Listen Now

On today’s episode we will go into detail on the sticking points of negotiating a office or industrial we steal. The reason for most objections is called an anchor, we will discuss what an anchor is, how to properly address anchors in negotiations, and how to turn them into your favor.

Presidential candidate came out with his proposal for climate change today. While specific actions are not enumerated in this proposal, the desired result is clear. There is a concerted effort to move past fossil fuels as a resource. What happens to Houston if a proposal like this were ever implemented?

2019 State of the City Houston Office Market Analysis by James Robertson Jr. Managing Broker for Workspace Commercial Real Estate. Welcome to the First Annual Workspace Real Estate State of the City of Houston’s Office Market Analysis. This video will discuss Houston office rent trends, economic trends, new developments and everything you need to have an understanding of where we are headed as a City compared to the rest of the country in regards to office space. To kick things off, I have to tell you that the talking heads, Wall Street, and Fortune 500 companies are worried about Houston. Let’s talk numbers for a second: In 2019: - We had just 2.9 Million sf of new office space built to the market - 2.1 million sf of existing office space leased out by new tenants - A Vacancy rate of 16.9% (the second highest in the country). This is not a race that we want to win (lol) - Annual rent growth of just 1% in the last year. (If you are hearing this and about to sign a new lease, you need to talk to your broker, show him this report and have him/her explain how they are planning to tweak your negotiation strategy.). Houston based business that is leasing office space, hear me and rejoice because this is a tenant market and will be for several more quarters based on the historically low rent growth we have been experiencing, low construction, and the second lowest vacancy rate in the nation at over 16% . That is City wide, not its important to note that one city, but several large markets. Landlords in the Woodlands or Katy are going to negotiate ALOT harder than Southwest Houston market or Greenspoint because Vacancy is lower, and their rent growth is almost double those other markets. Subscribe to this channel as we will break down each market in the Houston area so that we can go into this in great detail.

In today’s episode we’re going to going to detail whether or not you should focus on buying existing properties for your business or developing a custom piece for yourself.

In this episode we talk about leasing office space and industrial space in major markets like Houston that are hard to lease. I’m talking about close to the hood, bunch of empty spaces, and you have his dream and you’re going to be the market. Maybe you can be that guy, or maybe you’ll be broke trying. Listen and find out where you’re headed :-)

In today’s episode we are discussing why you should not focus on the proposal when countering the landlord. Instead you should be focusing on the market and your own negotiation strategy. This podcast is great if you’re trying to figure out how to renegotiate your lease for office industrial or retail space in major markets like Houston

Thanks for watching this is James with workspace commercial real estate and today we are going to talk about what to do once you have a tragic incident like a flood or fire in your commercial property that you were leasing from.

From a purely commercial real estate perspective, this political initiative could have substantial and lasting affects not only on the medical center, but Houston’s entire commercial real estate market. Listen to this post and let us know your thoughts.

Working inside a large entity can be tough because you are so large that your always negotiating like you are the center of the universe. It is critical when negotiating to see and quantify what this deal means for the landlord. In many case, getting an enterprise or government tenant will magically turn a property into “rock solid” investment vehicle for that owner, making it infinitely easier for them to sell at a premium to tons of buyers looking for safe places to park their money. Understand what your tenancy will do to their value and negotiate accordingly. If you just look at things from a market perspective or what your own leasing goals are you may be leaving a substantial amount of value on the table. Also, the last thing you want is to have a reputation for being a pushover in negotiations, brokers talk, and if they get the idea that your a pushover they will run the score up overcharging you in rent and not giving you the flexibility that you should command on your lease

Subway franchise owners are in trouble because Subway is with “good enough” and not great retail placement.

Bad deals are everywhere in commercial real estate. There are very little consumer protections to protect the uneducated in the marketplace. If you buy commercial real estate or lease the same way that you buy a house you are in trouble.

