Before you begin looking for a great commercial office for lease for your law firm,you must to get informed about the commercial office leasing procedure. Being ready will help prevent you from making hurried decisions and costly mistakes thatyou will regret in the future. Below are some insider suggestions to help make an informed choice when letting a commercial property your business
Start the process of searching commercial space at least 6-12 months before your existing lease expires or until your ideal move-in-date. Finding the correct space and negotiating the deal will require 1-2 months depending on the size area and current market conditions. Typically the spaces you like will need some type of improvements that the time needed will depend on the scope of work.
completely examine your company’s current and future needs. Consult with the various department heads for input as well as some key employees.
Get acquainted with the commercial real estate terms and meanings. Various landlords say and quote things differently. If you are in doubt about what they mean do not be afraid to ask them to provide more info.
If you are not knowledgeable about the commercial property leasing process or the current market conditions then consider engaging the assistance of a tenant agent such as AustinTenantAdvisors.com. Their services do not cost you anything since landlords compensate all of the rental commissions. The landlord representative will have an professional listing agent advising them so it would be a great idea for you to have one as well.
Physically visit all of the properties that meet your needs so thatyou 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 great deal of questions regarding the ownership,property amenities,required lease duration,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 looking until you have at least two to 3 alternative choices. These extra options will work to your advantage because you will know what to expect throughout the lease negotiations and you will gain more leverage with numerous landlords competing for your company. They also give you something to fall back to whether the negotiations to your first choice go sideways.
Send out proposals to your top three to five choices. These aren’t legally binding. You never need to have a landlord representative’s verbal word. Everything should be in writing.
To help you decide what property is most suitable for your business,prepare a spreadsheet to do an apples to apples comparison of each property. A few of the things you need to consider include the dimensions of this distance,the asking foundation rental rates,the required lease duration,and the incremental expenses (taxes,insurance,maintenance,etc). It is also possible to take note about the advantages and disadvantages 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 eliminating those that are way over your budget. The monthly base rent is calculated by multiplying the industrial space square feet from the asking base rate plus any operating expenditures then dividing by 12.
If any of the commercial spaces need tenant improvements then it is 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 will need to pay over and beyond what the landlord is prepared 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. Be 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 result in you signing a contract thatyour business can’t live up to.
After negotiations are finalized and you’ve made your selection now it’s time to have the landlord offer you the first draft of this commercial lease contract.
Now it’s time to review the commercial lease 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 do not like particular lease items or want to propose new language today is the time to do so.
When the end of lease contract negotiations has finished the landlord will give you a copy of the lease to review.
There are several more things to think about when leasing commercial property however these suggestions will help get you started. If you are a new business leasing commercial space for the first time or an existing business who has only rented one or two spaces then consider getting help from a tenant representative. Their services do not cost you anything and you will save a great deal of money and time.