For many healthcare tenants, negotiating a good lease or lease renewal against an experienced agent or landlord can be a challenge. While a doctor focuses on proper patient care, savvy real estate agents and brokers are specialized sales people. Their job is to sell tenants on leasing their location at the highest possible rental rate.

As explained in our new book, Negotiating Commercial Leases & Renewals FOR DUMMIES, tenants may go through the leasing process only two or three times in their entire lifetime – yet they have to negotiate against seasoned professionals who negotiate leases every day for a living. Negotiating appropriate leasing terms is vital for a doctor as the amount of rent he pays will directly affect the practice’s financial bottom line.

Whether you are leasing a new location for the first time or negotiating a lease renewal for your practice, these are some money-saving tips for healthcare tenants:

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For many healthcare tenants, negotiating a good lease or lease renewal against an experienced agent or landlord can be a challenge. While a doctor focuses on proper patient care, savvy real estate agents and brokers are specialized sales people. Their job is to sell tenants on leasing their location at the highest possible rental rate.

As explained in our new book, Negotiating Commercial Leases & Renewals FOR DUMMIES, tenants may go through the leasing process only two or three times in their entire lifetime – yet they have to negotiate against seasoned professionals who negotiate leases every day for a living. Negotiating appropriate leasing terms is vital for a doctor as the amount of rent he pays will directly affect the practice’s financial bottom line.

Whether you are leasing a new location for the first time or negotiating a lease renewal for your practice, these are some money-saving tips for healthcare tenants:

Talk to Other Tenants: Some of the best inside information available is from tenants already leasing in a building. Introduce yourself as a prospective tenant and ask for an honest opinion of the landlord. Inquire about the level of property management, their thoughts and feelings about the rental rate they’re paying, their intentions to stay on another term, and so on. The Lease Coach frequently asks pointed questions like these for our tenant clients and what we learn may surprise you! We can use this information wisely in our own negotiations.

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Negotiating Commercial Leases & Renewals FOR DUMMIES

For many healthcare tenants, negotiating a good lease or lease renewal against an experienced agent or landlord can be a challenge. While a doctor focuses on proper patient care, savvy real estate agents and brokers are specialized sales people. Their job is to sell tenants on leasing their location at the highest possible rental rate.

As explained in our new book, Negotiating Commercial Leases & Renewals FOR DUMMIES, tenants may go through the leasing process only two or three times in their entire lifetime – yet they have to negotiate against seasoned professionals who negotiate leases every day for a living. Negotiating appropriate leasing terms is vital for a doctor as the amount of rent he pays will directly affect the practice’s financial bottom line.

Whether you are leasing a new location for the first time or negotiating a lease renewal for your practice, these are some money-saving tips for healthcare tenants:

Determine Your Bargaining Strength: Several factors will determine your bargaining strength with respect to negotiating a new lease. These include the overall vacancy rate of the building, recent tenant turnover, and your practice’s unit size in relation to the entire property (it is not only whether you occupy 1,000 or 5,000 sq. ft., but also what percentage of the building you occupy that counts too as you will be paying Common Area Maintenance / CAM costs based on that percentage). Your own business history is important as is your industry (doctors often make for long-term, stable tenants which commercial landlords greatly appreciate).

Ask The Right Questions: Who really owns the property, a local family or a distant pension fund? Who were the last two tenants (including anchor tenants) to move into the property – and out? Which tenants are not renewing their leases? Who is leasing month-to-month? Is the property currently for sale or expected to go on the market soon? Asking pointed questions such as these will help level the negotiating field as most leasing agents only volunteer one-sided information. 

For a copy of our free CD, Leasing Do’s & Don’ts for Commercial Tenants, please e-mail request to JeffGrandfield@TheLeaseCoach.com.

