw I was looking
at another place I'm not interested
anymore
I had to clarify to him that essentially
this is on you if you had simply given
me two months free at $10,000 I actually
would have taken it the reason I'm not
taking it now even though you're
offering me more is not because I'm
trying to be an [ __ ] it's simply
because I did not know that something
that much better
was available but you gave me an opening
to find out that much better is
available had you not played hardball I
would have never found Alan I would have
never kept looking and I would have
never had Alan explain to me look you
could get midtown store space for about
the same price per square foot that
you'd be paying for some shitty
restaurant out in the middle of nowhere
and if you look on a map of New York
City if you're watching this from
outside New York City look at a map look
what my current store is in Google Maps
if you look at 12th Street and 1st
Avenue
you'll see that we're two blocks from a
major train the L train it's one train
only that we're a few blocks from but
that is the train that transports the
hipsters from Williamsburg to Manhattan
from Bushwick and also that goes to you
know the dorms for NYU and all that
stuff so there's it's a train with with
lots of of kuroda jtech connectors on it
I'll leave it at that
that would make for a good business so
we're two blocks away from the Train if
you look at Avenue B an East 4th Street
that is a trek that is ten short blocks
two really long blocks from the L or you
know three or four long blocks from the
F and then four
short blocks that's it's far out there
it's pretty it's very far out there into
middle of nowhere section of Manhattan
and I thought to myself even if you were
to give me all these concessions knowing
that just a few thousand dollars more
would get me around 30th Street where
I'm close to the one the two the three
the end the queue there are the W the B
the D the F the V the a the C the e the
one to two to three in the six why why
would I take something in the middle of
nowhere and it's one of these things
where when you're moving on when you're
trying to when you're taking on new
expenses as a business and you're trying
to grow so you're upgrading I think it's
important to be upgrading everything so
our space should look better our space
should be more accessible to customers
our space should be in a more
high-traffic area our space should be
easier to get to our space should be
more convenient for the organization of
the workers at the company and while
that space was larger while that space
would have looked better when we were
done with construction and it was a
major downgrade in location and if I'm
gonna be doubling or tripling the amount
of rent that I spent and putting a lot
of money into construction I don't want
to figure out the hard way that most of
my customers well they like me they're
not willing to walk in additional 14
blocks to the middle of nowhere after
they get off the train to get to me
because you know most people when
they're looking at spaces like this
where do I get my hair cut what you know
which ATM do I go to or whatever they're
looking for a space that is close to the
Train they don't want to have to go to
some far-off train and then have to walk
14 blocks after they get off the train
if you're right there we need they get
off the train that's business if they
gotta walk 14 blocks when they get off
the train that's what we call a lost
sell to another competitor so I don't
want to have that type of balance if I'm
putting all this money in it should be
an upgrade in every single area so I
laid it out to him and I made it very
clear that you had your chance as you
know as mr. Frese was saying to Batman
when in season 1 episode 5 and so did
you
I like that episode I really like that
man beyond to the series especially
season 1 episode 5 everybody should
watch that I think you could find it on
Vimeo for free but anyway you had your
chance you really did I was open and
taking the space and you screwed up and
here's the thing that sucks about this
industry and here's something that Steve
said which is why Steve has not taken
part in most of the negotiations is that
I'm a good negotiator he Steve is a
great negotiator I'm speaking of Steve
not me I suck at negotiating he's very
good at negotiating but where he falls
short is when the only way to get a
concession is by walking away he'll go
back and forth will say well I
understand where you're coming from here
that doesn't work for you maybe this
will or you can't make a concession here
what if we make a concession here and
then in exchange you make a concession
there that's Steve's type of negotiating
like actual going back and forth whereas
real estate negotiating is now we can
get somebody else in so it doesn't make
any sense to give you any concession or
any compromise and then you walk away
and then they go no no lunar will come
back it's like Oh what [ __ ] I
thought you had everybody lining up to
take your space what happened to that oh
yeah you don't you lying prick but
anyway that's the way it works in real
estate it's scummy it's bad it's in bad
faith negotiating its scummy negotiating
tactic and it makes you feel like the
[ __ ] sleaze ball and slime ball and
that's not how he negotiates but that's
how I can negotiate if I flip a switch
that I don't like turning that I have
been turning to make to get the deals
that I've been getting and if you had
not done that you would have had a
tenant you wouldn't have been having to
lower your rent by a thousand or up the
concession by three to four months you
had me but you [ __ ] up and because you
negotiated in bad faith you lost the
