Blueprint Skills for Leasing Agents and Property Managers

Who are the best people to create new levels of property performance for their clients? It is a simple answer. Property managers and leasing managers are the key people to boost property performance.

Why is that? They can bring skills to the client’s property that improve income streams and prevent vacancies from occurring.

Property and leasing managers can accomplish so much for a property and its owner as a client. They can chart new commercial or retail property paths to improve the tenancy mix and rental income streams.

Systems and Strategies

It all comes down to looking for and acting on property investment opportunities.

Where should a property manager or leasing manager start with this concept? Try this list of strategies for ideas:

• Lease documentation improvements
• Tenancy placement and selection
• Better tenants in selected locations
• Optimizing the market rents
• Attracting customers to a property
• Critical dates management
• Asset planning
• Investment return planning

Controls to Use

Considering these factors, property improvement or asset plans can take shape. Here are some examples and controls to apply:

1. Strategic Property Positioning

What type of property is it, and how does it ‘fit’ into the location from an investment standpoint? Those questions should be featured and centred in the property’s business plan for every asset under management or leasing. Regarding tenant and lease negotiations, this makes things a lot easier.

Where do you even begin with this? You can also conduct a complete SWOT analysis of the property and market to fully consider the property’s positioning for the next 12 months and five years. A real estate asset requires time to change. That is why you consider the frames.

2. Effective Lease Negotiations

Tenants, premises, and negotiations are all well-known elements of a property or premises lease.

Some properties or premises are superior to others, as are specific locations. This is where vacancy leasing can be strategic and forward-thinking.

The starting rent, lease structures, and lease documentation can all be tailored to the landlord’s needs and property holding.

3. Working Together

An experienced lease negotiator and property manager can collaborate to negotiate better leases, considering the property owner’s overall goals and current market conditions.

The targeted lease benchmarks for a property or premises within a property can be set in the asset’s business plan. Any leased premises can be targeted to the property business plan’s benchmarks. This makes any lease negotiation much more straightforward.

4. Tenant Relationships

Create solid landlord-tenant relationships for the future. When issues with tenant occupancy arise, the parties can discuss the situation and address tenant concerns quickly and in a ‘market-relevant’ manner.

Incorporate a tenant retention strategy into the tenant management base plan. Consider the existing lease documentation, lease expiry dates, and any potential occupancy renewals as part of the tenant retention plan.

Planning for these issues over the next two years or the next 24 months is prudent. Then, consider market rental evidence to ensure your lease negotiations align with market conditions. Consider the total tenancy mix and the tenants in occupancy each year.

Make priority groups and categories out of the tenants. The categories can correspond to the various tenancy types and merchandise offerings. Some tenants will be better than others; as a result, some lease negotiations will be prioritised.

5. Data-Driven Decisions

Data-driven decision-making – Every real estate transaction, lease, or investment decision can be made using logic and market evidence. That is a data-driven decision, making it much easier for the property owner to make tenant and investment decisions that align with the location’s and property’s potential.

Keeping a rental schedule and supply and demand factors on hand is prudent when negotiating real estate lease occupancy. Consider the pressures and priorities created or applied to your managed and leased assets by nearby competing properties.

How are you going to compete with the nearby properties? Understand why tenants move between properties and look for flaws in nearby competing properties. Can you favourably position your property in leasing and management to attract long-term tenants?

6. Legal and Regulatory Compliances

Legal and Regulatory Compliance – All investment properties will be supported by lease documentation prepared and negotiated during occupancy. Those lease documents will contain compliance issues and covenants that must be monitored, requiring the landlord and tenants to comply in specific ways and at prescribed times.

Add to those changes in building codes, safety regulations, and property occupancy codes. This becomes a focus for any managed or leased property regarding legal and regulatory compliance.

Consider the risks and opportunities associated with legal and regulatory compliance. Create a SWOT analysis for the tenancy mix with the lease documentation.

Check the critical dates that apply to all existing lease documents and ensure that the tenants and the landlord fully comply with dates and lease covenants.

7. Innovative Marketing

Why would someone rent space in a managed property? That question must be answered before the property’s marketing can be staged and strategised.

The property business plan can define and maintain the entire strategy. Know exactly how to market any property or vacancy throughout the year.

What features should be included in the most straightforward marketing campaign? Select the attracting factors and ensure they consistently apply to lease and vacancy marketing strategies for all premises leased throughout the year.

8. Adaptability to a Dynamic Market

The real estate market shifts for various reasons. We cannot change the property market as leasing or property management agents, but we can change and adjust our approaches to lease or tenancy matters.

This implies that we should be strategic in our approach to property investment and potential property performance.