Business Tips to Look for When Leasing Your Property

There are many tips out there designed to help you during the office leasing process, but what should you consider before starting the process of contacting a broker and looking at properties?  There are three areas that will help you identify your real needs in a new building and speed the overall process along:

• Timing 
• Location
• Space

1. Timing

Consider how quickly you need the property and identify deadlines for moving.  Are you currently leasing space with a looming expiration?  If so, consider that the time needed between contacting a broker and moving into a new office is 4 months for an average sized tenant.  Once you contact a broker, it will typically take 2 weeks for you to tour and retour the potential properties your broker presents to you.  Once the 2 or 3 best options are identified, you should allow about 10 to 14 days for the landlords’ architects to draw conceptual space plans and for the landlords to make their proposals.  Once the proposals are made it will take an additional week to negotiate the final terms of the lease.  After the best property is chosen it will take 7 to 10 days to finalize the lease language.  Depending on the level of build out being performed, it is safe to assume 30 to 60 days for construction to be completed. 

2. Location

Is it critical that your customers can easily find your office or is it more critical that your employees like the building they work in and have an easy commute? If the former is more critical, you will want your broker to focus on buildings with good visibility to major thoroughfares and that have options for building and monument signage.  Occupying a building that is a city landmark also aids in directing customers to your office.  If you are more concerned about your workers, an office park that provides amenities and a tranquil setting might promote overall employee satisfaction.  If you are a new company that has yet to hire employees, it is wise to consider where your employee base is going to be drawn from.  Do you foresee your talent coming from the suburbs or Downtown?  The closer you are to your employees, the easier it will be to recruit and retain them.

3. Space

Consider your current office space.  Could it be set up more efficiently?  Are you losing valuable space to an overly large reception area or a 10 person conference room that never gets used?  Is it critical to have private offices or would it be more conducive to have collaborative work areas?  Open floor plans will make your space more efficient and allow you to fit more employees per square foot.  They also drive down tenant improvement costs allowing landlords to make better deals on the price of the space.

After considering these you are ready to select a broker, see our post on questions to ask when hiring a CRE broker or contact Block Real Estate Services, LLC (BRES) for further assistance.

Contributor:

Max Wasserstrom, CFA
Sales Associate
Block Real Estate Services, LLC
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