Before you begin looking for a good wine tasting in Sonoma for your business, you should to get educated about the commercial property leasing procedure. Being ready should help prevent you from making hurried decisions and costly mistakes thatyou will regret later on. Below are some insider suggestions to help make an informed choice when leasing a commercial property your business
Start the process of hunting for commercial space for lease at least 6-12 months before your existing lease expires or until your perfect move-in-date. Locating the perfect space and negotiating the deal alonewill take 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 which the time needed will depend on the scope of work.
Thoroughly analyze your business’s present and future needs. Consult with the different department heads for input in addition to some key employees.
Get familiar with allthe commercial property terms and meanings. Various landlords state and quote things differently. If you are in doubt about what they mean don’t be afraid to ask them to supply more info.
If you are not familiar with the commercial real estate leasing process or the present market conditions then consider engaging the assistance of a tenant representative. Their services don’t cost you anything because landlords compensate all the leasing commissions. The landlord agent will have an professional listing agent advising them so it would be a good idea for you to have one as well.
Personally see all the spaces that meet your needs so thatyou can make a short list. Keep in mind that the designs can be reconfigured so don’t get stuck on that. Ask the landlord representatives a lot 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 think is suitable for your needs: continue looking until you have at least two to 3 alternative choices. These extra options will work to your benefit since 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 if the discussions for your first choice go silent.
Send out proposals to your top three to five choices. These aren’t legally binding. You never want to take 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 put into consideration include the dimensions of the space, the inquiring foundation rental rates, the required lease term, and the incremental costs (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 which are way over 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 any of the commercial spaces require tenant improvements then it’s 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 learn how much out of pocket you will need to pay over and beyond what the landlord is prepared to give.
Carefully examine and compare the terms of each proposal. Consider whether it makes sense to go back to each landlord to negotiate additional concessions. Be 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 lead to you signing a contract thatyour 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 the commercial lease contract.
Now it is time to reassess the commercial lease contract. It would be wise for you to hire an attorney to review the lease. For those who have a tenant representative then they could review the lease with you as well. Commercial lease language could be negotiated. If you don’t like particular lease items or would like to propose new language now is the time to do so.
When the end of lease contract negotiations has ended the landlord will give you a copy of the lease to review.
There are many 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 existing company who has only rented one or two spaces then consider getting help from a tenant agent. Their services don’t cost you anything and you will save a great deal of time and money.
