I'd like to step away

[umpqua plaza car wash]

I'd like to step away from the day to day operations of a self serve/in-bay-automatic and lease the business but keep the property. I'm looking for ideas on establishing a lease or management fee with one of the locals. Any ideas or operating leases out there?

 

[MEP001]

It's not uncommon, but you may not want to step away completely. Remember that ultimately it's still your business unless you're leasing to own. I've seen time and again where someone leased a wash and ran it into the ground, leaving at the end of the lease with a bunch of quarters and a wash of no value.

 

[Reds]

I just sold 5 Burger King's that I owned and operated over the last 27 years. Here are a few of the arrangements regarding who owned what (property, equip., biz assets)
1 - I leased the entire premises from BKC, I owned the equipment & biz, but paid them rent based on a % of sales (NNN lease).
2- I leased the entire premises from a property owner, and paid them a fixed rent (NNN lease) for the premises. Equipment & biz were mine.
3- I owned it all.
4- I leased a space in a food court. I owned the equipment & biz, the owner paid for property maintenance & upgrades. I paid a % of utilities and 100% of my equipment R&M
5- I leased 1 acre from Cornell University. I built and owned the building that was on it, and the biz & all equipment were mine. I paid ground rent to Cornell & the biz paid me (personally) rent for the building. All NNN.
The landlords all got their rent regardless of whether I made or lost money. I also had to sign personal guarantees for all leases except the one with Cornell U. In all cases the business was owned and operated by one party (me) and the facilities were owned by others. The only other way to do it is with a management contract. Every instance that I was aware of where people had management companies do their operating turned out to be expensive and full of troubles. No one will operate your business like you would.

 

[umpqua plaza car wash]

Thanks for the insight...I appreciate your time.

 

[robert roman]

If your serious about stepping away, hire a good attorney with real estate and small business experience and structure a purchase contract and triple net lease agreement to your liking. The attorney will include the boilerplate stuff that is required by law along with any provisions which he or she believes that you need to protect your best interests. Besides meeting those criteria, there really are no bounds on how you can structure a lease agreement. Make it tough and strongly worded so if the buyer doesn't abide by the terms, you can take the carwash back and sell it to someone else. After all, as the other gentleman described, you would be holding land but basically selling the use of your goodwill, equipment and fixtures and inventory for the duration of the contract. Do whatever you can to minimize the risk of neglect. A strong, responsible buyer, which is who you should want to buy your wash, should not be put out by an honest but tough agreement.

 

[guywashingcars]

I need more out of life than owning operating my wash. It is tough to take the hit a good manager is going to cost considering the last couple of years decline in numbers around here. I am in the process of training a new manager at this point and hope that there will be a lot less clogged vac nozzles and cashier toilet breaks in my life. Oops got to go the car wash is crying !

 

[Waxman]

What about offering detailing at the wash? It can provide and extra revenue stream as well as an on-site staff to handle the needs of the car wash.

 

[AdamA]

I leased a self serve. Basically paying what owner was netting for the lease and bought the equipment. Made sense for me as the site needs updating and an auto, so it pencils for both of us.

Wouldn't have worked if I couldn't increase revenue. Even then, he is probably a little below market on lease rate.