Strategies About How To Rent Industrial Warehouse Properties
Before you start searching for the perfect warehouse space for rent for your startup, you must to get educated about the commercial real estate leasing process. Being ready should help prevent you from making rapid decisions and costly mistakes thatyou will end up regretting later on. Below are some insider suggestions to help make an informed choice when letting a commercial property your company
Initiate the process of locating commercial space at least 6-12 months before your current lease terminates or until your perfect move-in-date. Locating the right space and negotiating the deal will require 1-2 months depending upon the size space and current market conditions. In most cases the spaces you like will require some type of modifications which the time required will depend on the scope of work.
completely analyze your business’s present and future needs. Consult with the various department heads for input in addition to some key employees.
Get familiar with allthe commercial property terms and meanings. Various landlords state and quote things otherwise. If you are unsure about what they mean do not be afraid to ask them to get more info.
If you are not knowledgeable about the commercial property leasing process or the present market conditions then consider engaging the help of a tenant representative. Their services do not cost you anything because building owners compensate all of the leasing fees. The landlord agent will have an expert listing agent helping them so it would be a good idea for you to have one also.
Physically visit all of the properties that meet your requirements so thatyou can make a brief list. Keep in mind that the layouts can be reconfigured so don’t get stuck on that. Ask the landlord representatives a lot of questions regarding the ownership, property amenities, required lease term length, how much the landlord is prepared to give in tenant improvement allowances, etc..
Don’t settle for the first commercial space you believe is acceptable for your requirements: continue searching until you have at least two to 3 alternative options. These extra options will work to your advantage because you will know what to expect during the lease negotiations and you’ll gain more leverage with numerous building owners competing for your tenancy. They also give you something to fall back to whether the discussions to your first choice go silent.
Send out proposals to your top three to five options. These aren’t legally binding. You never want to have a landlord representative’s verbal note. Everything needs to be in writing.
To help you decide what property is best suited for your company, prepare a spreadsheet to do an apples to apples comparison of every property. Some of the things you need to put into consideration include the dimensions of this space, the asking base rental rates, the necessary lease duration, and the incremental costs (taxes, insurance, maintenance, etc). You can also take note about the advantages and disadvantages of each property. If you are budget conscious then you can quickly narrow down the list by simply calculating the monthly base rents for each property then removing those that are way above your budget. The monthly base rent is calculated by multiplying the industrial space square feet by the asking base rate and any operating expenditures then dividing by 12.
If any of the commercial spaces require tenant improvements then it is important that you figure out what improvements you want on each and get preliminary bids. This way if the landlord is offering a tenant improvement allowance you will know just how much out of pocket you’ll need to pay above and beyond what the landlord is prepared to give.
Carefully examine and compare the terms of each proposal. Consider whether it makes sense to go back to every landlord to negotiate extra concessions. Make certain you completely understand the total expenses you are expected to cover. Don’t get emotionally attached to a specific property until the discussions are over. Emotional attachment might lead to you signing a contract thatyour business can’t live up to.
After discussions are finalized and you’ve made your selection now it is time to have the landlord provide you the first draft of this commercial rental contract.
Now it is time to reassess the commercial rental contract. It would be advisable for you to hire an attorney to review the lease. If you have a tenant agent then they could review the lease with you also. Industrial lease language could be negotiated. If you do not like certain lease items or want to propose new language today is the time to do so.
Once the end of rental contract negotiations has finished the building owner will give you a copy of the lease to review and sign.
There are many more things to consider when renting commercial real estate however these ideas will help get you going. If you are a new company renting commercial space for the first time or an current company who has just rented one or two spaces then consider getting help from a tenant agent. Their services don’t cost you anything and you’ll save a lot of money and time.