4 Questions to Start Your Search for The Right Tenant Rep Broker

In this article, you'll learn:

• How to check if a tenant rep belongs to organizations like SIOR or CCIM.
• Why evaluating their past deals and similar client experience is important.
• Key services a tenant rep should offer, like negotiation and site selection.
• The advantages of working with smaller, independent firms for better service.

A Tenant Rep could be the best money-saving asset your company encounters. Well, only if it’s the right one.  

The right Tenant Rep will carefully walk you through finding a property, protect your interests during negotiation, and direct you to the best lease terms with the most savings.  

The wrong one may rush you through the property search and not put in the proper due diligence into the site search. Worse yet, they may not be a true Tenant Rep, but more of a wolf in sheep’s clothing. But, we'll get more into how to spot them later.  

So, before starting the relationship, it is critical to know what you’re signing on for. Here are some of the questions you should be asking:

1. Do They Belong to the SIOR and/or the CCIM?

2. What Kind of Deals Have They Conducted?

3. What Services Do They Provide?

4. What Size Organization Do They Belong to? 

1. Do They Belong to the SIOR and/or the CCIM? 

Belonging to a reputable network reveals that you can count on your broker's experience and education.

So for starters, we recommend that you see if your prospective Tenant Rep has those designations behind their name.  Ideally, they have both.  Both of these organizations require their designees to be experienced, too, so right out of the gate, looking for these designations will save you time in your search for an expert to help you with your CRE needs. 

2. What Kind of Deals Have They Conducted?  

Here you really want to get more information to decide whether this CRE professional is the right one for you.  Because they could be the biggest Tenant Rep out there that belongs to a significant firm, but you may still be better suited with another party.  

You want to pin down their expertise, reputation, and preparedness to handle your unique deal. As such, it is integral to hone in on specifics of their CRE experience.  

What's Their Experience With Similar Tenants?

Have they worked with similar organizations?  

What kinds of tenants have they represented? 

By identifying whether they’ve worked in your field, you can determine their level of familiarity with any industry-specific property requirements. This is especially true depending on what type of property you’re looking for. Is it retail, office, or warehouse?  

Now we don’t mean to be too shocking here, but if you’re looking for a warehouse, you’re likely better off working with a Tenant Rep who has conducted warehouse deals.  (Ground-shaking fact, we know). But at the end of the day, it’s true. There is a certain market intelligence developed based on specialty/ past deals conducted- Make sure their expertise aligns with your company’s goals.  

How Far are They Willing to Travel?

What geographical areas are they familiar with?  

Are they restricted to a region? Where are they licensed? 

If you sign on for a relationship with a Tenant Rep or broker, you want to work with them. However, if you want to be located outside of their geographical region, they may co-broke the deal with another party. Not to say this is a bad thing, it’s just something to consider, especially if you’re looking to start and end with the same team.   

Also, a wide geographic net is one of the strongest ways a tenant can leave themselves open to savings. Not only do you open the door to possibly cheaper rent and better terms, but economic incentives as well. Municipalities will bid for your tenancy like landlords will.

Similarly, laws or proceedings may vary by region- it’s best that they’re well-versed in a particular area’s requirements. Make sure your broker is prepared for the possibility of inter-state deals.  

What Were Their Relationships With Past Clients Like?

Do they have any testimonials from past clients that will ease your decision? 

How long were they with past clients?  

Did they handle specific sites or their entire portfolio? 

These questions speak for themselves. Their answers highlight what your prospective working relationship may look like. Will you be able to count on them for the entirety of a 10+ year lease? Will they continue to provide support throughout the lifetime of your properties?  

 
Similarly, brokers have different levels of experience depending on whether they’ve handled entire portfolios or specific sites. If you’re looking for someone who can optimize your entire portfolio, it’s best to go with a rep who has experience doing so. (And made their last clients happy during the process).  

What Kind of Deals Are Their Specialty?

Do they traditionally work with leases? Have they helped clients buy properties?  

What property sizes have they handled? 

How long were the terms of the last leases they oversaw? 

Again, you want to know you’re getting the best rep for your needs. How prepared are they to satisfy your CRE requirements?  

Also, lease term length is a key aspect of negotiating. With a good, credit tenant, landlords will desire a longer-term lease.  The longer the lease, the better it is for them with their bank.  They may even want to refinance the property in the future, and lenders will want the security of long-term leases in place.  Additionally, landlords can amortize your Tenant Improvement Allowance over a longer-term, thereby reducing the cost of your Tenant Improvements.   