Negotiating Commercial Leases & Renewals FOR DUMMIES

By Jeff Grandfield and Dale Willerton – The Lease Coach

For many healthcare tenants, negotiating a good lease or lease renewal against an experienced agent or landlord can be a challenge. While a doctor focuses on proper patient care, savvy real estate agents and brokers are specialized sales people. Their job is to sell tenants on leasing their location at the highest possible rental rate.

As explained in our new book, Negotiating Commercial Leases & Renewals FOR DUMMIES, tenants may go through the leasing process only two or three times in their entire lifetime – yet they have to negotiate against seasoned professionals who negotiate leases every day for a living. Negotiating appropriate leasing terms is vital for a doctor as the amount of rent he pays will directly affect the practice’s financial bottom line.

Whether you are leasing a new location for the first time or negotiating a lease renewal for your practice, these are some money-saving tips for healthcare tenants:

Don’t Telegraph Your Plans: A good football quarterback can take the snap, fake the hand-off to his running back, and then pass the football to a receiver thus not telegraphing his intentions. As a new healthcare tenant, try not to speak in terms such as “when I move in …”. As an existing healthcare tenant, do not make statements like, “I would like the carpet replaced” or “I’d like to expand my patient waiting area ….”. These are called buying signals, indicate that you may likely choose to lease the premises or remain as a tenant, and always serve to weaken your bargaining position. Don’t let what you say and the words you choose work against you.

Be Pleasantly Assertive … not Passive: If you don’t take control of the situation, the leasing agent will. When conducting site selection for the first time (or if you want to move), call and ask the agent to e-mail you the site plan and related details. Don’t just drop what you are doing and run over to the site. For the first meeting, have the agent come to your office. For subsequent meetings, try to set times more convenient for you. Remember that you are the customer.

For a copy of our free CD, Leasing Do’s & Don’ts for Commercial Tenants, please e-mail request to JeffGrandfield@TheLeaseCoach.com.

Jeff Grandfield and Dale Willerton – The Lease Coach are Commercial Lease Consultants who work exclusively for tenants. Jeff and Dale are professional speakers and co-authors of Negotiating Commercial Leases & Renewals FOR DUMMIES (Wiley, 2013). Got a leasing question? Need help with your new lease or renewal? Call 1-800-738-9202, e-mail DaleWillerton@TheLeaseCoach.com  or JeffGrandfield@TheLeaseCoach.com or visit www.TheLeaseCoach.com.

Negotiating Commercial Leases & Renewals FOR DUMMIES

For many healthcare tenants, negotiating a good lease or lease renewal against an experienced agent or landlord can be a challenge. While a doctor focuses on proper patient care, savvy real estate agents and brokers are specialized sales people. Their job is to sell tenants on leasing their location at the highest possible rental rate.

As explained in our new book, Negotiating Commercial Leases & Renewals FOR DUMMIES, tenants may go through the leasing process only two or three times in their entire lifetime – yet they have to negotiate against seasoned professionals who negotiate leases every day for a living. Negotiating appropriate leasing terms is vital for a doctor as the amount of rent he pays will directly affect the practice’s financial bottom line.

Whether you are leasing a new location for the first time or negotiating a lease renewal for your practice, these are some money-saving tips for healthcare tenants:

Ask the Right Questions: Who really owns the property – a local family or a distant pension fund? Who were the last two tenants to move in – and out of the property? Which tenants are not renewing their leases? Who is leasing month-to-month? Is the property currently for sale or expected to go on the market soon? Asking questions like these will help level the negotiating field as most leasing agents volunteer only one-sided information. If the leasing agent claims that he/she doesn’t know, press for details.

Location, Location, Location: For most general physicians, selecting the right property is critical enough, but leasing the right location within that building can be even more important to your success. If you are a specialist, you may be more likely to lease space in an office where you will see referred patients and your practice does not need to be so visible to produce business. Proper site selection takes time and objective consideration. Remember, the most difficult part of any lease agreement to change after opening is your physical location.

