Leasing Office Space – Part 9 of 23 Office Lease Term and Space Prospects



Posted: Monday, April 12, 2010

by Patrick Oconnor
Oconnor & Associates

Lease Term The term of the lease is often a complicated and contentious issue. You want a very short initial term and a huge number of renewal options. An outrageous extreme of this would be a one-day lease with 3649 one-day renewal options. Needless to say, this is not going to happen. Some landlords have a minimum term of three or five years. Depending upon their level of motivation, they're often flexible with regard to this issue. Reflect upon your preferences for your lease term and address it early in the discussion with the office building leasing brokers. For example, if you are seeking a six-month lease or a 20-year lease (at a fixed rental rate with no rental rate increases during the term), broach this issue sooner rather than later in the discussion with the office building's leasing agent.

Addressing the issue of lease term early in the communication leasing broker is appropriate. However, in most cases, do not automatically eliminate a building because the quoted lease term is shorter or longer than your objective. Lease term is often a negotiated issue.

Office Space Prospects

After compiling a list of office space prospects, you may need to limit it further or before going to see each building. For example, if there are 36 options which fit the above described criteria, you probably would not want to visit each building. An online office space search service is invaluable in gradually narrowing your criteria. This allows you to "what if" scenarios regarding your criteria. Prior to using such an online service, to confirm that it has a comprehensive inventory of buildings in the area you are considering.

Develop a Short List of Prospects When you have limited the number of options to perhaps three to seven buildings, discuss the building options with your office rep broker to narrow the options. If you are seeking a short-term lease, is the broker are virtually certain that some of the building owners will not provide the desired lease term? Has he broker expressed reservations regarding the quality of management, maintenance or service at some of the buildings?

The Market Research and Consulting division of O'Connor & Associates provides information necessary to make decision to commercial real estate professionals. Occupancy and Rental Data, ownership and management information are routinely gathered for four major land uses multifamily, office, retail and industrial. This information allows investors to compare competitive properties, facilitate business decisions and track market and submarket performance. In addition the data is useful to brokers who for example continually monitor Houston retail space leasing, Houston office space leasing, Houston industrial space leasing, Houston apartments, Dallas apartments, Ft. Worth apartments, Austin apartments, and San Antonio apartments.

This capacity to research, analyze and interpret market trends and the impact of specific transactions is a major reason for why developers and acquisition experts rely on O'Connor & Associates for market research, market studies, feasibility studies, rent studies, tax credit studies, project design guidance, property performance evaluation and lease audits. O'Connor & Associates is an acknowledged source of trends in real estate investing and market activity.

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