Commitments needed

We need to get 3 or 4 more commitments from creative professionals as a greater incentive for the bank to give us the loan for our small business. They like what they have heard so far, but this would make it that much better. We are looking for web designers, web programmers, graphic designers, free-lance photographers, videographers, and any other creative professional that needs a first-class facility to call home.

$250 per month gets you studio space with desk, use of an 8 seat conference room for meetings with your clients, high speed internet access, all utilities, use of the "lounge"/ informal meeting area, and you can access it all as often as you need to. For most graphic designers, 5-8 billable hours will pay your rent for the month, and for web programmers it would be even less.

We believe that The Studios on Broadway is an affordable solution for your business to grow in a professional and comfortable atmosphere. Spread the word about us, and give out our number (479.220.9874) because we only have 8 studio spaces available (actually 6 now... we already have two commitments). If all goes well, studio space will become available in the November/December time-frame.

Round One

The Studios on Broadway had its first finance meeting with Signature Bank today, and we are off to a great start. I am really glad that we have been working on this for so long because we were able to answer almost every question that the bank had for us. Being prepared pays off! We have a few things to fill out, appraisals to get, estimates to make official, and we need 3 or 4 commitments from creative professionals saying that they will definitely lease from us upon the opening of the studio.

More to come...

On to the next step

We now have a contract on the building! Now it is on to the bank, inspections, estimates, and hopefully all ending in a closing date in the beginning of September...... much earlier that initially anticipated, but a welcome surprise. If all goes well, we could be open by the first of November.

We will keep you updated.

Patience

This whole process has been an exercise of patience for me. We have an amazing realtor representing us, and the seller's realtor has been great as well. We got to within pretty close of each other as far as price, and it looks like there might be a break in our negotiations. A good break though, because it is a PRICE BREAK :) Once again, thank you for praying for this dream of ours, and we will keep you updated.

A Standing Offer

The building owner actually came down a little bit more on his price, but not enough. We responded that our last offer was now a standing offer..... basically meaning that if he wants to sell, that is how much we are willing to give, and not a penny more. This probably means that this building won't be happening for us, unless we are just playing the "see how much the Carroll's will go up" game. The real estate business is really interesting to me at this point, and this has honestly been a really fun process thus far. We all wish things would just work out how we want them to, but I think that the process of ups and downs is part of the adventure.

A standing offer: Deal... or no deal.

Tyler

Hopeful and ever so patient

There were a few kinks to work out in the offer. We made our offer based on what public record declared to be the square footage (just over 4k square feet) and the owner was basing his counters on the building being over 5k square feet. The number that actually matters, as we understand it, is what is on public record because that is the "legal" size of the building and determines how it is taxed. We feel bad for the miscommunication because it made it seem as though we were offering $5 less per square foot than he was wanting. Our counter is actually $3 more per square foot (at 4k square feet) than he was figuring at 5k square feet. Basically, what this means is that we are hopeful yet that he will accept our offer. Then again, we are not getting attached and are actually expecting him to reject the offer. (That way, if he accepts, it is a bonus for us and not a let-down.) We are already looking into a few other buildings in the downtown area, because, like we said, we are more attached a dream than a building.

Andy Stanley's book Next Generation Leader has been great for me as we are going through this process. I recommend it to anyone who ever finds themselves in a position of leadership or if you aspire to be in that position at some point in your life. My favorite part.... "Capital follows a vision, not the other way around."

Your prayer is appreciated,

Tyler

A Final Offer

I just got off the phone with our rep and I put in our final offer on the building. No counters accepted, and we will take care of the roof project.... not the current owner. Once again, pray.

Tyler

Roofing and the next step

The quote came back from the roofing company today. A bit higher than I thought it would be, but these guys come highly recommended from a few good friends who have used them. To seal, and I mean SEAL, the entire roof through what seems to be a fairly simply yet highly technical process of roof insulation layers with elastomeric polyurethane foam layers sprayed over top, is going to cost just under 8k. This effects our counter offer quite dramatically, but hopefully the current property owner will take that into consideration.

Please keep praying that 1) This will work out, or 2) that God will open up another location for us in the downtown area.

Tyler

Quotes and mindgames

We held off on countering the current owner's counter this morning. We decided to get a quote on the roof repair, which we will have on Wednesday, and then we will go from there. We have been told to put our "best foot forward" because right now there is a 30k difference between what we have offered and what he has countered with. Basically, our "best foot" sounds like it won't be what he is looking for, but his people are telling him to consider it when we put it out there. Good thing we are more attached to the business than the building, because this would really suck if we were absolutely attached to the building. This is 100% in God's hands and if it doesn't go through, we have to trust that He has better plans (ie a better location) for us.

Keep throwing up prayer for us, because we honestly believe that prayer CAN make a difference.

Tyler

Countering a counter

We made an offer, quite the low-ball actually with many contingencies, and the owner came back with a counter. He said that he would meet all repairs/contingencies listed in the contract, but he would only come down 5k on the price. So tomorrow morning, we counter his counter. This whole "game" is kind of annoying, but I suppose it is necessary.... it is negotiations.

The offer process....

We thought we would start up a new blog specifically to document the process of us purchasing a building, starting our own business, and making a million dollars..... ok... so the last part is quite a stretch, but getting our business off the ground is definitely in the works. TC Films is up and running... so now for the building.

Alli and I are looking at a building downtown where we would remodel the downstairs into a creative community for local graphic designers, programmers, web designers/programmers, and other creative media professionals. Rent will be minimal, something like $200/month, and will include desk space (desks provided), all utilities (including internet), and access to a very nice 10 seat conference room for meeting with clients (complete with a presentation system). At this time, we are looking to have 7 spots available for local artists, because we really do not want to crowd the place out. More on this to come.. including a name... which I have NO IDEA what to call it.

After we get the creative group going, we will remodel the upstairs loft into a 2 bedroom condo which we would like to live in for the next 3-5 years. (Alli said that she would love it... but when we start having kids she wants to have a yard.... I said "deal")

I have been dreaming about this creative group for about the last 2 years, and it is really interesting to watch it all potentially come together. I am throwing around numbers right now, and have realized how much dreams can run these days. We will keep you updated on the process...


So.... been working up the plans, shopping/equipment lists, 3d scale model, and everything else that will go into our potential studio. This is A LOT of work, but along with that comes even MORE prayer! Allison and I have been back and forth on this decision, mostly staying "on the same side" of the issues which has been nice, but we have decided, after much prayer and discussion to move forward. If we are able to get a contract on it soon, it will still be 2-3 months before closing because of current owner repairs and special/mixed use permits, and then another 2 months for the gut and remodel. If all goes well though, we could have our open house around the beginning of December.

So... the official offer process begins. Throw one up for us if you catch a moment tomorrow morning. We are really praying that the owner just wants to get rid of it and is willing to fix the things we need fixed.... or at least give us a price reduction off of our offer equal to those fixes. It is a lot to ask, but it is where we begin....

Updates to come...