Ultimate Overview To Leasing Commercial Warehouse Properties

Before you begin looking for a great warehouse space for rent for your business, you should to get informed about the commercial warehouse leasing process. Being ready will keep you from making expeditious decisions and costly mistakes you will come to regret in the future. The following are some insider tips to help make an informed choice when renting a commercial warehouse space your business

Start the process of hunting for commercial space at least 6-12 months before your existing lease terminates or before your perfect move-in-date. Locating the perfect space and negotiating the deal alonewill take 1-2 months depending on the size area and current market conditions. In most cases the spaces you like will need some type of tenant improvements which the time needed will depend on the scope of work.

completely research your business’s current and future needs. Consult with the different department heads for input as well as some key employees.

Get acquainted with the commercial space terms and meanings. Various landlords say and quote things otherwise. If you are in doubt about what they mean don’t be afraid to ask them to get more info.

If you are not familiar with the commercial leasing process or the current market conditions then consider engaging the assistance of a tenant agent. Their services don’t cost anything because landlords pay all of the rental commissions. The landlord agent will have an knowledgable listing agent helping them so it would be a great idea for you to have one as well.

Physically tour all of the properties that meet your needs so you can make a short list. Bear in mind that the layouts can be reconfigured so don’t get stuck on that. Ask the landlord agents a lot of questions about the ownership, property amenities, required lease duration, how much the landlord is prepared to give in tenant improvement allowances, etc..

Don’t settle for the first commercial space you believe is suitable for your needs: continue searching until you have at least 2 to 3 other choices. These extra options will work to your advantage because you will know what to expect throughout the lease negotiations and you will gain more leverage with numerous landlords competing for your business. They also give you something to fall back to if the negotiations to your first choice go sideways.

Send out proposals to your top three to five choices. These are not legally binding. You don’t ever want to have a landlord representative’s verbal word. 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 should put into consideration include the dimensions of the distance, the asking base rental rates, the necessary lease duration, and the incremental expenses (taxes, insurance, maintenance, etc). It is also possible to take note about the pros and cons 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 which are way above your budget. The monthly base rent is calculated by multiplying the commercial space square feet by the asking base rate plus any operating expenditures then dividing by 12.

If some of the commercial spaces need tenant improvements then it is important that you figure out what improvements you want on each and get preliminary bids. That way if the landlord is offering a tenant improvement allowance you will learn just how much out of pocket you will need to pay above and beyond what the landlord is prepared to give.

Carefully analyze and compare the terms of each proposal. Consider whether it makes sense to return to every landlord to negotiate additional concessions. Be certain you completely understand the total expenses you are expected to cover. Don’t get emotionally attached to a specific property until the negotiations are over. Emotional attachment might lead to you signing a contract your business can’t live up to.

After negotiations are finalized and you’ve made your selection now it’s time to have the landlord offer you the first draft of the commercial rental contract.

Now it’s time to reassess the commercial rental contract. It would be advisable for you to hire an attorney to review the lease. For those who have a tenant representative then they could review the lease with you as well. Commercial lease language could be negotiated. If you don’t like particular lease items or would like to propose new language now is the time to do so.

Once the end of rental contract negotiations has ended the building owner will supply you a copy of the lease to sign.

There are many more things to consider when renting commercial real estate however these tips will help get you going. If you are a new company renting commercial space for the first time or an existing company who has just leased one or 2 spaces then consider getting help from a tenant agent. Their services don’t cost you anything and you will save a great deal of money and time.