Welcome to the WorkSpace Real Estate Podcast, I am your host James Robertson and today we are going to talk about a topic that is very near and deal to my heart. Guaranteed Rent Escalations built into your lease. If you don’t know what I am talking about, here are the industry terms that Landlords will use to “sell” or describe the increase: • 50 cent bump per year • Annual Rent Escalation • Rental Adjustments • Annual Rent Increase You will know what I am talking about if you look at your lease and you see the 2% to 10% increase in rent that you will have to pay next year. Now let me tell you why this provision really irks me as a Tenant broker... If you were to ask the Landlord why the provision is there, here are the excuses. • This will cover the cost of inflation • This rent will keep up with the market rent and keep you current • The banks require us to show an increase • Or if they are really bold, they will just tell you that this is part of the income goals for the property which is Industry speak for (This is how much profit we want to make so shut up about it) Here is the main problems with guaranteed rate increase. It will guarantee that you will OVERPAY in rent in nearly all but the strongest markets in Office and Industrial Space. Let me explain using Houston data. In Southwest Houston, if you were to lease office space at $14 per foot in 2012, do a 5 year lease with .50 cent escalations then it would look something like this. Year 1 at $14, Year 2 @ $14.50, Year 3 @ $15, etc. Now where was the actual rental market at for those 5 years. In Southwest Houston, this market was almost flat, after 5 years the listed rent for the same building stayed about $14 to $15 per foot even at year 5 while if you got these guaranteed increases you would have been $16 bucks a foot! Paying a full $1 more per foot for the same space. Here is the point, in order to make a great deal you have to reject the assumption that the landlord is entitled to guaranteed increases every year regardless of the market. The only way I recommend that business owners accept these increases is when the market shows through actual rent data taken that they can support those rates. Now I am not talking about asking your neighbor next door or checking online because your neighbor’s rent does not represent the “market rent” in that area and the online rates represent the market as much as the sticker price on a car represents the actual sales price on a new Infinity. Let me close with a quick stock market story (true story). For all of you savy investors out there, if you invested in the SP500 over the past 20 years you should have averaged an 8-9 percent return annually. If we took you out of the market just 10 of the best days of that 20 year period your earnings would have been cut to less than 4.5 percent. If we took you out of the market just 50 of the best days you would have a negative return on your investment! As a business owner, your not opposed to risk, risk is part of your life. Now the landlord’s building is an investment, and yes they are entitled to a fair deal, but that deal needs to be a win-win for all parties involved. We cannot expect the Landlord to lease space at a loss anymore than the Landlord should expect to recieve higher than market returns just “because”. The next time you are up for a renewal or relocation, dig into the weeds and understand where the market is headed. Determine what a reasonable rent forecast looks like and talk it over with your broker so that you can develop a winning proposal so that everyone is happy. Remember I said this in another episode that great real estate deals are MADE not found! If you like what you heard, please subscribe. This is James Robertson signing off, thank you for listening!

Welcome to the Workspace Real Estate Podcast, I am your host James Robertson and today we are going to talk about when to lease vs when to purchase a property. As a business gets closer to maturity, starts building up cash reserves, there is always a temptation to set out and “get a property” to run the business. In another podcast, I talk about the advantageous of owning yoru own Commercial Property so definitely check that out, but today I want you to think about this one question: What are my expectations for the property? 5 Years, 10 Years? When you sell the business, will you also sell the real estate? Do you have any other Commercial investments? What is your experience level with running or managing properties? Who is going to manage the property? Have you run the numbers on what it will cost to acquire, develop, maintain the property and How does that compare with a lease? How susceptible is your business to changes in size or location? Let me be clear, businesses are successful and love to lease and purchase property depending on the situation they are in. Typically people that should lease: • Need to be in a certain location or market where purchasing the land or property would be cost prohibitive (or they cant afford it) • They don’t have the experience or desire to run a property • They are still in growth mode where there cash reserves need to be reinvested in the business This is a big one because people tend to overlook the fact that purchasing a commercial property will cost you at least 25% to 35% down unless you get an SBA loan which is still 10%. That is a ton of cash that could and should be invested to help your business grow. This is a good Segway to which types of businesses should purchase property: • If your business is “grown up” strong cash flow, strong processes, established market share • Ability to purchase without compromising the optimal location yoru business needs to operate Too often I see business owners cut corners here, and try to locate outside of their optimal location in order to save money on a deal. This can really hurt you when it is time to sell your property and all of your competitors are in a better location. • You have the desire, experience, resources to properly manage and lease up the property • You have a clear picture of what you expect the property to produce for you If it is an investment, you know what sort of return you want, if you are going to build as you grow you have plans and purchased the right amount and configuration of land to grow with you. To wrap things up, I think that most people at some point in their business have a desire to own their own commercial property. Just make sure that once your ready to pull the trigger you know exactly the scenario you expect, then talk to some local experts in the market to help you put those pieces together to achieve your goals. Thanks for listening! I hope this information was helpful to you, if you like this podcast please subscribe! This is James RObertson signing off, I hope that you get the Best Location, For the Best Price, with the Best Terms possible on your next deal!

