Ways of Negotiating Leases in Competitive Markets

When you work as a commercial leasing agent today, there is likely to be plenty of vacant properties to compare to and compete with.  It is wise to carefully consider any vacancy that you have now and then to repackage it, especially for the target audience and current enquiry. 

How do you create the leasing results that you want now?  The best leasing business will be established and enhanced mainly by your telephone prospecting.

Make plenty of calls to people in your location and or targeted groups, as that is where the property market is today.  The telephone can enhance and change your local real estate business substantially.

Packaging the Lease Listing

How competitive are your current listings? Consider any vacant property that you have listed and how you have positioned that property for a successful outcome.  How many other properties do you know of in the location that are vacant?  How do they compare to your listed property?  Think about these things:

• Exclusive listings should be specifically promoted in comprehensive ways.  Review the target audience and consider how you are packaging those listings within that.
• Open listings should be generically listed and not too much time should be spent on them unless you can see a ‘channel’ of opportunity.

So, the property market is always changing especially now. Look at all the leasing variables. Consider all the aspects of improvements, presentation, layout, fit-out, location, and lease alternatives. 

A strategy is everything in leasing. Packaging the property for a positive lease outcome should be thought through and optimized from the very start; as leasing agents, that is our job.  Help your client think about the best ways to boost lease enquiry and inspection opportunities. 

Perfect Lease Preparation

Preparation is paramount in progressing a lease transaction today.  On that basis, be well prepared to work on a lease negotiation from a comprehensive and competitive perspective.  Preparation fast tracks the lease opportunities and facilitates more significant levels of closure and completion.  Work towards the lease transaction solution that you know your client wants and that the property market will accept.

A property vacancy and lease transaction should not be marketed ‘randomly’.  Once the lease negotiation starts, be working towards resolving any problems and taking the deal to completion in useful and timely ways.   Think about these things:

1. Review of all comparable properties and rentals – The entire lease package should be optimized for the potential negotiation.  Overpriced asking rentals are all too standard in the property market today as landlords seek to set a bargaining range and create a margin for ‘coming down’ in rental discussions with any tenant.  As agents, we know that a high asking rent will usually stifle enquiry from any marketing.  Help your client as a landlord to work around that problem.
2. Establishing rent ranges for marketing and negotiating – Having a variety of rents and a selection of rental strategies will help you lease the property faster.  Consider the variables of gross, net, face, and effective rents that could apply to a lease over different lease terms.  Condition the client before you go to the marketing of the vacancy and take them through the variables of rent given the prevailing market circumstances.
3. Having the incentives clarified and approved beforehand – Lease incentives can be provided in different ways to a tenant.  That will be depending on the term of the lease and the rentals to be paid.  Help your client understand the situations and alternatives of rent and incentive in your location today.  Get the incentive types approved before you go to the promotion of the property.
4. Creating a comprehensive lease offer and setting the alternatives early to no agreement – some tenants will try out the client’s flexibility and realism on market rents.  The tenants we work with today know a lot about the local market rentals and are prepared to negotiate the best lease alternative at the lowest possible rent.  Have you conditioned your client by showing them the images and details of other vacant properties in the location?

From these strategies, you can prepare your client to accept and work with the rental and leasing alternatives in the leasing of office, retail, and industrial property. 

These are some of the main ways of negotiating a property lease transaction effectively. Your preparation in this way will help you get a faster leasing outcome for your landlord client.