Commercial landlords baffle me

[Babs Johnson]

I thought the bank’s name came from what I imagined was its original location at Fifth Avenue and Third Street in some mythical city.

 

[tvguy]

The reality is for some reason (probably write-off) they continue to build more and more brick and mortar bank buildings. I financed my car recently and never stepped foot in any of them. All done via computer/internet. Signatures mean nothing because they accept a drunken looking scrawl done by your fingernail as an actual signature. One couldn't recreate that signature if they had too. It is meaningless. Most of banks write-offs must be losses from all those actual buildings. They have massive, incredibly designed lobby and multiple glass walled offices that no one ever goes in. They have branches where you can't even buy a roll of quarters and you have to go to the main office to get them and then they act like you entered the Fort Knox for $20.00 worth of quarters. If you can't get change from a bank and everything is primarily done via computers why in the plupurfect hell are they there.

Man, where are you? It is 180 degrees different here. Banks are closing branches, and mergers have caused what used to be competitor banks that were next door to each other, to close one of those locations.
My local Wells Fargo branch remodeled. It was pretty nice before, with tellers on one side, and small offices for the Bankers who handle loans, and other financial services. The offices are gone, all generic cubicles now. They had 10 teller windows and they took 5 out. And the tellers now are all behind bullet proof glass. Oh, and they are no longer open on Saturdays.

 

[GAN]

Man, where are you? It is 180 degrees different here. Banks are closing branches, and mergers have caused what used to be competitor banks that were next door to each other, to close one of those locations.
My local Wells Fargo branch remodeled. It was pretty nice before, with tellers on one side, and small offices for the Bankers who handle loans, and other financial services. The offices are gone, all generic cubicles now. They had 10 teller windows and they took 5 out. And the tellers now are all behind bullet proof glass. Oh, and they are no longer open on Saturdays.

I'm in the Northeast and they're everywhere -literally you can't go 1/4 mile without seeing one(and that's being generous) ...with more new ones are going up. It kind of defies logic. The only thing I can think of is that the Fed is requiring them to boost holdings to cover possible failures ...rather than holding cash, they dump it into property? But who knows for sure...

 

[tvguy]

I'm in the Northeast and they're everywhere -literally you can't go 1/4 mile without seeing one(and that's being generous) ...with more new ones are going up. It kind of defies logic. The only thing I can think of is that the Fed is requiring them to boost holdings to cover possible failures ...rather than holding cash, they dump it into property? But who knows for sure...

Sounds like Starbucks.

 

[GAN]

Sounds like Starbucks.

And then some.... we probably have 20+ banks for every Starbucks

 

[tvguy]

And then some.... we probably have 20+ banks for every Starbucks

LOL. I just checked Google maps. On a 3 mile stretch of the main drag though my community we have:
Five Starbucks
Four functioning Banks (I am including 2 that are actually Credit Unions)
Four closed bank Branches.

 

[MillauFr]

Write off or a way to bury money. Have you noticed the new banks every hundred yards?

Actually around here many banks are closing. I don't think the new generation feels any need to open a bank account at a brick and mortar bank.

 

[MillauFr]

Man, where are you? It is 180 degrees different here. Banks are closing branches, and mergers have caused what used to be competitor banks that were next door to each other, to close one of those locations.
My local Wells Fargo branch remodeled. It was pretty nice before, with tellers on one side, and small offices for the Bankers who handle loans, and other financial services. The offices are gone, all generic cubicles now. They had 10 teller windows and they took 5 out. And the tellers now are all behind bullet proof glass. Oh, and they are no longer open on Saturdays.

Same in Seattle. Many banks closing. The remaining branches downtown that used to have 20 tellers windows now have 1 or 2. Place is usually deserted. Now when we go to visit our mother in law in Sequim that has a large % of retired residents there are tons of banks.

 

[MillauFr]

LOL. I just checked Google maps. On a 3 mile stretch of the main drag though my community we have:
Five Starbucks
Four functioning Banks (I am including 2 that are actually Credit Unions)
Four closed bank Branches.

Couldn't most of those Starbucks get replaced by vending machines?

 

[goofyernmost]

Man, where are you? It is 180 degrees different here. Banks are closing branches, and mergers have caused what used to be competitor banks that were next door to each other, to close one of those locations.
My local Wells Fargo branch remodeled. It was pretty nice before, with tellers on one side, and small offices for the Bankers who handle loans, and other financial services. The offices are gone, all generic cubicles now. They had 10 teller windows and they took 5 out. And the tellers now are all behind bullet proof glass. Oh, and they are no longer open on Saturdays.