deal maybe this will help you with your
next deal and this is not something that
I am telling you to tell you how to do
your job because we've had three or four
back-and-forth emails where I never
mentioned this I cordially just said
thank you we found other spaces but that
you know I appreciate it but it's not
gonna work but since you're coming back
to me for the third or fourth time I
think I should at least explain to you
what you did wrong so you don't repeat
it now we move on to the Lexington
Street space the Lexington Avenue and
28th Street space that space was
actually pretty good it started off at
fourteen thousand nine hundred then
fourteen thousand five hundred and
fourteen thousand
thirteen thousand five hundred and
thirteen thousand and we finally got
them down to 13 thousand after an hour
and back and forth then the security
deposit they want four months then we
get it down to three months then we get
it down to two months and then the three
months again again it took another hour
of going back and forth to get them down
to a two-month deposit in two months
free the band which is actually a good
deal
that's better than 30th Street even
though there's a little bit higher rent
it's considerably better in the deposit
and even though it's only two months
free there is admittedly less work that
would have to be done to that space so
why say no well it's not simply the fact
that it's less conveniently located when
it comes to trains the 30th Street space
is 1930 or 1950 I forget not only 1950
square feet
I'll estimate on the high side will be a
realtor for tonight I was is about 1950
square feet of throughout the entire
space or as the space on Lexington the a
Lexington Avenue space that a hindu
statue store that space was about 10,000
square feet or so on the bottom and
about 1100 square feet on the top so
even though it's more square footage
overall in order to get upstairs you
don't get upstairs from inside the
building or inside the store you need to
walk outside of the store take out your
key open a door walk up the stairs take
out another key open another door and
then get into the space that way and
that is an upgrade in the size of space
however it's a considerable downgrade
when you talk about convenience so it's
it's raining outside I need to take a
machine from upstairs from downstairs to
upstairs am I gonna get be getting more
liquid damage on something that I
already fixed I have to now if I want to
just like have an employee come back or
something I can't just look at them and
do this or say hey come here or I can't
hear conversations that are going on
around me if I put effort into it or if
there's something going on I can't just
say you're quiet for a moment so I can
just hear and see if something is
something that I should be paying
attention to because it's a it's because
it's in another it's on another plane
and not only is it on another floor but
there's not one but two locked doors
sitting between the two the two spaces
well that's going to drastic
decrease the convenience of workflow if
to get to your incoming queue you have
to go through to lock doors each time
and carry stuff up a stairwell that is
can and it's not something that seems
like a big deal if you're just thinking
about it an abstract but it is a big
deal if you start actually working in
that environment and just considering
what your workflow would be like what
your day would be like if there is that
separation if can't you have to carry
boxes as well you have to carry
equipment you have to carry shipments
it's a pain in the ass way of working
and one of the things that was really
important with this move is as I said
when you're upgrading if you're gonna be
upgrading or expanding in any way you
want to upgrade in every way possible
better location more space nicer looking
location you know more convenient for
the customers and for you so if we are
in a space where the bait where the
bottom floor is only 350 square-foot
upgrade and in order to get the rest of
the space you need to go upstairs which
means going out of the building and then
going back into the building through to
lock doors to get there that is a major
downgrade inconvenience to even what I
have now that's a large downgrade
inconvenience to what I have now and
that is not worth it if I'm gonna be
spending $13,000 again we're looking at
putting 60,000 to a hundred eighty
thousand dollars of construction into a
space we're looking at just the turnkey
cost of moving in being over forty
thousand dollars just like just to get
keys and sign a lease and have an
attorney review it and we're looking at
doubling to tripling the rent going from
47 to 4900 over to 13,000 if I'm going
to be tripling the amount of money that
I spend on the space and paying six
figures just to get in it needs to be an
upgrade in every way possible not a
partial upgrade here a downgrade there
if we're dealing with it's an upgrade in
this way but a downgrade in that way
then it's got to be something where I'm
just moving over and I'm not shelling
out six figures of money for it and I'm
just thinking of the workflow of anytime
you want to grab something
bring something down you have to go
through two locked doors in a stairwell
and go outside the building to do it
that's a pain in the ass because we walk
back and forth on a regular basis to you
know if not just for the ability to
interface when we're dealing with
difficult to solve problems or you know
cuz a lot of the workflow here is
somebody is having it difficult to solve
problem and it's starting to aggravate
them and they ask for help and they get
a little bit of help and then you know
that they're trying to do it but they
can't figure out exactly how to
