commercial real estate broker in overland park

10 Things To Do Before Signing a Small Office Lease in Kansas City: Part III

Here are some final tips to think about before signing a lease for your new executive office rental in Overland Park:

8.   Find out if the lease is assignable. If you find yourself in a position where you need to sell your business, location could be a major part of its sale value. You will want to check whether or not the landlord has the right to terminate the lease in the event that you sell your business and ask for an assignment, because terminating the lease could kill your sale. See what you can do to eliminate or modify this clause, but understand that your landlord will still want to retain the right to reject the assignment if the buyer is financially unacceptable.
9.   Plan to provide a guarantee. Most landlords these days will want you to personally guarantee your lease, but these guarantees are negotiable. Ask to provide that you are only required to guaranty for a portion of your lease term, or see if you can get a guarantee that only last 6 months to a year after the termination of your lease, rather than the rest of the lease term.
10.   Be realistic. Understand that landlords are going to be more or less likely to negotiate with you depending on what percentage of their larger property you are renting. Perhaps consider hiring a lawyer to help you best understand what is worth negotiating for so you can best pick your battles.

Remember that finalizing a lease requires a lot of careful—and sometimes tedious—double-checking and negotiating if you want to set your business up for success in a new space!

Give a commercial real estate broker in Overland Park a call at 913-685-4100 to learn more about our available spaces!

2013 Most Improved Sources of Funding for Overland Park Office Space

Is your business aiming to move into a new commercial real estate space, but looking for the funding to finance this move? There are many different financial sources companies can turn to in order to acquire the funds necessary to move their business to a new space, so businesses have some research and comparing to do before choosing a lender. Urban Land Institute and PriceWaterhouseCoopers conducted a 2013 Emerging Trends in Real Estate survey to attempt to rank what funding sources might see the most financial growth in 2013. These are the ranking results as determined by the survey:

10. Private local investors
9. Nonbank financial institutions
8. Commercial banks
7. Securitized lenders/CMBS
6. Private local investors
5. Mezzanine lenders
4. Insurance companies
3. Private equity/opportunity/hedge funds
2. Institutional investors/pension funds
1. Foreign investors

These rankings represent the anticipated growth in available funding, versus the ranking of different types of funding by available dollars, and remember that these results are based on a nationwide opinion poll, so it is possible that one of the sources might not see growth this coming year. However, if your business is looking for funding sources for your commercial real estate, you might want to look into further research about funding sources like this survey.

Looking into commercial realty in Overland Park for your business? Give a DDI commercial real estate broker in Overland Park a call at 913-685-4100 to find out more about the many different spaces we have to offer!

Renewal Leases for Executive Office Rental in Overland Park

Renewal clauses are an important part of lease negotiation, but you may not know what exactly these clauses involve or how your landlord might be approaching them. Here is a little information that might help you better understand negotiating renewal clauses for your office space lease in Overland Park:

What your landlord is thinking:
Usually landlords and leasing agents want you to sign a long-term lease—one that extends over several years. This guarantees them a flow of consistant income and means that they do not have to go through the hassle and financial stress of having to re-lease the space every few years.

Renewal clauses:
A long term least might not be the best option for your business if you are growing and do not want to get stuck in a five or 10 year lease. Your best bet might be to consider a short-term lease with option to renew. A renewal clause in a lease gives you the power to decide once your initial lease term expires whether you want to extend the lease or not. For instance, instead of signing a fixed 10-year lease, you could negotiate for a two-year lease with four two-year renewal options.

How to negotiate renewal options:
The ideal renewal situation is negotiating a series of predetermined raises in rent for each new renewal term. If you do not settle on predetermined increases, your landlord could raise your rent in accordance with fair-market rates, which could mean some potentially large and unforeseen rent increases—in particular if your business is renting in an area where commercial office space is in high demand.

Understanding how the length of a lease could affect your business and your landlord’s agenda when dealing with lease lengths can help you be prepared to negotiate the best lease and renewal options for your business!

Want to discuss the lengths of leases for a Southcreek Office Park space? Give a DDI commercial real estate broker in Overland Park a call at 913-685-4100!

Leasing Office Equipment for Your Office Building in Overland Park

If you are trying to figure out how to most efficiently furnish your office space with the equipment your business needs, here is some information about leasing equipment that might be helpful:

Leasing helps your business’s cash flow. The main benefit of leasing is that it frees up cash for your business. Leases for equipment typically do not require down payments, though some might need a refundable security deposit. On the other hand, loans for buying equipment usually need down payments that could be 25% or more.
It is easier to fund leases than purchases. Banks usually will not give capital equipment loans without seeing 2-3 years worth of financial records—something that most new companies do not have. However, leasing companies typically only want to see 6 months – 1 year of credit history in order to approve an office equipment or furniture lease.
Leasing makes it easier to keep up with technology. Leasing is an especially good option if your business needs to stay on top of cutting-edge technology such as the newest communication devices, computers, or other office equipment. Short-term leases are more cost-efficient than purchasing new equipment every few years. Sometimes office equipment leases have annual computer upgrades built into the lease, which saves you from the difficult decision of whether or not you can afford to upgrade.

