Before you begin searching for the perfect Sonoma wine tasting for your business, you must to get educated about the commercial property leasing process. Being ready will help prevent you from making expeditious decisions and costly mistakes you will end up regretting later on. Below are some insider tips to help make an informed decision when letting a commercial space your company
Start the process of hunting commercial space at least 6-12 months before your current lease expires or before your perfect move-in-date. Finding the correct space and negotiating the deal will take 1-2 months depending on the size area and current market conditions. In most cases the spaces you like will need some sort of improvements that the time required will depend on the scope of work.
Thoroughly analyze your business’s current and future needs. Consult with the different department heads for input as well as some key employees.
Get familiar with the commercial property terms and definitions. Different landlords state and quote things differently. If you are unsure about what they mean don’t be afraid to ask them to provide more info.
If you are not knowledgeable about the commercial leasing process or the current market conditions then consider engaging the support of a tenant agent. Their services don’t cost you anything since landlords pay all the leasing fees. The landlord agent will have an experienced listing agent representing them so it would be a good idea for you to have one too.
Physically visit all the properties that meet your requirements so you can make a short list. Bear in mind that the layouts can be reconfigured so don’t get stuck on that. Ask the landlord agents a lot of questions about who owns the property, property amenities, required lease duration, how much the landlord is willing to give in tenant improvement allowances, etc..
Don’t settle for the first commercial properties you believe is suitable for your requirements: continue looking until you have at least 2 to 3 other options. These extra options will work to your advantage because you will know what to expect during the lease negotiations and you will gain more leverage with numerous landlords competing for your business. They also give you something to fall back to whether the discussions for your first choice go sideways.
Send out proposals to your top three to five options. These aren’t legally binding. You never need to have a landlord agent’s verbal word. Everything should be in writing.
To help you decide what property is most suitable for your company, prepare a spreadsheet to do an apples to apples comparison of each property. Some of the things you should consider include the size of this distance, the inquiring base rental rates, the required lease duration, and the incremental costs (taxes, insurance, maintenance, etc). You can also take note about the pros and cons of each property. If you are budget conscious then you can quickly narrow down the list by calculating the monthly base rents for each property then removing those which are way above your budget. The monthly base rent is calculated by multiplying the industrial space square feet from the asking base rate and any operating expenditures then dividing by 12.
If some of the commercial spaces need tenant improvements then it is important that you figure out what improvements you want on each and get preliminary bids. That way if the landlord is offering a tenant improvement allowance you will know just how much out of pocket you will need to pay above and beyond what the landlord is willing to give.
Carefully analyze and compare the terms of each proposal. Consider whether it makes sense to go back to each landlord to negotiate extra concessions. Make sure you completely understand the total expenses you are expected to cover. Don’t get emotionally attached to a certain property until the discussions are over. Emotional attachment might result in you signing a contract your business can’t live up to.
After discussions are finalized and you have made your selection now it is time to have the landlord offer you the first draft of this commercial rental contract.
Now it is time to reassess the commercial rental contract. It would be advisable for you to hire an attorney to review the lease. For those who have a tenant agent then they could review the lease with you also. Commercial lease language could be negotiated. If you don’t like particular lease items or would like to propose new language today is the time to do so.
When the end of rental contract negotiations has ended the landlord will provide you a draft of the lease to review.
There are several more things to think about when leasing commercial real estate however these ideas will help get you started. If you are a new company leasing commercial space for the first time or an current company who has only leased 1 or 2 spaces then consider getting help from a tenant agent. Their services do not cost you anything and you will save a lot of money and time.