October 20, 2020
Last week, our RCR Team met to recap our performance goals for the third quarter. At these meetings, the first thing we do is to review our mission statement and company values, and make sure they still feel representative of our work. While we have tweaked the wording of our mission statement over the years, the central idea of it has remained unchanged.
We are problem solvers. We advocate for our clients, and the real estate and occupancy challenges they face.
This year, our mission statement has become even more fitting as we navigate the ramifications of the COVID pandemic.
It is no surprise that this pandemic has caused problems for our clients in ways none of us could have ever imagined prior to March 2020. During this time, we have relied on our industry experience and creative problem solving to find solutions for our clients including subleasing, dispositions, short-term extensions, medium-term extensions, rent deferral agreements, security deposit refund negotiations, and other lease restructuring options.
RCR has coached tenants on analyzing complex scenarios, making smart decisions, and – in most cases – finding solutions that do not result in a long-term impact for a temporary cause. We have helped our clients dealing with bankruptcy issues to understand the daily changing market as it unfolds before our eyes. Finally, we have observed how the entire commercial real estate industry has had to adapt to working from home in a lower profitability environment. We are seeing many shared office providers collapse while larger global firms are finding redundancies, laying off staff, and targeting mergers. And, as in the past, we expect a significant percentage of CRE brokers to change flags, shift roles, or exit the business altogether.
We are all going through this challenging time together, and our thoughts go out to those who have been most impacted. While RCR was more effective than anticipated in working from home, we are aware of the many challenges it highlighted, among them spontaneous collaboration and information sharing. Much of our team has begun to cautiously come back to the office, taking all CDC precautions and safety guidelines seriously. We remain committed to serving our clients, as always, with our mission in mind.
Please let us know if you or someone you know has challenges, as we are glad to listen and offer advice on the strategy that works best for you and your business. We have always put our clients first and more than ever we see the value of the expertise we are able to share!