implement the advice and because there's
line of sight and you can hear and see
like oh ya know when I said to do a I
meant to a like this and then and then
that you know it's that type of it's
that type of what's the word I'm looking
for it's that type of collaboration and
workflow that makes it easy so each
person has their own space but it's easy
to access the other people within that
space I'm not trying to sound like some
wework hipster where you know you're you
being a programmer it totally makes
sense to be next to some guy who's a
musician which makes total sense to be
next to some guy who is you know of a
cement mixer or whatever no that's just
them trying to make as much money as
possible by inculcating you into the
mindset that you should pay a premium to
have less privacy and less space which
is [ __ ] but in our business if we're
all doing the same thing and we're all
working towards the same goal it does
make a little bit of sense that even if
you have your sectioned off spaces that
it still be easy to access and easy to
have lines of sight to the other spaces
so that when these when small little
problems like that show up you can help
somebody out before they become fresh
too frustrated or too aggravated at
whatever problem they're solving and
when you're working with products that
are not documented when you're working
with items where you don't even know if
the chip that you bought to put on here
is the right one because this is a CEO
oh and this is a bo3 and you don't have
access to the engineers of the
documentation for it or you're not sure
why this adhesive is not working for the
screen versus that one it's very easy to
get frustrated and having that easy
access to to colleagues that will be
able to help you out it means something
and that's something that would be lost
if you're separating people not only by
a stairwell not only by a floor but by
to lock doors
that is it's adding a lot of
inconvenience in the process now the
30th Street location a 64 page lease in
this lease there is a clause I'm not
kidding that says I cannot have a
bicycle inside the store I don't know if
I have enough money in my bank account
to afford enough red ink to fill up my
pens to cross out all the garbage in
this lease I just got to reading it it's
ABS it's so adorable it's adorable and
it's so cute
I think that's adorable little Bernstein
management that you think that I really
really know bicycles in the store at
twelve thousand eight hundred
thirty-three dollars a month not
motorcycle not truck not car [ __ ]
bicycle are you kidding me I can't wait
to read through the entire thing cuz I
haven't even read through the entire
thing I've only read through the
sections that are ridiculous and again
my attorney prepared me for this to be
clear my lawyer told me that when you go
through this lease that the first copy
you get is going to be pretty much
satire and then we're gonna go through
it and then we're gonna reduce it to
something that's less ridiculous and
then they're gonna go back and draft the
new copy that's kind of normal
ridiculous and then we're gonna go
through that and then we're gonna go
through and then they're gonna send this
back a copy that's normal but she
explained to me I have a very good
commercial real estate attorney in New
York who's good at you know dealing with
specifically commercial retail and
office lease spaces in Manhattan they're
used to the BS that's in these leases
she said this is exactly what I expected
to get and we're gonna work back and
forth to get you a lease that makes
sense maybe even the lease that's only
16 pages who knows yeah my lease right
now is about 15 or 16 pages the lease
for this new place 64 pages now one of
the things that I always try to do is I
try to frame things in a win-win mindset
and I think it's important to always
look for the silver lining when there's
something that sucks so
let's just take an example of this when
it comes to consumer electronics repair
many people would say that when they
went or from the led of the chip that
powers the screen backlight being in a
little separate inverter board right
below the screen that's easy to swap out
any sixth grader could do it to a chip
that was soldered on the motherboard
this is bad because it makes it harder I
think that that's honestly great because
that means that it's going to lessen the
it's going to mean that if you're good
at your job that there's more business
for you so let's say there's a hundred
people doing this in my area only ten of
them know how to solder when you make it
a requirement that you know how to
solder yes it's annoying it makes the
job more difficult it makes it take more
time but there's a silver lining which
is if I'm good at my job
more business for me now once that chip
is no longer a qfn but a micro BGA that
means that it's not just very basic
micro soldering skills needed that means
it's also more intermediate micro
soldering skills needed will that make
it more difficult for me to train a tech
yes will that mean that I get more
business when the places that cannot
solder micro BGA's lose business because
they don't know how to do it yes there's
a bad part to it but there's also a
silver lining and you always want to be
surfing that silver lining because
that's gonna be what allows you to
profit so here where's my silver lining
well I have a 64 page lease crap and
it's there's also a bunch of Jewish
holidays this month which means that
there's going to be a lot of delay in
working back and forth between the
management company the owners of the
building and my attorney crap how can I
make that work to my advantage
well finding a contractor is also a
nightmare finding an architect or a
