Commercial tenants need representation for all of their large and small lease and leasing needs. Tenants typically are focused solely on their business and give very little thought to their lease or their lease negotiations. What tenants do not typically consider is that landlords’ sole business is negotiating real estate deals. Tenants need to be informed of the market and the standard terms they need to look out for in their lease to include personal guaranty language. Landlords prefer to negotiate directly with Tenants ill equipped to negotiate their best terms possible. The higher the rental rate the more the building is worth and therefore the landlord’s only focus is to get as much as they can out of the tenant with zero concern for the impact the negotiations may have on the Tenant’s ability to be profitable.
Just a few weeks ago I had a potential customer contact me for advice on some issues they were having with their landlord. A few years ago I had given this same potential customer free advice never to hear back from him. In this instance I told him he would have to sign a consulting with me and send me a $360 check if he wanted guidance from me. At first, he was taken aback and he did not reach back out for a few days. Eric finally decided I was worth the $360 and we began the process to resolve his landlord issues. The main issues were his lease renewal was approaching and for some unknown reason the landlord or property manager transferred Eric’s utilities into their name. A few months ago they sent him a $100,000 plus bill for the utilities with a demand for payment. Eric and I put together a strategy to have the bill removed and to get him a below market lease renewal. During the process I teamed up with my lawyer partner for law advice associated with the lease and I put a strong case together law and business wise to convince the landlord they didn’t have a leg to stand on for the reimbursement for their mistake and if they didn’t adjust their attitude Eric’s company that was occupying 30,000 SF would be moving elsewhere. After some pretty contentious negotiating the landlord tore up the utility bill, gave Eric some free rent and tenant improvement dollars along with a better than market rent deal. We saved the tenant over $100,000, we renewed his lease and EIR made $30,000.00
One of our largest commercial clients to date started with a 1,200 SF space in Glendale. When I was still employed at Abart/Nova we had a tenant with some issues in their suite most notably too many patients in their waiting room was causing parking and HVAC issues. Upon meeting the CEO we were able to resolve these issues quickly. Over the course of the next few years the CEO and I developed a great relationship. I asked to assist them with their current commercial real estate needs citywide and the CEO was nice enough to give us a shot. Over the course of seven years we have completed numerous deals nationwide. In addition, we collectively developed our Outsourced Director of Real Estate Model for growing local, regional and national companies. We have utilized this model to positively impact many companies and to better communicate our value adds which differentiate us from transactional and volume based brokerage firms. We meet almost weekly to discuss real estate and business strategy and the CEO and I have become great friends.