The $10 lease secret
The $10 Childcare Center: What One Owners Worst Deal Taught Me About Negotiating a Lease
I've been doing this a long time — over 25 years in early childhood education — and I've heard a lot of "how I got started" stories. But Mary Hornbeck's is one I keep coming back to.
Mary bought her second childcare center for $10.
Not $10,000. Ten dollars. And if you've ever run a program, you already know that number is a trap disguised as a deal.
The Problem With a "Good Deal"
When a landlord calls you up and says just take over the lease, it sounds like a shortcut.
Furniture is already there. Kids are already enrolled. What's not to like?
What Mary — and a lot of directors, myself included — learned the hard way is that a childcare building comes with history. Licensing grandfather clauses. Square footage requirements tied to fire suppression systems. Code interpretations that shift depending on who's reviewing your file that week. I had my own version of this: a program I inherited that looked like a simple takeover until we discovered the building's size meant a required a linked smoke detector system that hadn't existed when it was first licensed. What should've been a quick transition became a five-figure surprise.
Mary's story and mine both land on the same truth: the real cost of a lease isn't the rent. It's everything you don't ask about before you sign.
What Mary Got Right From the Start
Here is what I find remarkable about Mary's very first lease, the one she signed at 21 years old with a landlord who happened to be the surgeon who once operated on her little brother (small world, right?): she didn't ask for a standard deal. She asked for a 10-year lease with options, when a shorter term probably would've been the safe choice for someone that young.
Her reasoning was simple. She told her landlord, essentially: I'm not going anywhere. This is my life's work. Bet on that.
That confidence did two things. It got her landlord to say yes to a longer term than he might have offered a stranger. And later, when she needed to go to a bank for financing, that same
10-year commitment became proof of stability — the kind of thing a banker trusts more than a business plan alone.
The Negotiation Skill Nobody Teaches You
The line from Mary that I haven't stopped thinking about is this: What/s the workaround?
Not "can I skip this requirement" — but here is my goal, here is my budget, help me find another way to get there. She used it on a landlord who wanted playground costs folded into her rent.
She used it on city inspectors who wanted a commercial-grade kitchen vent for a room that warmed food, not a restaurant. Every time, she didn't fight the requirement — she reframed the conversation around the outcome she actually needed.
That's a subtly different skill than most directors are taught. We're trained to comply with regulations, which is right. But there is a difference between "no I cant do that' as the end of a conversation and "here is what I am actually trying to accomplish — what are our options; as the start of one.
Know What You Wont Give Up
The flip side of flexibility is knowing your non-negotiables before you walk into a room. Mary's was filtered water for her kids — not because a code required it, but because it mattered to her program's identity. When an inspector wanted more traditional water fountains instead, she held her ground and found a compromise that kept what mattered.
That's worth sitting with. It's easy to compromise your way into a building that technically works but doesn't feel like the program you set out to build. The lease negotiation isn't just financial. It is the first place your vision either survives contact with reality, or quietly erodes one concession at a time.
Before You Sign Anything
If you are eyeing a new location or your first location a few questions are worth asking before you ever get to the lease table:
What does licensing actually require for a space this size, and has that changed recently?
What would trigger a fire suppression or sprinkler requirement, and does this building already meet it?
Is there a grace period being offered, or do I need to ask for one?
Are capital improvements (playground, build-out) part of my rent, or separate?
Have I met the city planner face-to-face, or is someone doing that for me?
None of these guarantee a smooth process. But the difference between a surprise and a plan.
Keep the Conversation Going
Mary now runs MSH Strategies, helping other directors and owners navigate exactly these kinds of decisions — msh-strategies.com
And if you want the full story — the $50,000 handshake deal with her first landlord, the fire suppression standoff, what the workaround: kitchen negotiation —is worth the listen:
The Lease Negotiation Lessons That Saved a Childcare Business, with Mary Hornbeck
Come for the conversation. Stay because something here helps you run your school better.
