Whatever you do don’t call the sign in front of the building that you want to lease because they don’t represent your best interests. Those commercial agents represent the property owner and will negotiate against you when you want to sign a lease.
1. The first step in the process is for us to meet and discuss you current and future commercial real estate needs. For example:
- your current and future head count
- ideal layout (open or lots of hard-walled offices)
- ideal location
- maximum monthly rent budget
- Plans for growth
- amenities
2. Our tenant representation brokers will search only those commercial listings that meet your ideal size, location, budget, etc. We pay for access to the best commercial listing databases and have relationships will all of the landlord agents in town. We will know what is available and when, even before a commercial space hits the market.
3. Once we have identified all of the spaces that will work we meet with you to review and narrow down the options and select the ones that we will tour together
4. Tenant reps set up tours of all the best spaces and walk each space with you highlighting the pros and cons of each
5. Next we draft and send RFPs to our top 2-3 options. In tight markets we may only have 1. Ideally we want at least 2-3 to create leverage and negotiating power with the landlords.
6. Once we receive the responses to our RFPs we will most likely need to determine the cost of tenant improvements (if needed). Most landlords respond to RFPs with some sort of TI allowance so to negotiate intelligently we need to know the cost to build out. Then we can do an apples apples cost comparison of each space.
7. After a bit of back and forth negotiating with the landlords we end up with the best and final offer from each. Now we must make a decision based on monetary and non monetary concessions.
8. After the basic terms and conditions are agreed to on the proposal we now request to have the landlord draft the lease for us to review and comment on.
9. Together your tenant representation broker and attorney will review the lease and negotiate lease terms until a final document is agreed upon that you can sign.
10. Once the lease is executed now we are able to begin the tenant improvement process (meeting with architect to finalize a plan and pricing notes that can be used to get hard construction bids.
There really is no benefit to searching for commercial real estate space on your own. Only the landlords benefit by charging more rent and giving fewer concessions. Tenant representation services do not cost you anything and by using a tenant rep you will save a ton of time, mitigate your risks, and get the best deal possible.
Whether you are renting office space, warehouse space, or retail space we got you covered.
