The Office Move
The time has come to pass and we are leaving our current office for an owned location. As you read this – HOPEFULLY – we are comfortable ensconced in our new office – wherever it may be. Yep – not sure where we will be come February 1st.
It all began when I was purchasing a location to set up our new office. The offer was made and accepted and … weeks ticked by… and eventually we were told finally all was fine and we would close in a week or so. So I gave notice to my landlord (great people by the way) that we would be vacating our office of some 3 years January 31. This notice was given December 15th.
It seems the new location, a commercial condo, has a small problem. A former manager slipped and fell, sued the association for defects in a property he was maintaining, and won a large judgment well in excess of the policy maximums. The association did not declare bankruptcy and the law firm representing the injured former manager is now in possession of all of the common areas. So while the title to the office condo is OK, the relationship with the association is ??? We, needless to say – we did not close
How did we find out about this odd situation – we did our due diligence and found out the problems that were unknown to either the listing agent, the buyer’s agent or the title company? So for a period of time our phones will be forwarded to a web based phone services and we will have to work in disjointed fashion as I scramble to find a new suitable location.
I am also reminded of the AMA article I read some years ago. It was a poll taken from companies that had recently moved. Of the “managers in charge” of the move – fully 2/3 were no longer with the company or had taken a demotion. While one can plan and plan and plan – often one’s moving plans do not survive the encounter with the many seemingly random externalities of a given move.
This encounter with a property purchase and a move also reminds me of the phrase, you know what you know, you know what you don’t know – and you don’t know what you don’t know. Due diligence helps with all three possibilities, but yet still one must find a way to plan for the unplanned.
