Whether it’s retail, office, industrial, or warehouse space that you are looking to rent, chances are you won’t save any money by not hiring a commercial real estate broker.
Here are a few reason’s why you should hire a commercial real estate broker if you are renting space for your business:
You won’t pay them directly
Although your commercial real estate broker represents only your interests, typically, you are not the one that pays them. The commission is usually split with the listing broker, so there is ordinarily no cost to the renter.
One way or another, you pay for not hiring a CRE Broker When You Are Renting
It’s not uncommon for commercial rental spaces to be significantly overpriced. A good commercial real estate broker can often negotiate your base rent down substantially and ask for additional perks like a few months of rent free. Your local broker will know exactly what the space is actually worth and factor that into their negotiations on your behalf. Additionally, they’ll look for common clauses in your lease that can quickly become expensive like whether the tenant pays for big repairs, contributes to the maintenance of common areas, pays a portion of the property taxes, or even a portion of their sales. Most tenants don’t know the difference between a single net, double net, triple net or modified gross lease but it can make a huge difference in what they pay. Do you know what the escalation clause will cost you? Your commercial real estate broker can negotiate a cap on they escalation clause so that you don’t end up paying large sums of money.
They know about available properties that you don’t
If you’ve been searching yourself for the right space for your business, chances are that you’ve only been looking at a small percentage of what’s available on the market. Commercial real estate rental listings have no single commonly used database like other types of real estate. Your commercial real estate broker has access to listings that are not widely advertised or are about to come on to the market. Giving your broker a good feel for what your business needs in a space can save you a lot of time searching and ultimately find you a better space.
They can help make sure that your business has the right options in the future.
Commercial real estate leases have a lot of options to protect the tenant if you know what to ask for. For example, exclusivity clauses can prevent lost revenue to a competitor, co-tenancy clauses can make sure that you can leave if an anchor tenant moves, or you can make sure that your rent doesn’t go up astronomically when it’s time to renew your lease.
Renting a space for your business may seem like it’s something that you can handle yourself but hiring a broker can save you a lot of money and help mitigate unforeseen expenses.
Gordon Allebach is the owner of G Brokerage Commercial Real Estate. G Brokerage helps businesses rent retail, office, industrial and warehouse space throughout Lake Norman, Charlotte and other parts of North Carolina.
