Make your local retail district thrive

 

Fill your Main Street with businesses that are memorable, unique, local and LASTING! We’ll help you support the retailers you serve with the intel they need to sign smart leases, manage landlord relationships and THRIVE in bricks-and-mortar.

CREATE A THRIVING DOWNTOWN!

"The failure rate for mom-and-pop retailers in my community keeps me up at night, and if I see another vacant storefront I'll lose my mind."

 
Does this sound like you?
  • Your downtown retail is not living up to its potential and you can’t figure out specifically why. You know it’s a commercial real estate issue… but that’s about it.

  • You field panicked calls from retailers asking technical questions about their leases and you don’t know the answers any better than they do.

  • Your job performance is judged by the number of retail vacancies in your downtown, and yet you feel powerless to persuade the gatekeepers to do ANYTHING with their buildings

  • You're dismayed at the state of your downtown retail because:
    • It’s all the same national chains - snooze. 
    • There are NO national chains at all - what does a brother have to do to get a Starbucks?
    • There are more vacancies than open businesses.
    • All of the cool businesses are going to the next town over. 
    • The churn among the mom-and-pops is giving you whiplash.

Whether your downtown is full of the wrong types of businesses or full of vacancies, you’re looking for the answers to help you course correct.

  • You want to reinvent your town’s retail landscape. You want to thrive at work and help more people… without sitting through 75 hours of real estate licensing education. You’re over Googling real estate terminology and overpaying for expert “reports” that don’t offer anything actionable - you want to learn the basics yourself so you can create better outcomes for your community.

If you want to attract more interesting retailers to your downtown, you have to understand retail real estate.

Retail leases are the foundation of a successful brick-and-mortar business. They can set business owners up for long term success, but they can also sink an enterprise and the family behind it.

Once it’s signed, a lease is the MOST CONSEQUENTIAL and MOST INFLEXIBLE part of a retail business. The stakes are too high for mom-and-pop business owners to get it wrong. We see this tragedy play out all too often.

And yet, across the country, the dedicated community servants in Main Streets and business support offices are thrown directly into the fire with little to no training on commercial leases. You’re somehow expected to have been born with a deep knowledge of the inner workings and details of retail real estate.


Retail real estate is not a mysterious realm that can only be known through on-the-job experience. 

There are common terms, processes, and players that are consistent across all communities, and anyone in a role that supports bricks-and-mortar businesses should know them.

Until now, business support professionals had to learn about retail real estate on the job – one five-alarm fire at a time.

Those days are over.

INTRODUCING

Foundations of Retail Real Estate

Video Poster Image

Fast track your commercial real estate knowledge to serve your community better

Foundations of Retail Real Estate has three goals:

  • Save mom-and-pop retailers from financial and emotional ruin.
    Dramatic? Yes. True? Also Yes. The stakes of signing a commercial lease are sky high, and in your advisory role, you have the ability to make a real impact. Understanding how the system works and how you can support all of the stakeholders (both property owners and retailers) will help you get the best outcomes for the business owners in your community. Be a hero in your community - cape optional.
  • Craft effective policies and programs.
    Be it grant programs, incubators, or municipal zoning rules, things always work best when they are rooted in reality. The most effective programs are crafted with the knowledge of how the commercial real estate ecosystem works, who pushes and pulls which levers, and how everyone succeeds. If you’re tired of planning and launching initiatives that don’t seem to go anywhere, it’s time to level up.
  • Boost your job performance (and stress a whole lot less).
    There’s almost nothing worse than receiving a call from someone in tears and feeling (a) at a loss to help them, and (b) frustrated that they’re in a situation of their own making. No more faking your way through commercial real estate conversations - we’ll teach you what you need to know, and you can breathe a sigh of relief.

This course is a game-changer for your career, and your community.

 

It’s a 90-minute e-Course that takes your knowledge and skills to the next level…all before lunch.

It’s really pretty simple. Information about commercial real estate – retail real estate in particular – is not readily available to the general public. You can learn a whole lot from Googling “how to buy a house” or “what is this rash on my arm,” but type in “who is responsible when an HVAC breaks” and…crickets…

The terms, processes, players, and insider intel about retail real estate is not taught. To anyone. Believe it or not, people just starting out in commercial real estate as a career are literally expected to learn everything on the job! There is usually no training manual…even for the people who are supposed to do it for their livelihood. Insane, right?

That’s why we created this compact but mighty course.

One of us learned it all the LONG way as a retail real estate broker. The other one of us learned it all the HARD way as a tenant in multiple retail leases. We’re pretty sure that you’re not interested in sacrificing a decade of your life or your credit score to learn like we did.

So meet Foundations of Retail Real Estate. In 90 minutes you’ll learn all about the ins-and-outs of LEASING retail properties, BUYING and SELLING retail properties, and HOW YOU CAN HELP in a support role.

At the end you take a short assessment and get a certificate that you post on your LinkedIn and attach to your email to your boss about how you’d like a raise. 

