June 1st, 2011, By Don Catalano
There I was on a property tour with a landlord, my boss and my client. Unbeknownst to me my client comes up with about $75,000 of new tenant improvements. The landlord says that’s easy they will amortize it into the rent as long as they can get 6.25% interest. The client then looks over at you and says well how much is that per month. Your heart skips a beat when you realize that you left your handy-dandy Hewlett-Packard 17B nicely tucked away in your top right desk drawer, way back in the office.
Your boss looks over you with that kind of glance that says “I don’t know the answer to this, so you better”, with that you think you feel your blood pressure rising to the levels that would make your doctor queasy.
With your corporate adrenaline now pumping, your brain kicks into high gear and you remember back in the CREtech ™ Newsletter you read about a butt-kicking, number-crunching, CFO-amazing, financial calculator apps within easy reach of your 3G connection.
Deftly, you tell the tour group that you’ll be right back to them with that answer and they can continue on with the tour the space and you’ll catch up with them in a minute. Walking over to the window line to make sure you get a good strong 3G connection you quickly login to the App Store and try to type “financial calculator”, but with a screen designed for the fingers of a 12 year old and you being in a hurry (it always takes longer when you’re in a hurry), it takes you a try or two to type it in. While this doesn’t help your blood pressure, you finally get it entered and within a second or two, you’re rewarded with dozens of possible choices.
Not exactly having the time to pick through the use reviews you look at the number of stars enter any name that seems familiar. Ah! There it is the app that CRCtech ™ had recommended back in their newsletter called 10BII Calc. It’s only $5.99 – wow, that’s less than a cup of coffee at Starbucks (your usual benchmark of value). Quickly typing in your password you wonder how fast can this can download. Within about 5 seconds and with all the joy that modern technology (sometimes) brings you have on your iPhone an exact replica of the Hewlett-Packard 17B back at your office.
10BII Calc HD
Secretly, you think yourself – now how smart am I (more of a statement to yourself, not really a question). Now quickly typing in the principal amount of $75,000, along with the interest of 6.25% and the term of five years (because you know your boss is not going to want to go beyond five years of the lease term) you’re quickly rewarded with Wikipedia level answers.
With a new spring in your step, you quickly rejoin your group. The righteous answers roll off your lips with the deftness of a President Obama speech. Amazed at how well you pulled that one out of the hat and with aplomb, you feel your blood pressure reach levels that even your life insurance company might like. Your face has even returned to it’s normal coloring.
Later over lunch with the group, sans the landlord, you do a what-if analysis for your client as they invariably increase the amount of extra work they feel they need at the space. Your boss smiles at you and says “that’s a pretty neat app you have – where did you find out about that”. You respond, “Ah, I read a lot” and secretly think to yourself damn, I’m glad I’m good 🙂