I was in the process of moving my office and thought I had found the new place, until I hit a snag. I learned there's much more than meets the eye when it comes to renting office space. Here's how the events unfolded this past week.
I discovered an office with 949 square feet in a four-plex. My space was going to be the office on the left. Inside was an executive office, two slightly smaller offices, a receptionist area, a private bath, and a small kitchenette–everything I was looking for. Everything, that is, until I read the lease.
The price per square foot was attractive at just over $10.00 per, with a total rent of $825 per month. Add to this a CAM (common area maintenance) charge of $1.25 per square foot, or about $98 per month ,and my total monthly outlay would have been $923. I was mentally prepared for that.
When I met the real estate agent to sign the lease, she presented me with a 14-page document. Fourteen pages? I thought I'd better read it over first. I took it home and found several issues. I'll jump right to the point. One of the major items was the property taxes I would have been required to pay. I would have occupied 35% of the total space and would have to pay that same percentage of the total property tax, or ad valorem tax, as it was stated in the lease.