designer that does not think that he is
designing in Macy's or an Apple store is
also quite difficult in taking time
figuring out the differences between a
normal general contractor or a
design-build contractor overpriced
general contract or a medium general
contractor guy who knows a guy
consulting Inc that also is licensed guy
who knows a guy Inc that has no license
like figuring out what the price points
of all these people are and getting
quotes for them is also going to take
so if I was able to sign a lease like
that if I sign the lease tomorrow what
that means is that I'm now paying rent
on a space without having all of the
without having a contractor so what does
that mean I'm now paying rent to have a
space that I can't use for anything not
even building because I don't even have
anybody to start the work
that's bad ideally what would happen is
you would already have all your bids
laid out you'd figure out which one you
think is the most reputable while also
being the one that makes the most sense
financially and then the moment you sign
your lease you hand your keys over to
them they get started measuring drawing
out plans filing permits and then
getting to work so here's what I'm doing
well it takes a lot of time to deal with
the 64 page lease crap and it's hard to
get a contractor crap so what can I do
here maybe I can start showing the space
to the contractors that I want to get
bids from before I sign the lease so the
way I'm doing I'm registering this in my
head I'm seeing the 64 page lease not as
a burden but I'm seeing it as a blessing
in disguise while we go back and forth
with the you know removing pages from
this like you can't have your bike in
the building kind of rubbish well we're
going back and forth with this kind of
crap where for twelve thousand eight
hundred dollars a month I need to park
my bike outside well we're going back
and forth negotiating this what I'm
hoping that we can do is have people go
come to view the space and put bids in
it you know we'll see okay how much do
you want how much do you think it'll be
how much do you think it'll be okay now
for designing the space how would you
envision yourself designing the space
how would you envision the space looking
what would it cost for you to design the
space what would it cost for you to
implement your vision and so on and so
forth so that by the time I finally get
the keys after crossing out all this
nonsense in this lease and going through
that negotiation process with the
building management again where again I
need to profess that even though I have
people I have plans and everything drawn
up and out of make your space I will
walk in away in a moment's notice if
you're telling me that I kept to park my
bike outside
then we're in a better position then we
would be if I was paying rent right now
and while doing this search for a
contract and wasting time having bidders
come in this I'm sure I always try to
view the silver lining as the blessing
in disguise and that's where we are
right now so we have a lease my that
Elise is sitting with my attorney
they're gonna be going back and forth on
it I'm going to try to see if I can get
that very kind and polite super from
that building who is very helpful we
were doing our walk through the space to
I'll open the door for me every now and
then so that I can have a contractor
walk through give me a bid and so that
the moment that we have a lease that my
attorney and myself both agree is
written with that not only the best
interest of the landlord in mine but
also my best interests the moment that
we sign off on it
I can take those keys give them to a
contractor and get to work
because I believe that that 30th Street
space is the best combination of
everything it's a good dollar it's a
good value for the dollar $70 per square
foot with no loss factor considered
about 79 a square foot with loss factor
considered that's less than my current
space which after rent increases is
actually going to be going up to 95 to
96 dollars a square foot so keep in mind
that per square foot this space is about
20 bucks cheaper than where I am right
now it's near every major train it's
larger the layout of the space is going
to be more convenience than my current
one not less convenient where I need to
go upstairs and everything like that and
the area is actually a more heavy
high-traffic area than the area that I
am in right now so this space is an
upgrade in every possible way the only
thing that is in the way right now is
that finding contractors that don't just
give blind quotes without even looking
at the space is very difficult and
getting over this lease and one of the
things that I'm really interested in is
that I've only found two contractors so
far only two of everyone I've contra
contacted that field that says we would
like to look at the space before we give
you the numbers you gave any thought
I've
so many design-build companies and many
of these design-build companies are
throwing out generic hundred to $165 per
square foot figures or they'll go well
we're look you're looking at two hundred
ninety thousand for construction or
you're looking at three fifty for
construction or you're looking at this
and you haven't even walked through the
space you haven't walked through the
space this is not know back light on a
MacBook Air where you can quote 150 to
325 this is a lot of work in a fairly
large space
how are you giving me these numbers
before you even examine the wall because
some of them have even admitted we
haven't looked through your video yet
and if you haven't even seen my video
walkthrough where are you getting those
numbers from so this is and one of the
things that I've learned so far is that
