Art leasing & Rental programs input needed

[studioarts]

We regularly receive inquiries from potential clients - businesses, including realtors - about renting art from us. I'm looking for some perspective from Grumble members with experience in this arena.

Thanks, in advance, for your opinions.

Mark

[Bob Doyle]

Houses definitely sell better when there is art in them. And the potential home buyer may buy the artwork. But it is a hard sell to do! If you have print sales, and prints that aren't selling then go for it. but beware, you want to be sure you get the artwork back!

Go for a rent to own with the realtors. Charge then per month, and send the bills out!

[framing fashionista]

We have art in a Doctor's office that does natural hormone replacement therapy and caters to women. I also have them in the sales office for a real estate development. We have prominent signage by each piece as well as business cards for people to take. So far, no direct sales but a lot of name recognition and people come in to the gallery to see what else we have.

You may have thought of this already but make sure you know specifically what your insurance policy covers for values of art off premises. It can also makes a difference if the art is owned by the gallery or on consignment from the artist.

[BILL WARD]

"no direct sales but a lot of name recognition "

that and $2-$3.00 will get you a coffee....but 'name recognition' can't hurt!

I have tried this 4-5 places in my area over the last 4 years----only had 1 venue that generated sales and it was the least likely spot---they did financial seminars/---people flew into tampa/went to seminars/then left taking the framed art with them(sold 3 pieces this way in 1 yr--NOT a revenue generator). seems the 'local' people just weren't interested in artwork & the visitors were in the 'vacation/let's buy something' mode???

alot more benefit to the show-er than the supplier...they get pretty walls & you get left supplying the 'pretty'! I like Bob's idea of 'rent-to-own'!!!!!!!!!! maybe I'll try this again with that as a focus.........

[janetj1968]

I'd avoid it.

It's doubtful that you'd ever get your money back...even at cost..on pieces like this. What if they decide they just want it for a month? What about your professional fees to have a contract drawn up? A rental clause in your insurance?

Art becomes stagnant after a while...and if people didn't like to switch about most of us would be out of a job. I even have dozens of pieces in my house that I'm ultimately tired of...as does everyone. Plus, the more its moved around is the worse it will look. Framing isn't something that's made to move around a lot.

I'd recommend, instead...to offer them a discount on having multiple pieces framed.

What they're wanting is something for (almost) nothing...and trying to find someone else to foot the bill.

eh. You know?

[studioarts]

Just kidding, of course. Encouragement or discouragement, there's value in all your words. To follow up:

Bob,
I will look into the "rent to own" idea further. My initial thought is to (contract) charge a rental of 10% of the retail price per month and have the customer "own" it after 12 months. This assumes that they initally are unsure about buying it without renting.

Fashionista,
I've consigned artwork to a few businesses that I thought would be good for bringing me business, but sales results were almost zero. Although, as you point out, it does bring interest into the galley. I will look at real estate based businesses. And better signage displayed.

Bill,
We have a growing number of clients with second homes in Tampa and, while we ship art down there sometimes, they do buy artwork while there "on vacation"; I've seen it hanging on their walls here and there.

Janet,
I have checked, and do have insurance for artwork placed off-premises. Any rental agreement I put together would probably require the renter to insure it first? I suspect that most rentals would be for a short period (1-12 months) and if they are really tired of it, it still has some life left on the sales floor. You're right that potential customers often want something for nothing. A challenge that usually gets conquered with information/education.

To ALL:
Any rental program would also have a "lien" filed (UCC-1 form) that should protect me against permanent loss if the artwork doesn't return.

Thanks for your comments, I'd love to hear more - both rays of sunshine and storm clouds!!

Mark

[Tom Reigle]

Well, times and attitudes have changed so much!

I operated a very successful framed art rental in So. IL years ago and never had any problems with it nor did I ever lose or have a single piece of framed art damaged, stolen, or otherwise show up missing. I dealt mainly with banks who would hang the framed art in their lobbies for their customers' enjoyment.

I charged $30/month/piece and hung from 5 to 12 pieces in each bank. I would travel around every 3 months changing out all the artwork and hanging new in each bank. I would only have to carry the number of new pieces that would be needed in the bank with the largest number of rentals and I would swap the others from one bank to another. That way, if I had 6 banks on the rental plan, I could swap out each bank with the same overall set of artwork throughout the year and not hang the same art in the same bank for a year and a half. My actual sales for rental pieces displayed in these banks amounted to 5 pieces in 4 years but I had a nice income from rental pieces coming in each month which made it all worthwhile.

My selling point was that the bank could rent 10 pieces of professionally framed artwork (as an example) for $300/month and, in the course of a year, they could display 40 different pieces of expensive art for very little outlay of cash. And their customers would not get bored with seeing the same art in the bank month after month!

I rented on that basis for almost 4 years and it helped to bring in a few extra bucks for the business. But that was then and this is now and I doubt very much that, with the concerns of who is gonna sue who in case of something happening and all the paperwork you would have to draw up to cover every conceivable circumstance, it would cost more than it would be worth to try to do this today. And that's not taking into consideration the cost of gas to drive around and swap out the artwork each quarter or so.

[Grumbling Mike]

I have been thinking about renting too, I hear numbers in the furniture rental world like 10-20% of the retail value per week.

[studioarts]

G. Mike,

10 to 20% per week sounds unreal. Maybe. We call art "furniture for your walls" but even that doesn't always convince people that art has the same value as a sofa or chair. Is the Toronto market for rental furniture that hot?

Mark

[Grumbling Mike]

Studio,
Art has a much higher value than furniture, In a staged home it can produce an emotional response and connection to the space.
Yes it looks profitable but the real profit is made by the homeowners who might spend 5000-10000 to stage a house and gain 20,000-50,000+ in the sale price.

[Ylva]

I have been thinking about renting too, I hear numbers in the furniture rental world like 10-20% of the retail value per week.


So that means you would have owned it in 5 to 10 weeks.......????

[FrameMakers]

I have been thinking about renting too, I hear numbers in the furniture rental world like 10-20% of the retail value per week.

The thing is, rental furniture is often something that people need art is not. I know many people that live in McMansions but have little to no furniture. When they want to have a party, they rent the furniture for it.

So like anything else you have to define your potential market. I could see corporate, and home staging working while I would see little hope for residential rentals.

[Kirstie]

So along these lines, have any of you had success with sales of art to realtors for home staging? My guess is that it would have to be awfully cheap to get a response, as in $40. for small pieces under 16 x 20, up to $250 for a framed matted 30 x 40. These are just guesses. That would mean a small variety of value line moulding, possibly paper mats, and regular glass.

Has anyone done this?

[JFeig]

That was the price range (plus art open edition prints sales) I worked with a major home builder that I worked with for over 30 years....... until they centralized the model home staging to Denver 2-3 years ago, even though the local operation was more efficient (cheaper). A regular order was 60-100 pieces at a time.

I used boxed mouldings, double reg mat board with computer cut fancy corners, reg glass, and prints mounted on std Bainbridge heat activated FC.

The designer would select a mat color pallet of 4-6 mats and 6-10 mouldings. I did all the work order selection from that info. To write up an order that size took 2-3 hours.