Foundations of Retail Real Estate Curriculum

MODULE 1

Commercial Real Estate (CRE) Terms and Concepts

  • What even is CRE?
  • Types of Property Ownership (fee simple, leasehold, condominium, co-op)
  • Lease deal structures (NNN, Full Service & Modified Gross)
  • Who are the CRE Professionals: Property Owners, Owner/Operators, Landlords, Tenants, Brokers, Lawyers, Property Managers, Asset Managers, and more

 

MODULE 2

Leasing a Space

  • The right way to do it all: The Five Steps
 of Leasing a Space
  • Why it often costs so much money: Capital Budget & Fundraising

  • Why people lose their homes: Security Deposits & Guarantys

  • When people mess up, and how they can fix it: Default
 & Cure
  • Taking a space what what it looks like now to what the tenant wants it to look like when they open for business: Delivery Conditions & Buildout: Cold-Dark Shell, Warm-Lit Shell, Vanilla Shell, White Box
  • All the other essential LOI & Lease terms that will likely never help you get a date or win at trivia night like: Base Rent, OpEx, NNN, Escalation
, Term, Renewal Options, Assignment, Sublet, Use, Continuous Operations, Exclusive Use, Tenant Improvement "TI" Allowance, Rent Abatement, Commissions, Signage, Repair and Maintenance, Rules and Regulations, Lease Commencement, Delivery Date, Rent Commencement, Renewal Notice Date, and more.

 

MODULE 3

Buying or Selling a Property

  • Property Owner Profiles: Owner/Operator, Investor, Developer
  • Process & Timeline: Before the Listing, Listing to Offer, Offer to Closing
  • The Four Types of Due Diligence
  • Key Players: Real Estate and Zoning Attorneys, Surveyor, Appraiser, SBA Lending Specialist, Title Company
  • Essential Terms and Concepts: Real Property, Fixtures, Personal Property, Deed, Title, Title Search, Due Diligence, Market Price, Appraised Price, Market Value, Cap Rate, Real Estate Commission, Zoning Ordinance, Deed Restriction, Encumbrance, Balloon Payment, Loan-to-Value, Commitment Letter, Debt Service, Highest and Best Use, Easement, Obsolescence, Eminent Domain, Estoppel Certificate, Option, First Right of Refusal, Sale/Lease Back, and more.
MODULE 4

Facilitating Success

  • Establishing Boundaries: The Whys and Hows
  • Roles and Responsibilities of Connectors & Advisors
  • Leveraging Experts: When and Why to Provide Referrals
  • Who gets paid and how: Common Pricing Structures for Brokers, Lawyers & Contractors
  • Adding Value (without losing your mind): Practical Tips for Sharing Information and Providing Support

Here's how it works...

 

Foundations of Retail Real Estate is taught in an online classroom where you’ll learn all about (you guessed it) retail real estate from three experts.

Everything is taught via asynchronous learning: you can log in and access video seminars and learn on your own schedule, making it convenient for you wherever you are in the country.

The entire course takes 90 minutes or less to complete. You can snack on it module by module or gobble it up between your cold brew and lunch.

If you’ve got a team by your side and you think everyone should take the course (that’s probably true), you should reach out to us for group pricing. We love to give price breaks to teams of five or more.

 

 

By this time tomorrow, you could be: 

  • Giving an ambitious local chef clear direction on how to prepare to tour available spaces 
  • Negotiating a peace between indignant shopkeeper and angry property owner
  • Guiding the owner of a charming bookstore through a tricky conversation with their landlord about a leaky roof
  • Strategizing with your favorite bakery about when they should expand to the other side of town
  • Helping a daycare center prepare to buy their building
  • Feeling ALL the warm and fuzzy feels that come from helping someone
  • Getting major props from your boss and your community who appreciate the value you bring to the office
  • Posting your hot new certificate on LinkedIn just in time for a big networking event

Foundations of Retail Real Estate will get you there.

 

START TODAY!

"Having the training and skills to thrive in your position is key for longevity in the workplace, as well as job satisfaction and a willingness to invest in an organization's vision. This course fills in the critical knowledge gaps about retail real estate to enable those who interface with small business owners to advise with confidence and clarity."

Erin Seel

Company Culture Expert & Professional Coach

ABOUT US

Pedal Retail Advisors

 

Pedal is a groundbreaking, mission-driven retail brokerage and advisory firm fueled by the belief that there is a better way to help small businesses succeed in brick-and-mortar retail. Founded by multi-concept retailer Sheila Laderberg Tarasiuk and retail broker Abby Davids Rocha, Pedal has seen leases from all angles, and we're ready to share! We're passionate about independent retailers in shopping districts of all sizes.

 

GET STARTED TODAY!

Start Foundations of Retail Real Estate Now

Stop feeling like a tour guide without a map. You do not need years of commercial real estate experience or have owned a retail business of your own to make a hugely positive impact on people’s lives and support your community! You have everything you need right here.

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14-DAY MONEY-BACK GUARANTEE

If you aren’t completely satisfied with Foundations of Retail Real Estate, let us know within the first 14 days for a full refund. No questions asked.