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Finding office space that meets your needs is a lot harder than finding a house to purchase. You see residential real estate listings are typically governed by your areas real estate commission and there is ONLY ONE MAIN database that all realtors and 3rd party companies pull from. When they list a property on the MLS and it sells they are required to post how much it sold for. Commercial office space listings on the other hand are not regulated by the real estate commission. We have multiply 3rd party databases and others trying to keep up with inventory and lease rates however because the market moves so quickly & multi-tenant office building vacancies are hard to keep track of online office space listings are almost always inaccurate. That is why I’m going to tell you the best way how to find office space for rent.
- Determine Your Ideal Size & Location – Before you start looking at least have an idea of your ideal size and location. On average these days most companies lease 150 to 200 sf per employee. Depending on parking ratios of particular office buildings you might be able to go lower than that. When picking a location think about transportation & amenity options, where your employees live, where the talent pool is, and where your key vendors, partners, or clients are located.
- Search Online Listings – Yes above I said most online listings are not accurate or outdated. You will find yourself spinning your wheels calling on listings only to find out they have already been leased, are more expensive than advertised, or have not been available for years. Many 3rd party sites are created only to generate leads for commercial realtors. All that being said perusing them will give you an idea of what is available and and what costs. The most popular is Loopnet & Craigslist.
- Hire a Commercial Realtor – Let’s face it. Do you really have the time, resources, experience, & patience to spend calling ALL of the landlords, listing agents & building owners to find office space? Do you make money while you are searching for space on your own? Your not going to save a penny by doing all of this legwork on your own. Listing agents are getting paid a commission regardless of whether you have help or not…………..and they represent the Landlord’s best interest. Quit wasting your own time doing all this tedious legwork. Pick up the phone and call a commercial real estate agent to do this for you. You make one call and they will make hundreds to find office spaces that meet your needs, then will help you negotiate the best deal and facilitate many other things.
If you really have the spare time and enjoy making all of the phone calls and previewing spaces then it might make sense for you to find office space on your own. However doing this is not making you money! Hire a commercial agent to work for you to find space………….While they are doing that you can do what makes you money!