Long, hard, and messy: birthing leases and babies 👶

It’s the beginning of spring, and over here at Pedal we’re about to begin Babywatch 2024. In case you missed the news, or if you’re reading this like “why are they talking about a baby?” I’ll catch you up to speed.

Abby, Pedal cofounder and retail broker extraordinaire, is a few weeks away from having a baby. Her FIRST baby. So of course, I am very excited to welcome Abby into the club of women with no shame and limited bladder control on trampolines.

As you can imagine, in addition to our regular constant chatter about retail real estate, we’ve also been talking A LOT about childbirth and babies these past many months.

[If you’re now asking yourself, “oh my god, is this company founded and run by women about to talk about BIRTH in a newsletter”? Don’t worry, the answer is definitely yes. We’re going there, because well, we have no shame.]

Anyhoo…as is our nature, we couldn’t help but connect the dots, and we kept coming back to how much the end of the lease transaction process is a whole lot like giving birth, only with far less bodily fluid and where dad signs a personal guaranty instead of cutting an umbilical cord.

If you’re not familiar with human birth — not the whole pregnancy, just the part at the end where you’ve got to get that baby out — the laboring before the birth is very, very challenging. And (here’s where the lease metaphor comes in) it gets HARDEST right before the very end.

Here’s the Mayo Clinic to explain the birth part of this metaphor:

The last part of active labor — often referred to as transition — can be particularly intense and painful. Contractions will come close together and can last 60 to 90 seconds. You'll experience pressure in your lower back and rectum. Tell your health care provider if you feel the urge to push.

Yep – it’s the part of labor that gets depicted in entertainment like this:

Now while this is obviously NOT an accurate representation of what really happens (most of the time) during labor, it IS an accurate portrayal of the period of time at the end of many lease transactions -- after months of hard work and after a lease has gone back and forth and back and forth and there are still one or two very specific, very important unresolved issues. This always happens riiiiiiiiiiiight before the lease gets signed.

And just like birth doulas who use their deep experience and knowledge to help laboring women get through the toughest parts, here’s some of the advice that we offer clients at the end stages of leasing, since we’re basically doulas for retail leases:

⚖️ You may have to compromise on some issues


You’ve been negotiating since the first LOI, which at this point was many moons ago, so it’s normal to feel completely “over it” and annoyed that you’re not done yet. While there is often a temptation to dig in your heels on every remaining issue out of a desire to “not let the other side win,” this is short sighted and potentially dangerous to the whole deal. Remember that your business plan tells you what is essential and where you have room to compromise. Remember that the most critical points were already settled in the LOI, so while some lease terms may not be ideal, not everything needs to be a deal killer. 


🔥 You’ve been through A LOT already, but the intensity can (and will) dial up


Typically the points of contention that stick around to the end are ones that both you and your landlord care a lot about…or they would have been resolved already. And since everyone is very much ready to finish this up, it can be easy to see the other side as an obstinate bully, but this is rarely the case. As is true in life generally, when we’re tired, emotions run high and we can have trouble keeping perspective. 
Practice some deep breathing and have a snack.

🙏 Everyone wants to get the deal done


When parties – both landlord and tenant – go to lease, they fully intend to see it through to the end. Not only is everyone spending serious money on legal fees, but after months of preliminary LOI negotiations, both sides have a lot of sunk energetic and due diligence costs. So when you get stuck on point 2,983 of negotiation, it’s natural to stomp your feet and shout something like, “omggggg is the landlord even TRYING here? Why are they being such jerks? Are they trying to get me to bail on this deal?” With very rare exception, no, they are not up to anything nefarious, and no one has any interest in playing weird mind games. So as tempting as it is to assume there’s a great conspiracy afoot and you should start prepping for armageddon, this mindset will not serve you.


🤩 You forget the pain shortly after it’s over


According to the internet, the research is debatable on whether women actually forget the “intense discomfort” of childbirth, but the myth certainly remains, so we’ll use because it works for our metaphor. Since you’re suffering through this process to open a brick-and-mortar business, and you’re probably NOT training to be a retail real estate broker or attorney, once the lease is signed, you’re done with lease negotiations forever…or at least for a while. In fact, some of the most frustrating people in lease negotiations will never show up in your inbox ever again, because when the deal is inked, the brokers and the lawyers return to their little subterranean caves, and you get to start doing what you set out to do in the first place – run your business. 


✨ This intense, messy, and not-something-you’d-do-again-for-fun experience is the essential precursor to the good part where you have a brand new business to love and care for.

Here’s where we close out the birth metaphor (until next time, muahahahaha!): Just like all the books and doulas and online prep classes will tell you, by preparing yourself for what to expect, and by surrounding yourself with knowledgeable, experienced, supportive guides, you’ll dramatically reduce your suffering…you might even enjoy it. At least in hindsight, anyway.