As your lease expiration begins to approach, you will begin the process of determining which broker to retain. Do you retain the broker your lawyer recommended? Do you retain the broker your accountant recommended? Or do you retain the broker who coaches your son’s basketball team? How do you make that decision?
Choosing a commercial real estate broker to assist you in locating ideal office space for your company, shouldn’t be taken lightly. You should look for a broker who has the experience and knowledge of the real estate market. You are going to be spending a lot of time with this person; therefore, you should learn a little about him/her who will be handling your real estate needs. You should ask the following questions when interviewing real estate brokers:
1. Company
A. What is the mission statement of the company?
B. How many employees do they have?
C. Who are some of their major clients?
D What percentage of revenue do they receive from tenant representation? Landlord representation? Building sales? Facility management? Lease administration? Lease auditing, etc.?
E. Does the firm have any dual agency?
F. How do they track space in the market?
G. How do they keep track of completed transactions?
H. Where is their office located? Do they have other locations?
2. Team
A. Who will be assigned your account?
B. What roles will each person perform?
C. How much experience do they have in your industry?
D. What experience do they have in the area you are interested in?
E. Do they have experience working with your current landlord?
F. What is their source of revenue? (i.e. landlord representation, tenant representation, corporate representation.)
G. Do they have any dual agencies?
H. What transactions have they consummated that are similar to yours?
3. Process
A. What is their strategy in finding space or renewing?
B. How long will the process take?
C. How will each team member help?
D. How would they handle a conflict?
4. Compensation
A. What services are included and what will not be included?
B. What is the company’s compensation?
When you send questionnaires to prospective real estate brokers, there should be a submittal due date. It should also state that you can for any reason, whatsoever, not hire them as your exclusive real estate broker.
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