Leasing a commercial space for an office, retail store or for industrial use should be done carefully and methodically because the wrong location can whither your business quickly. Not only is the location vital to a successful business, the terms of your rental lease can also hamper your business if you don’t have terms which reflect your special needs or prospects for future growth.
Rental leases aren’t all cast in stone. To get the best terms for your business, be prepared to negotiate. The key to any successful negotiation is to be well prepared in advance. Do your homework to clearly understand what you need now and what you will need in the future. Study the city demographics and consider the best locations in order of preference. Know what you want and need before you start contacting a realtor. Here are a few negotiation tips to help you get the best deal.
Don’t restrict yourself to a Single Realtor/Landlord
Since you know the areas which interest you, there will be more than one realtor who is leasing space in that area. If you use several at a time, and providing that commercial space availability is not at a premium, you can possibly leverage yourself a better deal if you do so.
One landlord might be offering 3 months rent, but you might be able to negotiate that up to 4 or 5 months with the next one. Each landlord is going to be making a leasing proposal to you so if you have more than one in play you can pit one proposal against another to get a better offer.
Attitude is Important
Not only is your attitude important, but so is the landlords attitude. Having an attitude of being too demanding or intractable by either party is going to be counter-productive. A poor attitude is going to cause either or both parties to dig in and become inflexible.
If the landlord is presenting such a front, you might want to seriously ask yourself what you’re getting into because if they’re like that at the star,t what are they going to be like down the road?
Listening and Asking Questions
Be an active listener and ask relevant questions. Ideally, this should be a two way street. It helps you each to understand each other’s positions. If the landlord says they can’t or won’t do something you need, ask them why and to explain their position. Make sure you also fully explain why you need or want something so they can clearly understand your position.
By gaining a better understanding, you might be able to make creative counter proposals that might overcome an impasse. Be creative and try for a compromise instead of drawing a line in the sand. At some point you might just have to draw a line because that is the point it might be better to simply walk away from the table and look elsewhere.
Don’t get Personal
Personal attacks or adopting an insulting or aggressive manner is also counter productive. It’s not uncommon for the other party to take somewhat of a more extreme position at the outset. The temptation is to counter with your own. The best approach is to whittle it down by asking questions and showing that the other side is being unreasonable because most likely they were prepared to negotiate down to more reasonable terms in the first place.
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