How To Lease Austin Office Space in An Expensive Market

It’s no secret that office space in Austin Tx rental rates are the highest they have been in over 10 years.  Austin office space lease rates are $5 to $10 dollars higher in every market.  Downtown rates are averaging $45 to $50 sf.  The least expensive class B and C rates are averaging $23 to $24 sf.  So as a company or business owner how do you lease office space in an expensive market?

1.  Start Your Search Early – I can’t stress enough how important it is to start your office space search in Austin a minimum 6-8 months before your existing lease expires or before your ideal move in date.  The market is tight which means finding your ideal space will take longer.  The City of Austin takes 30 to 45 days to issue permits.  Contractors are busier than ever so getting preliminary bids is taking longer.  If you wait until the last minute to find and lease office space in Austin you will not have enough time to thoroughly research, evaluate and negotiate the best possible solution.
2. Arm Yourself With Knowledge – Again you need to ensure that you give yourself enough time to do this before your existing lease expires or before your ideal move in date.  Hire a good Austin Tenant Representative to help you with this.  Get to know current market conditions.  What is a good deal in this market?  What sort of concessions can you expect to receive?  What rental rates should you expect to pay?  It’s important that you arm yourself with as much market knowledge as possible as it prepares you for what to expect and what questions need to be asked.  It will also enable you to properly set budget expectations and not be surprised later on.
3. Set Your Goals & Stick to Them – It’s important that you know how much you can afford and stick to that.  You never want to lease more space than you need or pay higher rental rates than you can afford.  Create a budget and stick to it.  Only look at and evaluate properties that are within that budget.  Too many times I have seen companies get suckered into leasing Class A space when nice Class B space would have worked just fine.
4. Know the Building Owner Investment Objectives – Office properties are changing hands rapidly in Austin.  What that means is if a building owner is trying to sell an Austin office building they are probably not going to be very negotiable on the lease rate.  If they lower the lease rate it affects the overall value of the building so don’t expect them to move very much on that.  Instead you might try focusing on getting a better tenant improvement allowance…….Or maybe some free rent…. as they does not have the same effect on the buildings value.
5. Evaluate More Than One Austin Office Option – In order to ensure you get the best deal you need to consider more than one option and be willing to relocate your existing office if you have one.  That way you create a little friendly landlord competition for your tenancy.  If you don’t do this and your existing landlord knows it they will not be as negotiable.  Also the Austin office market it tight and competitive so if you are considering more than one building and one option does not work out you still have others to fall back on and no time is wasted.