I am located in Raleigh, NC. It is mind boggling the number of new brick and mortar bank locations have been opened recently. I don't remember all the names, but they are ones that I never heard of and almost none of them are full service banks. I guess they are just placed for convenience. All I can ever think is that people were looking for new places to clean (launder) their cash. Heck if I had some money I'd probably want it cleaned up nice and shiny too.

 

[goofyernmost]

I think it's Fifth Third. They handled my most recent car loan until I refinanced with my own credit union.

You're probably right about the sequence. Either one Fifth Third or Third Fifth has approximately the same degree of foolishness.

 

[QueenIsabella]

I am located in Raleigh, NC. It is mind boggling the number of new brick and mortar bank locations have been opened recently. I don't remember all the names, but they are ones that I never heard of and almost none of them are full service banks. I guess they are just placed for convenience. All I can ever think is that people were looking for new places to clean (launder) their cash. Heck if I had some money I'd probably want it cleaned up nice and shiny too.

Here in Wilmington, too. If you look at a map, Wilmington is shaped like an ice-cream cone, with the ocean on one side and the Cape Fear River on the other. So, there's limited space for expansion (over the river is getting popular, but then you have to contend with the drawbridge). We live less than a mile from a major intersection--it seems like every new building is some kind of bank or credit union. Meanwhile, at the next intersection north, a Bank of America branch closed during the pandemic, and never re-opened. But still, they keep building all these new bank buildings. Not one of them is our bank! Which is okay, it has several branches in the area, I just don't know where all these new bank customers are going to come from.

 

[MillauFr]

I am located in Raleigh, NC. It is mind boggling the number of new brick and mortar bank locations have been opened recently. I don't remember all the names, but they are ones that I never heard of and almost none of them are full service banks. I guess they are just placed for convenience. All I can ever think is that people were looking for new places to clean (launder) their cash. Heck if I had some money I'd probably want it cleaned up nice and shiny too.

I just don't understand why anyone would have an account with those big banks that are ripping you off and only giving you 1 or 2% interest on your deposits. I prefer Fidelity where I'm getting 5%.

 

[tvguy]

I just don't understand why anyone would have an account with those big banks that are ripping you off and only giving you 1 or 2% interest on your deposits. I prefer Fidelity where I'm getting 5%.

Well, I have my accounts with a big bank, and yes they have low interest products, but they also have other options that are competitive with Fidelity. About 1% of my money is in those low yield investments, the rest on their brokerage side with higher returns.

 

[Sweettears]

I just don't understand why anyone would have an account with those big banks that are ripping you off and only giving you 1 or 2% interest on your deposits. I prefer Fidelity where I'm getting 5%.

Amen. Our establish a relationship with a community bank. We’re paying 5.25%

 

[MillauFr]

Amen. Our establish a relationship with a community bank. We’re paying 5.25%

Don't you feel guilty when the CEO of your community bank isn't earning $100m per year?

 

[tvguy]

I am located in Raleigh, NC. It is mind boggling the number of new brick and mortar bank locations have been opened recently. I don't remember all the names, but they are ones that I never heard of and almost none of them are full service banks. I guess they are just placed for convenience. All I can ever think is that people were looking for new places to clean (launder) their cash. Heck if I had some money I'd probably want it cleaned up nice and shiny too.

Interesting perception. In 2022 1,000 bank branches opened, 3,000 closed, so nationwide we lost 2,000 branches.
https://www.kiplinger.com/personal-...nks-closed-3000-branches-the-kiplinger-letter

 

[ttintagel]

I actually just read an article on this subject. I had wondered for years why commercial landlords wouldn't reduce their rates to at least have some rental income coming in, but apparently many of the banks who hold mortgages on those buildings have very strict rules about what kind of tenants the owners can rent to and the minimum amount of rent they're allowed to charge.

 

[Sweettears]

Don't you feel guilty when the CEO of your community bank isn't earning $100m per year?

Not sure what you mean by this but most community bank presidents earn around $200m plus bonus and benefits

 

[Sweettears]

I actually just read an article on this subject. I had wondered for years why commercial landlords wouldn't reduce their rates to at least have some rental income coming in, but apparently many of the banks who hold mortgages on those buildings have very strict rules about what kind of tenants the owners can rent to and the minimum amount of rent they're allowed to charge.

I’m a banker and I’m not familiar with any of these restrictions. Also a bank can’t normally dictate any such restrictions unless they own the property