Before you begin looking for a great Sonoma wine tasting for your small company, you must to get informed about the commercial space leasing process. Being prepared should keep you from making rash decisions and costly mistakes you will end up regretting in the future. The following are some insider tips to help make an informed decision when renting a commercial real estate your company
Start the process of locating commercial warehouse space at least 6-12 months before your current lease expires or until your ideal move-in-date. Locating the correct space and negotiating the deal will require 1-2 months depending upon the size space and current market conditions. In most cases the spaces you like will require some type of changes that the time needed will depend on the scope of work.
Thoroughly examine your business’s present and future needs. Consult with the various department heads for input in addition to some key employees.
Get acquainted with allthe commercial space terms and definitions. Different landlords say and quote things otherwise. If you are unsure about what they mean don’t be afraid to ask them to supply more info.
If you are not familiar with the commercial leasing process or the present market conditions then consider engaging the help of a tenant representative. Their services don’t cost you anything since building owners pay all the rental commissions. The landlord agent will have an knowledgable 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 needs so you can make a short list. Keep in mind that the layouts can be reconfigured so don’t get stuck on that. Ask the landlord representatives a great deal of questions about the ownership, property amenities, required lease term length, how much the landlord is prepared to give in tenant improvement allowances, etc..
Don’t settle for the first commercial properties you believe is acceptable for your needs: continue searching until you have at least 2 to three other options. These extra options will work to your advantage because you will know what to expect during the lease negotiations and you’ll gain more leverage with multiple building owners competing for your company. They also give you something to fall back to if the negotiations to your first choice go silent.
Send out proposals to your top three to five options. These are not legally binding. You never want to take a landlord agent’s verbal word. Everything needs to be in writing.
To help you decide what property is best suited for your company, prepare a spreadsheet to do an apples to apples comparison of every property. A few of the things you should put into consideration include the size of this distance, the asking foundation rental rates, the required lease duration, and the incremental expenses (taxes, insurance, maintenance, etc). You can also take note about the advantages and disadvantages of each property. If you are budget conscious then you can quickly narrow down the list by simply calculating the monthly base rents for each property then removing those that are way above your budget. The monthly base rent is calculated by multiplying the commercial space square feet by the asking base rate and any operating expenditures then dividing by 12.
If some of the commercial spaces require tenant improvements then it’s important that you determine what improvements you want on each and get preliminary bids. This way if the landlord is offering a tenant improvement allowance you will know just how much out of pocket you’ll have to pay above and beyond what the landlord is prepared to give.
Carefully examine and compare the terms of each proposal. Consider whether it makes sense to return to every landlord to negotiate additional concessions. Make sure you fully understand the total expenses you are expected to cover. Don’t get emotionally attached to a specific property until the negotiations are over. Emotional attachment might lead to you signing a contract your business can’t live up to.
After negotiations are finalized and you have made your selection now it’s time to have the landlord offer you the first draft of this commercial rental contract.
Now it’s time to reassess the commercial rental contract. It would be wise for you to hire an attorney to review the lease. If you have a tenant representative then they can review the lease with you also. Industrial lease language can 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 building owner will supply you a copy of the lease to review.
There are several more things to think about when leasing commercial property however these ideas will help get you started. If you are a new company leasing commercial property 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 don’t cost you anything and you’ll save a lot of money and time.