Working with an experienced broker who’s already familiar with the options that exist in the market not only saves time and money, but also ensures businesses end up in a lease and location that will work for them over the long term.

Just like attorneys and medical professionals, a tenant representative has specialized knowledge that can prove invaluable during an office search. By handling the majority of the legwork, brokers are able to streamline the search process while generating better results for their clients.

Are you confident in your space needs?

A good tenant rep will view every scenario through the eyes of the tenant and advise them on the options that will best serve their unique needs. They will help you calculate your actual need for space and determine your specific layout needs. This will prevent you from wasting time on property negotiations that are not right for your company. But importantly, it will prevent you from leasing more space than you need. Even if this is not your first move, no business wants to spend more than they have to and getting caught up in long-term leases for more space than you need, or can grow into, will only handicap your growth further.

Can you match available properties to what you are looking for?

Anyone can type a few words into Google and find what appears to be a great office space. No one’s is suggesting that you do not start there – but this search ultimately involves more than scanning the available listings to find your office’s next home.

Remember that incredible building you found online? Without a trained, knowledgeable professional on your side, you wouldn’t know the landlord of your amazing new building has a reputation for being unfair, what is contained in the escalation clause, or if you’re responsible for repairs to equipment in the building you were unaware of. Maybe you will be billed for  over-time air conditioning or billed for the use of the freight elevator when you add furniture – the list goes on and on.

A professional tenant rep can also identify a property that might not be an obvious choice for your needs. This could result in lower rental rates and space that is better suited to the success of your company.

Are you interested in saving money?

A tenant rep will help you plan and reveal the hidden costs of leasing your next office. Do not underestimate the value of letting someone else handle this, so you can focus on your core duties. Making effective use of tenant representation will generate cost savings and give you space and terms that improve the financial and competitive position of your company.

A good tenant rep appreciates the economic impact of everything that follows page one of that lease document and will protect you in the negotiation of the entire minutia that adds significantly to your costs.

Without good representation, a tenant may sign off on an improvement allowance of $25 per square foot, when in actuality, the market price for the improvements needed is closer $35 per square foot.  A tenant representative knows the market well enough to negotiate the price down to market rate or lower; saving you significant dollars and helping you navigate the rough waters.

Final Thoughts

A tenant broker will calculate the true costs of each alternative (the true cost DOES NOT equal rent) and will ensure that important qualitative factors are also considered. Consulting a good representative will help you to prepare a plan for each stage in your growth for major expense triggers as they relate to office space. They can help guide you through the process, timelines, connect you with quality vendors and ultimately find you space while mitigating some of the work to get set up start to finish.