How to be an Acknowledged Expert in Retail Property Leasing
When you lease or manage a retail property or shopping center, it is essential that you know your retail tenants and their intentions. The relationship that you build with those tenants over time will help you with the process.
It is no secret that the retail property market is under some pressure and change due to the impact of the Internet and the shifts in customer spending patterns. That being said, there will always be the need for retail properties and shopping centers. It’s just that the tenancy mix and product offering will need to change.
Here is a real need for retail property leasing specialists. They are quite specific people that understand the fine balance or equation between tenant selection, tenancy mix, customers, the property and the landlord.
So we go back to the point that you need to know your retail tenants. As a general rule, you should be identifying the following information:
- Their property requirements as they relate to the existing lease documentation
- The tenants requirements when it comes to expansion or contraction of occupied space
- The levels of sales currently and seasonally for each particular tenant and within each tenant grouping
- The positioning of the single tenant within the cluster of other retailers around them
- The relationship of specialty tenants to the anchor tenant within the Retail Property
- The requirements and needs of the customer when it comes to goods and services being purchased from the property
All of this says that you should really get to know your retail tenants and the tenancy mix dynamics. A successful tenancy will underpin the market rental for the property and the landlord. Conversely a volatile tenancy mix will soon weaken the market rental and create a higher vacancy factor. As a specialist retail leasing executive you can do very well when it comes to property and market specialization. There are plenty of large shopping centers, complex tenancy mixes, and landlords with challenging property portfolios that need your help.
It should be said that a retail property leasing specialist really does need to understand the key retail issues such as:
- The way in which market rental works for each particular tenancy type
- How to establish an incentive in a lease transaction and yet also recover the costs of that incentive over the lease term
- How to negotiate a lease with a retailer based on the permitted use and tenancy dynamics
- How to position at tenant within a cluster of other tenants to improve the overall sales ratios
- How to balance renovation and refurbishment issues within a retail property and its leasing strategy.
- How to select and negotiate with the anchor tenants to support the property performance for the long term
- How to advise the landlord of current property performance issues including income, expenditure, essential services, documentation, tenancy issues, tenant retention, and cash flow.
There is plenty of room at the top when it comes to position you as a retail property leasing specialist. Understand the specialize nature of the property type, and improve your knowledge and skills accordingly. It is a very rewarding part of the property market for those that choose to specialize.
