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How to Save Money on Your Lease whether renewing, relocating, or starting a new office.

1. Start early.

If you just start early, your landlord will know you are willing/able to move. If you start negotiating 3-months from expiration, your landlord likely will call your bluff and know you don't have time to make a change. 

2. Have options.

Even if you want to stay in your building, have other options to leverage against one another. Use up to 3-buildings to put proposals out on and you will quickly find out whether your building is giving you fair incentives or not. 

3.Use a broker.

The quickest way for a landlord to pull one over on you is to NOT have a broker. Landlords will naturally believe you don't know the market, you don't know where the best deal is, and you are willing to accept something at face rate, because, historically that would be accurate. If you just get a broker, your deal will immediately get better.

4. Pull the lever.

Ownership groups vary in performance style. A longtime owner of a building can give on a face rate but maybe doesn't want to give on a build-out allowance. Conversely, a buy->improve->sell owner will not give on face rate but will give free months rent and a heft build-out allowance. If you know what lever to pull from, you can get better incentives than if you are only focused on rental rate. Let's do a deal comparison-->

Need help with your office lease?

 

Deal 1:

Size: 1,500 SF

Rate: $19.00/SF/YR (started at $20.00/SF/YR)

Abated months: 0

Tenant Incentives Total: $1,500

$1,500 = ($20*1,500 SF) - ($19*1,500 SF)

 

Deal 2:

Size: 1,500 SF

Rate: $20.00/SF/YR

Abated months: 2 (started at 0)

Tenant Incentives Total: $5,000

$5,000 = 2 Months * ($20/SF/YR*1,500 SF / 12 Months)

As you can see, getting the 2 abated months is a lot more meaningful than reducing rental rate and thus the monthly by $125/mo.

 

5. Know where to look.

One of the easiest ways to save money is to actually have a list of a great options. You can't get that list if you don't know where to look, and the worst way to find a space is to drive around, calling every building's leasing team for information. It's a waste of time and a coin toss as to whether they even have anything.

Costar is the leading software to stay up-to-date with available space, and if you can afford it, go ahead and use it to find properties that have a space in your size range, fit your companies brand, AND fit your budget. 

Negotiations are less stressful when you know where to find great options.

 

Top-5 tips to saving money on your next office lease.

Is there a successful company who hasn't waited to the last minute before signing a lease?

The whole idea behind Highscape is lowering the information barrier between the CRE Industry and the CEO. Executives shouldn’t have to be in the dark on what's going on with their lease—even if you only see a lease transaction every 5-7 years (average lease term).

You should be able to catch up on the market, understand the process, and have the ability to facilitate your own procurement and negotiations for your business' office lease. That's why our founder, Tom, originally created The Playbook. This step-by-step process breaks down everything you need to know in order to procure & negotiate a lease like a corporate occupier services team would.

Highscape is the silhouette of greatness in Commercial Real Estate. While other CRE Companies try to get you into their building, jumping into Highscape Edutainment is the only company that's building agnostic & doesn't care where you land, as long as get a great deal.

the-founder-highscape

Tom the National Broker

Tom is an entrepreneur and commercial real estate expert based out of Dallas, TX with his wife (Allisa) and two daughters (Ocean & Summer). He pioneers the Corporate Occupier Services division at HLC and manages corporate accounts of +200 leases at any given point. His focus on technology, systematic process, and discipline provide a unique combination that supports a tight feedback loop, allowing Tom to continually iterate and perfect every aspect of the Tenant Representation Brokerage role. 

Currently, Tom is set out to document the entire leasing process for companies, and lower the barrier of knowledge that makes Commercial Real Estate professionals so valuable.