Check back for more information about how leasing might be a good option for your business!

Are you or any of your peers looking for an office rental space in Overland Park? Give a commercial real estate broker in Overland Park a call at 913-685-4100 to get more information about some of our available spaces!

Creating Competition When Renegotiating a Small Office Lease in Kansas City

Some of the steps to negotiating a lease renewal with a lower rent involve starting negotiations early and doing some research on statistics about the area, but another good renegotiation strategy involves shopping around and creating a little competition for your business.

Before you approach your landlord with a request for proposal, shop around and find a few other available spaces that could be a fit for your company. Send both your current landlord and the other landlords’ requests for proposal.

Take these other requests seriously, even if you would prefer your own space, because they could help you if your negotiations with your current landlord become difficult. Don’t keep your looking around a secret; let all parties know that you are considering all options, which will alert them that they have to compete for your business.

Continue serious negotiations with all of the prospective landlords up until you finalize your new lease. Tell them all that the first one to produce a lease that you like will be the one that gets your business. This move will speed up the whole process.

Even if you truly do want to stay in your current space, seriously looking around at other spaces has no downside. Either you find a better lease for your business or you could potentially spur your current landlord to cut you a better deal.

If you would like to learn more about affordable office space in Overland Park, give a DDI commercial real estate broker in Overland Park a call at 913-685-4100!

Tenant Brokers and Commercial Space for Rent in Overland Park

If you are not sure how to go about finding commercial realty in Overland Park, you might consider working with a tenant broker. Here is some more information about tenant brokers that might help you decide whether you would like to hire one as you look for real estate:

Tenant brokers are people who help prospective tenants find suitable commercial real estate by providing tenants with analyses of the real estate market conditions, letting them know about available spaces, and even negotiating leases with landlords.
Landlords hire brokers called “leasing agents” to help fill their spaces, but remember that they are working for the interests of the landlord, whereas if you hire a tenant broker they are concerned solely with the best interests of your business.
Since a tenant broker’s commission is not directly tied to a specific property, you can usually count on them to give you objective advice.
Working with a broker sends a message to a landlord that you are seriously considering multiple properties. This might make them more competitive and more amenable to negotiating favorable lease terms for you.
When you are looking for a tenant broker, get some referrals from business associates or peers and look into the background of the brokers. Try to find someone who has a good history of helping people find properties, experience negotiating leases, and a solid track record of protecting tenants’ interests.

If you would like to look at some available office spaces in the Overland Park area, give a DDI commercial real estate broker in Overland Park a call at 913-685-4100!

Broker’s Fees for Finding Commercial Realty in Kansas City

If you are thinking of working with a real estate broker, you might first want to find out a little about their fees. Here is some more information about what commercial real estate brokers charge:

The broker’s fee usually corresponds to the size or complexity of the transaction. There are some standards in the industry for brokerage fees, but since it is a commission-based arrangement, often the fees will vary.
Fees usually consist of a percentage of the financial value of the lease being negotiated. Often leasing commissions are about 5-6% of the aggregate lease value, which is the term of the lease plus monthly rent. Usually these fees are limited to only the first 10 years of the term.
Fees are often negotiable, but property demand will factor into the likelihood of you getting a lower fee. For instance, a broker may lower a fee in a depressed real estate area just to make a sale.
Be sure you know in advance exactly what you are getting charged in advance, and be aware of any additional fees for performing a search, listing a property, or any other services.

Be sure to check carefully into what you are being charged for and know what is a normal price when you begin working with a commercial real estate broker.

If you would like to learn more about commercial space for lease in Overland Park, give a DDI commercial real estate broker in Overland Park a call at 913-685-4100!

Since real estate agents and brokers are in this business to make money, they can, on occasion, put their own needs ahead of yours, by turning down potential deals from which they cannot make enough money on a commission. This is neither ethical nor legal. Make sure that if you’re selling a property, the agent or broker adheres to the law and tells you about all offers, even if some are low and won’t yield the hefty commission checks they’d prefer.

Media Services Southcreek Office Park Discount

The start of a new year is a good time for you to get your business organized. You might want to eliminate file drawers by getting rid of documents you no longer need and scanning the ones you do to electronic files. Or perhaps you would just like to store some records in a safe location. Media Services, Kansas City’s locally-owned, full-service record center, is currently offering a discount to Southcreek tenants for a first service invoice! You can choose from one of the five services they offer:

Secure Recycling and Shredding
Storage and Management of Records
Document Scanning
Backup Tape Vault
E-Cycling

If you tell them you are from Southcreek Office Park, you can get ½ off on your first regularly scheduled service invoice! For more information or to set up a tour, contact Tanner Rapelye at (o) 913-754-7776×113 or (c) 816-718-5812, or send an email to JTR@MediaServicesNow.com! Get your office organized and ready for a new year!

If you are looking for commercial space for rent in Overland Park to relocate your business to this year, give a DDI commercial real estate broker in Overland Park a call at 913-685-4100 to talk to us about the spaces Southcreek Office Park currently has available!