a design-build company with an office in
Manhattan is most likely a Genius Bar
I'm starting to learn because there's
parallels between the different
industries even though they have nothing
to do with one another that there's
there are names for things and once you
know to call things by their proper name
it's much easier going forward like when
it came to I knew the type of jumper
wire that I wanted I just didn't know
what it was called so I wanted to be on
Cornell wire that doesn't work I tried
using a wire from an IDE cable that
didn't work I tried using mold denim
wire the crap that you're supposed to
use to remove the glass from a broken
glass from a samsung s - that didn't
work
LVDS cable wire that didn't work enamel
magnet wire or enamel magnet wire that
works I knew what I wanted I didn't know
what it was called now from the last
video somebody said you don't want to
hire an architect and then hire a large
contractor you want to design-build
company because they're going to design
the space for you they're gonna do all
the filings with the Department of
Buildings and they're they're gonna you
know make sure it looks nice and they're
gonna find all the contractors for you
so I thought AHA that's what I want I
want a design-build company thank you so
much for telling me the name of the
thing that I was looking for that I
didn't know but what I didn't realize is
that design-build contractor means
Genius Bar and I don't want a Genius Bar
I don't want to pay 750 bucks because of
you know my my
a trackpad ribbon cable needs to be
replaced I don't want to pay $1200 for a
backlight fuse no no I want to pay $200
to get my board fixed I don't want to
pay $1,250 to have my trackpad cable
replaced and I'm trying to find the
interior design and general contractor's
version of 2 to 400 to fix my board
rather than $1500 to replace my trackpad
cable which is what's happening right
now
when I reach out to the average
Manhattan design-build company I'm
speaking to the place that's trying to
tell me that it's going to cost $2,000
to fix the fact that my machine has one
bent pin on the screen cable and even if
they have a very specific policy that
leads them in their minds to thinking
that that's appropriate for them cool
not for me because I need to I'm not I'm
not a millionaire I mean I got this one
comment on reddit the other day it made
me it made me chuckle where somebody
said you know he's and he's probably a
multi-millionaire by now he's got
millions off of all this YouTube money
and a like I wound up showing the
screenshot of what I actually made off
of YouTube in the last seven and a half
years including all the donations from
the people after the building fire last
year thank you very much for that by the
way just in case it hasn't been
mentioned already
right after my building went on fire
October last year a few months after my
concussion all all the inventory that I
had in the basement got flooded from all
the the water they were using to put out
the fire and without me even doing
anything mentioning anything hundreds
upon thousands of people left donations
on my youtube channel so I just buy
without me saying anything which to me
is just thank you that that is genuinely
just thank you it's it's it's it's a
beautiful thing and I am in your debt
for for putting in that type of
generosity towards me when I probably
haven't done [ __ ] for you but yeah I put
out the the number and I think that most
of these design-build contractors they
think I'm a millionaire they think that
I inherited $750,000 from my parents
it's always been my dream to hope
in a coffee shop in Manhattan that's
pretty and since I inherited $750,000
well partying with half of it is not
really gonna mean that much to me right
like no that's that that's money that's
that means something to me and I'm
looking for somebody who can make the
space look nice has an eye for design
can tell me what I should make it look
like can tell me how it should be done
that is also not looking to take me for
you know every last penny from now on
till eternity and that's where we're at
so that's it for today that as always I
hope you learn something and I look
forward to being done with all of this
real estate stuff soon so that we can
get back to the regular board or pair
videos and hard drive videos and Paul
videos and stuff like that
that I used to do the store has gotten
to the point where it's a little too
it's Steve is simply far too busy to do
data recovery videos at that point at
this point it is there's virtually no
time for him to put any effort into
doing data recovery videos we can't hire
another person to do that because we'd
have to get another cleanroom bench and
Steve is already working right it's
really funny he has a ridiculously high
success rate with hard drives and his
cleanroom bench is literally located
across from the [ __ ] garbage bottle I
don't know where if we get another
cleaner on bench we're gonna have to put
the Steve's data recovery colleague
likely out on the street not very clean
room yeah it's it's a little crowded so
I would like to start getting back to
doing more of the educational stuff and
being able to do educational videos on
more stuff maybe iPhone data recovery
videos hard drive data recovery videos
all sorts of stuff but I can't really
get to work on that stuff until we move
because set thirteen people right now
are working inside of a 650 square foot
hallway and that's just it's it's just
it's stressful it's difficult to manage
adding videos on top of it is fairly
difficult so that's it and I'm gonna
stop rambling this video made it to 31
minutes that's way too long and I will
see you all in the next one thanks for
watching