Frustrated by how much time and energy it takes to lease or buy commercial real estate (office, medical, dental, retail, industrial, etc.), whether you have to open up multiple locations across the US or even just one?
What to look for in commercial real estate deals
Although you’re great at what you do relating to your business, you’re probably not an expert at all the aspects of commercial real estate that affect your bottom line:
- Finding suitable locations on and off the market in the areas you need to open an office in.
- Knowing what the markets are so you don’t overpay.
- Writing the offer correctly.
- Making the necessary changes to lease or purchase contracts. These can be over 100 pages long that contain numerous financial and legal exposures and hidden landlord/seller profit centers.
- Reviewing the annual operating expense bills that you have to pay your share of.
- Figuring out if the space you are trying to lease was measured correctly and even how it was measured (this is an area that landlords commonly overinflate unreasonably).
- And so much more.
Good commercial brokers and real estate attorneys often miss some of these points, even when they’re working as a team. If these commercial real estate pros aren’t catching all of these landlord profit centers, then you can bet you aren’t either.
The benefits of outsourcing your commercial real estate functions
Why not stop trying to do it on your own, since you don’t specialize in the commercial real estate field? By outsourcing your commercial real estate functions
- You’ll be sure that it’s done right.
- You won’t leave money on the table.
- You can free up your time to work on the profitable company business that you specialize in.
- You can outsource the work to a commercial real estate broker that specializes in this and will do it right.
- There’s no cost to you.
That’s right: done right at no cost to you. How can you do this? The trick is finding the right broker, which is not easy to do.
What commercial landlords and sellers don’t want you to know
- Landlords and sellers love it when you don’t use a broker and try and do it yourself. Or if you use their broker or even the same brokerage firm that they use. It’s kind of like using your opponent’s attorney in court — which not only isn’t allowed, but wouldn’t be too smart.
- Since the landlord or seller pays the broker representing you the commission, landlords love it when you don’t use one, because they keep this money. You lose out on having an expert in the commercial real estate field represent you. But the landlord doesn’t give you a credit in any way for saving him money.
The experience of 1,000 leases at work for you
After completing almost 1,000 leases in the past 27 years — mostly representing the landlord — I have never seen a tenant do well trying to do it on their own or using the landlord’s broker or brokerage firm. And I have never seen a tenant get a credit for saving the landlord paying a commission because the tenant didn’t use a broker.
Landlords and sellers have a team representing them, consisting of architects, accountants, attorneys, insurance brokers, property managers, brokers and others that all specialize in commercial real estate. Trust me, you need your own broker that knows about all of these areas.
You need a commercial real estate broker that is knowledgeable in finding locations in any city or state you want to lease or buy in, writing offers, reviewing and understanding leases and finding where the hidden landlord profit centers are, making sure you don’t get ripped off and over-billed for operating expense increases each year and any other matter that comes up between you and the landlord or seller.
The landlord/seller pays this broker a commission for representing you, and it’s already built in rent you are paying. The landlord/seller doesn’t give you a credit for this commission if you don’t use a broker and if the landlord/seller says he is, because of your lack of market knowledge I guarantee you the landlord/seller will make up credit he has given you in other areas like not giving you as much free rent or tenant improvement allowance.
My advice on picking the right commercial broker?
- Find one that has directed the leasing and buying for large landlords as a direct employee in charge of millions of square feet and all types of commercial real estate especially the kind you want to lease or buy like office, retail, industrial, and medical/dental space.
- Don’t pick a broker that hasn’t ever done a deal across state lines before if you need space nationwide, or that hasn’t competed hundreds of transactions in the type of commercial real estate space you need.
- And don’t pick one that has never worked directly for a large commercial landlord before in charge of the real estate department. If they haven’t worked for the landlord directly in a high level of control like a director or president, they can’t begin to help you in the way you need it. They will only be able to find you a space and help you negotiate the economics in the market they are familiar with.
You need a broker that does much more. Working directly on the landlord side gives you a broad range of experience:
- Architect (measuring buildings and spaces)
- Attorneys (lawsuits, legal exposures and understanding what the clauses mean in a contract)
- Property management (conflict resolution)
- Accounting (preparing and auditing operating expense invoices)
- Insurance (knowing what types to have and what limits are reasonable to require from landlord)
- Quality commercial real estate expert referrals and much more.
Whether you need to open up one office or many, call David Massie at DJM Commercial Real Estate at 805-217-0791 or via email at david@djmcre.com. David’s 25 plus years of experience directly in charge of the real estate department of some of the largest landlords in the world will translate into saving you money, time and headaches.