Commercial Real Estate Investing From A-Z How to Find Great Leasing Agents
How to find the best retail leasing agents for your vacant space? What questions should you be asking them? Beth Azor has over thirty years of experience in leasing, managing, developing, redeveloping and teaching commercial real estate leasing agents all over the country.
You can read this interview here: https://montecarlorei.com/how-to-find-a-great-retail-leasing-agent/
What makes for a great retail leasing broker?
Someone that's not afraid to ask the tough questions. How much is it going to cost for you to open your business? For example, the daycare said $80/sf. And I said, OK, the building is ten thousand square feet. That's eight hundred thousand dollars. Then it's asking the second tough question, do you have the eight hundred thousand. As anyone in real estate, our time is our commodity. We need to maximize that to the best of our ability. So not being afraid to ask the tough questions. Also following up. Once in a blue moon, I'll help a friend who wants to open a location and I'll call a bunch of landlords or shopping center owners trying to find space. And it blows my mind how many people do not return phone calls. So: not being afraid to ask the tough questions, asking a lot of questions, because telling and selling and asking is, and then following up. I think those are the two most important qualities.
Is there a specific set of questions that are important for us to ask them?
Yes, asking them for a copy of their deal sheet for the last 12 months, or 18 months and then asking them which of those deals were new tenants versus renewal tenants? And then for all of those new tenants, how did you find them? Was it a call in off of the sign? Was it a cooperating broker? Was it a cold call? Was it a prospect, or was it a social media post? So really drilling down on how they found the prospect, because that is going to give you a clear path and understanding as to how they're going to lease your property. Are they just going to put up a sign and expect calls to come in? Or are they going to be extremely proactive in getting the business? Those are truly the most important questions. And then you have to feel good and have an instinctual feel that you can work with this person. And I would also ask that person for other clients that they work for that you can call and get a reference. Are they proactive? Do they call back? How are the negotiations? Do they negotiate on my behalf? Or are they always calling me and saying, well, we should give this guy an extra month's free or some tenant improvement money. Are they a true owners rep? Or do they want to be working on behalf of the tenant? Those would be the questions that I would ask a retail leasing broker that I might be considering hiring.
What should a landlord keep in mind in order to be their tenants favorite landlord?
Keeping the property clean, keeping it well lit, a very well lit and safe and secure shopping center is very important. I think my tenants like me, but if I don’t get the rent on the second of the month, they get a late fee. Now I’ve trained them. Being consistent is very important because you shouldn’t play favorites and give one tenant one thing and another tenant not the same thing. And certainly listening to your clients, for example mobile to go in the retail world is huge. You have to be reading up on that and thinking, how can I do something differently? How can I help my customers get more sales?
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