If you are willing to provide the longer-term, they will be able to turn that into quantifiable and significant savings for your company.  For this, the Tenant Rep must have total knowledge of all the costs (it’s not just rent) involved in your total cost of occupancy.

Additionally, they must have the financial skill sets to be able to teach the principles of the Time Value of Money.  I say teach because they will have to be able to articulate so well that the sophisticated landlord and their brokers will have to be persuaded by your Tenant Rep.  This is both art and science (or really math). 

3. What Kind of Services Do They Provide? 

While certain services will vary depending on the broker you work with, it’s good to be prepared with the base level of expectations the relationship will offer. No matter what they pledge to provide, expectations for both parties should be crystal clear.  

All Tenant Reps should protect your interest. Usually, in CRE this will appear as the following:

• Close assessment of your needs  
• Appropriate market research/ due diligence  
• Support in touring and site selection phases 
• Work hand in hand with your legal teams  
• Provide access to CRE software that eases finding and selecting properties  
• A thorough assessment of how a prospective lease’s terms fit your interests   
• Contacting property listings  
• Considerations for the pre-touring stage  
• Culling down list of appropriate properties  
• Following up on tours  
• Sending out Requests for Proposals 
• Analyzing landlord’s proposals and revising drafts 
• Drafting and sending out Letter of Intent (LOI)  
• Conducting Net Present Value (NPV) analysis for prospective leases  
• Back and forth negotiations with landlords  
• Optimizing space utilization  

If your broker is not prepared to do any of the aforementioned services, it is best to know now. So, get as minute as possible when it comes to determining the details of your working relationship.  

No Conflicts of Interest!  

You need to know that your broker is your broker.  Their fiduciary must be to you and your company. Period. If they, or their firms, are representing landlords in the target market – they are conflicted. Pure and simple. Though, they may try to razzle-dazzle you with arguments that it won’t affect you. Don’t buy the BS. It does.   

Along these lines, watch out for the wolf in sheep's clothing.  

Many firms that paint themselves as true Tenant Reps will also host property listings on their website. While your broker may not work directly with landlords, their coworkers likely do, and you better believe they all report to the same boss.  As a result, you’ll never know whether the deal you’re getting is the best one on the market or it’s just whatever property they needed to fill. 

The only way to avoid leaving money on the table is by working with a true Tenant Rep. Identify whether your rep Is conflicted by asking if they have landlord brokerage departments within their organization. 

4. What Size Organization Do They Belong To?  

Small is the new big.

Want to be a small fish in a big pond? Me Neither.  That’s why you should strongly consider working with an independent firm.  They tend to out-service the big firms, and it makes sense why.  Your business is vitally important to them.   

The Law of Statistics: 

Everyone knows about the bell curve of performance.  You have your top 5% on one end and the big bell of average performers in the middle, and then the worst 5% at the end.

The interesting thing about this is that statistics rely on a big enough sampling.  So the bigger the entity, the more statistics (and the bell curve of performance) applies.

That is why when you look at elite military units, their numbers are small.  They have skimmed from that top 5% of performers.  As a former Army Special Forces operator, I have seen this first-hand.  So seek out the elite performers to work for you.  In all probability, they are not working for the biggest firms as they loathe the corporate politics that go on behind the scenes.  They tend to strike out on their own and bring in other top players to work on their team.   

These differences can really come into play throughout your working relationship. For example, small firms are often nimbler and better equipped to handle deals that require quick responses. On the other hand, the breath of large organizations prepares them for discarding large sums of properties. 

Like anything else on this list, it is key to get specific about what you’re looking for out of your Tenant Rep and let this shape your search for a broker.

Working with a True Tenant Rep 

Finding the right Tenant Rep isn’t always easy, but it is worth it. At iOptimize Realty^® we are true Tenant Reps. As such, we save our corporate clients an average of 33% of their CRE costs and 90% of their time.  

 
We specialize in dedicated and unbiased service that will direct you to the optimal solutions for your unique CRE demands. No matter what you need assistance with, at iOptimize Realty^®, we act as your ad hoc, special forces corporate real estate department. This means, big or small, we are ready to arrive at solutions efficiently.  

We are licensed in 17 states which gives us extensive geographical reign (and more opportunities for you). Additionally, we are networked with other SIOR and CCIM experts around the US and globally. Thus, we cover every state in the US and most countries.  We do not represent landlords. Our fiduciary is to you alone, as the corporate client- and we like it that way.  

So, if you’re ready to start saving and talk to an iOptimize Realty^® Tenant Rep expert, schedule a meeting today. 

On the other hand, if you want to continue learning, read about the benefits of working with a Tenant Rep.