[Read more…]

Negotiating Commercial Leases & Renewals FOR DUMMIES

For many healthcare tenants, negotiating a good lease or lease renewal against an experienced agent or landlord can be a challenge. While a doctor focuses on proper patient care, savvy real estate agents and brokers are specialized sales people. Their job is to sell tenants on leasing their location at the highest possible rental rate.

As explained in our new book, Negotiating Commercial Leases & Renewals FOR DUMMIES, tenants may go through the leasing process only two or three times in their entire lifetime – yet they have to negotiate against seasoned professionals who negotiate leases every day for a living. Negotiating appropriate leasing terms is vital for a doctor as the amount of rent he pays will directly affect the practice’s financial bottom line.

Whether you are leasing a new location for the first time or negotiating a lease renewal for your practice, these are some money-saving tips for healthcare tenants:

Be Pleasantly Assertive … not Passive: If you don’t take control of the situation, the leasing agent will. If you see a property you would like more information about, call and ask the agent to e-mail you the site plan and other related details. Don’t just drop what you’re doing and run over to the site. For the first meeting, have the agent come to your place of business. If you like what you hear, you can meet at the site that is for lease a few days later. Try to set viewing times convenient for you … remember, you are the customer.

[Read more…]

For many healthcare tenants, negotiating a good lease or lease renewal against an experienced agent or landlord can be a challenge. While a doctor focuses on proper patient care, savvy real estate agents and brokers are specialized sales people. Their job is to sell tenants on leasing their location at the highest possible rental rate.

As explained in our new book, Negotiating Commercial Leases & Renewals FOR DUMMIES, tenants may go through the leasing process only two or three times in their entire lifetime – yet they have to negotiate against seasoned professionals who negotiate leases every day for a living. Negotiating appropriate leasing terms is vital for a doctor as the amount of rent he pays will directly affect the practice’s financial bottom line.

Whether you are leasing a new location for the first time or negotiating a lease renewal for your practice, these are some money-saving tips for healthcare tenants:

Negotiate the Lease Terms Collectively: In other words, don’t agree to the rental rate until you’ve negotiated the tenant allowance and don’t agree to the term (lease length) until you’ve negotiated the Use clause. All lease terms are interconnected and you should be negotiating with the best collective deal in mind.

Leverage the Lease Term into Incentives: Since most lease deals are negotiated through commercial brokers or commissioned leasing agents, the lease term (or length) is a big negotiating chip for the tenant (as, typically, the agent’s bonus paid by the landlord will increase based on tenants signing longer lease terms). Even if you want a five-year lease, start negotiating for three years. Since the agent’s commission is generally five percent of the tenant’s base rent calculated on the first five years of tenancy, you can now control his paycheck. After the first or second round of negotiations, you may be able to leverage a lower rental rate, more free rent, and other incentives by “agreeing” to take a five-year lease term instead of three. It should be noted that most agents will get paid a 2% commission of years 6 – 10 and sometimes on lease renewals as well.

Don’t Telegraph Your Plans: A good football quarterback can take the snap, fake the pass, and then hand the ball off to his running back, thereby not telegraphing his intentions. As a healthcare tenant, try not to speak in terms such as “when I move in … I would like the carpet replaced … this area would make for an excellent waiting room for my patients” and so on. These are called buying signals and they always serve to weaken your bargaining position. Don’t let what you say and the words you choose work against you.

For a copy of our free CD, Leasing Do’s & Don’ts for Commercial Tenants, please e-mail request to JeffGrandfield@TheLeaseCoach.com.

Jeff Grandfield and Dale Willerton – The Lease Coach are Commercial Lease Consultants who work exclusively for tenants. Jeff and Dale are professional speakers and co-authors of Negotiating Commercial Leases & Renewals FOR DUMMIES (Wiley, 2013). Got a leasing question? Need help with your new lease or renewal? Call 1-800-738-9202, e-mail DaleWillerton@TheLeaseCoach.com  or JeffGrandfield@TheLeaseCoach.com or visit www.TheLeaseCoach.com.