Finding and leasing office space in San Diego may seem easy at first, but is actually a complex process that takes time, commitment, and knowledge of local markets. Having a professional help you through the process can save you and your company valuable time, effort, and money.
If someone isn’t familiar with the term tenant representation, at first glance it seems like tenant reps are just apartment locators for commercial space. However tenant representatives are more like business partners because not only do they work to find the perfect space, they work to negotiate favorable lease terms for their clients, saving them money and providing them value throughout the leasing process.
Why Use a Tenant Representative?
It helps to have one person acting on your behalf while negotiating several sides against each other. A good broker will show you ten different spaces whether you are renewing a lease, or moving to a new space. You will choose the three that best meet your need and leverage them against each other to get the best deal. A broker listed on a website for a building you may be interested would certainly be happy to work with you, but it takes a tenant representative broker to truly work FOR you. Tenant representatives’ best interests are with the client, not the landlord. Building brokers work for the landlord of the building.
Tenant Reps Know the Market
You want someone on your side that knows the San Diego commercial market and its current conditions. The Internet certainly provides information, accessibility, and even helpful advice, but the value added by a tenant representative is unparalleled. Tenant representatives make sure that landlords do not take advantage of their client by conducting exhaustive reviews of lease proposals and taking into consideration individual business needs.
We Know the Leasing Process
Your lawyer is not able to leverage landlords against each other whereas a tenant representative can say “If you don’t take this provision out, I’ll take my client to the building across the street.” Only a tenant representative broker knows the scope of the market well enough to make those sorts of demands.
You Save Money
A tenant representative broker will save your business money. Your tenant representative will get you the best space for a better price. Because they look at the process from a business perspective, they’re sure get you the best deal possible by combing leases and searching through spaces and different landlords. For example, without good representation, the tenant may sign on to an improvement allowance of $40 per square foot, not knowing that the actual market price for such work is $30. The tenant representative knows the market and would negotiate that any remaining funds be applied to lower the rent. (For a 50,000 sq. ft. building, that would mean a savings of $500,000.)
We Provide Our Services at no Cost to You
A tenant representative is free to you! You get professional advisory services without spending any of your own money. The tenant representative gets a commission that comes from the landlord’s pocket pre budgeted from marketing expenses. It’s the landlord that’s paying for the service, not the tenant. The tenant representative splits the commission with the listing broker when the deal is closed and if there is no tenant representative the listing broker is compensated the entire commission.