Navigating Commercial Property Leases: A Tenant's Guide To Leasing Commercial Property

This book is written to de-mystify the commercial leasing process for the commercial tenant. Today the Internet offers commercial tenants access to multiple data bases of commercial space for lease, more and more of which is offered directly from the owners of the property. Many of these owners have a strong background in real estate which most commercial tenant's lack. I’ve observed that many times when a prospective tenant finds space on their own they simply do not know how to go about leasing the space and must rely upon the owner or the owner’s broker to get them through the process. Sometimes this works, but because of the inherent tensions between landlord and tenant in a negotiation the transactions often fail. This guide will help equalize that situation and show you what to do and how to proceed when you want to find an office, industrial or retail space to lease on your own.

Whether you are leasing commercial property on your own or using the services of a broker, this book will serve you well because leasing is a very different kind of real estate transaction. In most real estate transactions some form of binding agreement is made early in the process, such as in the purchase of property. A buyer tenders an offer in writing with a purchase contract and deposit receipt to seller. The seller either accepts the offer or counter offers go back and forth until there is acceptance. When the terms of this binding contract have been met the property transfers to the buyer. While this some times happens in leasing, most often, a series of non-binding proposals go back and forth outlining general business terms and at the end of the leasing process a rather lengthy contract is produced. This contract, when executed, defines the ongoing rights and obligations of the parties to each other for a period of time. During the time the contract is being negotiated, reviewed by legal counsel and finally completed, there is much to do and much that can go wrong.

This book will take you through the steps involved in the leasing process; teach you about the most important business points in a lease negotiation; show you how to create winning proposals; and give you some useful negotiation tips. I’ve also included some useful checklists and defined the jargon for you. Leasing commercial property on your own is not overly complex, but it does take some knowledge and skill. Not surprisingly, the owners or their brokers will have that knowledge and skill, however, you must level the playing field and this book will help you do that. Lease transactions are interesting and can be fun and creative. My hope is that with the help of this book leasing a commercial space will be fun for you too.

Bob McComb started his successful brokerage career in commercial leasing in the San Francisco office market in 1985. He quickly rose to the ranks of a top producer, representing owners of high-rise towers and office tenants. He has been the leasing agent for the landmark building, the Transamerica Pyramid and scores of other buildings.

In 1991 he became a founder of a well-respected commercial real estate company in San Francisco. As a top broker he has negotiated hundreds of lease transactions, as an owner of a real estate company he has reviewed hundreds more.

Bob was a regularly featured columnist for the Alameda Newspaper Group on the subject of leasing and in the Commercial Property Guide on the subject of negotiations. He is the co-creator of the commercial real estate agent training program, Top Dogs, How to Run with The Big Dogs in Commercial Real Estate.