Great deals are made, they are never found. This Episode goes into detail on how to make great deals happen with your office or industrial lease by telling a true story.

This episode goes into detail on the philosophy in the process necessary to give proper time and attention to negotiate your office or industrial lease. Most businesses neglect this at their peril, listen, learn and enjoy!

Thanks for listening to Workspace Real Estate, I am your host James Robertson and today we are going to talk about a topic that will soo help you if your a tenant that is looking to give back space to the landlord. It’s a given that the most effective way to give back space to the landlord is via a sublease, or the tenant leasing the space to another tenant, collecting rent, and then paying the landlord. There are multiple ways to execute a sublease, which is something that I will have to cover in another podcast, but the focus of today’s podcast is why you should NEVER, Ever, Never Ever Ever trust the current landlord to sublease your current space. Let me give you the reasons upfront and then I will explain. First of all, there is a conflict of interest, the landlord is already getting rent from you and will always try to lease out other spaces that are not producing income before yours. You will be last on the list every time. Secondly, if they control the ability to market the sublease, and we have already demonstrated why they are not motivated to lease it, then your listing will not be properly advertised , if at all. Many times a landlord will just “bring” up that they have a space that “may” be available for sublease to a prospective tenant INSTEAD of using all of the proper advertising channels available to us brokers to expose the space to the broadest audience possible. I could go on, but if those two points have not convinced you, I don’t think you will listen to the other points because those are the strongest ones. Instead of elaborating on the points, let me tell you a true story of why you should never trust the landlord to do this. Not even one month ago, a drywall company hired us to find space for them in the Houston market. They wanted a short term lease so we included a sublease in the options. The landlord broker was slow to give us details for the property, did not show up on the tour, was even slower in providing the proper documents for us to review in order to get a deal done, and the worst part is that he forced the current tenant to pay for the concessions we negotiated. Now this was not a problem for our client, we got a great deal... The problem is that if this poor tenant who had the sublease actually hired a broker that had a fiduciary responsibility to look out for HIS best interest, he would have gotten the deal done a lot faster, and saved his client thousands of dollars, while getting him out of his lease. Now don’t get me wrong, I have no desire to paint the landlord broker with a negative brush, we are all big boys and girls and in commercial real estate it is assumed that these business owners are responsible for their decisions, good and bad. I don’t know why, but for some reason, some tenants hold their landlords and their respective brokers in such high esteem that they allow themselves to be unfairly exposed to expenses and liabilities that are unfair. I hope this information will help you avoid making the same mistakes and helps you get the best deal, at the best location, at the best price possible. This is James Robertson signing off, thanks for listening!

The Renewal Lease is on your desk ready to sign, on top of the lease is a stickie note from your admin or CFO in bright red ink that says they are charging too much for this space! Would you sign the lease?

This episode is all about teaching you through other peoples experience. Negotiating a commercial lease can be a painful experience if you do it wrong, here is a story of how her doctor lost $100,000 because he didn’t know what to do.

Don’t do it unless you have to. I’m thankful that I don’t have to be politically correct and I can speak my mind as a business owner and a commercial broker in the market right now. These provisions have put more people out of business and I care to count and must be understood carefully before moving forward. Join us as we discuss the personal guarantee clause in commercial leases.

In this episode we discuss the process that you should take when setting up a tour for you and your company to view space. This process has been extremely effective for us and we believe it will work for you as well to save you lots of time and frustration.