6 Options for Terminating a Small Office Lease in Kansas City

6 Options for Terminating a Small Office Lease in Kansas City

An office space lease can be a big strain on a business during an economic rough patch, and it might be necessary to either terminate a lease or find another way to relinquish a space to save money. Here are a few options for a tenant to consider if a lease becomes too expensive, as outlined in the article “How to Say Goodbye – Exiting Leases”:

  1. Subletting. Rather than simply terminating a lease, a tenant might consider subletting part or all of an office space to reduce the burden of rent. Before subletting, it is important to clearly understand what the lease says about subletting. Often subletting involves getting the approval of the landlord, but be aware that some strict leases allow landlords to reject a subleasing tenant without having to give any reason for their failure to consent. Some landlords might also include a clause in a lease allowing them to recapture a space if a tenant plans to sublet it, even if you only want to sublet a portion of the space. If you are able to sublet, remember that you will most likely still be considered liable for the space, so be careful who you choose to sublet to.
  2. Assignment. Another similar option to subletting is assigning the lease to another business. This sidesteps the issue of terminating the lease, but it also means handing over the entire space and lease to a new tenant. As with subletting, make sure your lease allows it and know that most likely the landlord will most likely have the right to approve or reject the potential assignee. Sometimes leases prohibit assigning or even subletting a space to other tenants on the property, so be aware of who your options are.
  3. Buy-Out. Another option is to buy-out the remainder of the lease obligations, which would make for a more amicable form of lease termination. This possibility is important to address when crafting a lease. When negotiating, the tenant should try to make sure their only obligation is to deliver the leased space “as is” on move-out day. Also, try to negotiate certain releases, such as a release from guarantees. However, releases can be tricky because this might also affect the return of the security deposit or any reconciliations for CAM payments if the tenant overpaid.
  4. Restructuring. Another option less drastic than a buy-out is to talk to your landlord about the possibility of restructuring the lease, possibly to include a shorter lease term.
  5. Defaulting. On the surface, this is the simplest option for a tenant who can no longer afford the lease, but this route is fraught with costs and liabilities, such as losing the security deposit or having to pay other fees. This also is a bad option if you have a substantial personal guarantee included in your lease, or if you have a lot of time left in your lease term and will be required to continue paying rent for a substantial amount of time.
  6. Constructive Eviction. This route is fairly uncommon, but in some cases it is possible to claim constructive eviction to be able to leave the space. In order to invoke this right, a tenant must prove that the landlord somehow interfered with the promised use of the property, depriving the tenant of the enjoyment or beneficial usage of the space. Some examples of actions that could lead to this possibility include a landlord failing to heat a space, provide electricity, or maintain certain things such as elevator functionality or sanitary conditions. In some cases, a tenant might be able to cite the actions of another tenant on the property if they were directly caused or sanctioned by the landlord. In the event that a tenant gets a constructive eviction, they are no longer able to use the premises at all and typically must leave pretty soon after the eviction is granted.

These options are important to be aware of not only if you need to terminate a lease, but also if you are beginning negotiations for a new lease and want to outline your options for exiting.

If you would like some information about office lease rates in Kansas City, give Kathy Woodward a DDI Commercial a call at 913-685-4100.

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3 Ways to Evaluate a Kansas City Office Space Location

3 Ways to Evaluate a Kansas City Office Space Location

A big thing to consider when renting a new space is the area in which it is located. A good way to do this is to make a checklist of things that are important to your business and see if a location meets that criteria. Here are some examples of questions you might ask when evaluating an office building’s location, as suggested in the article “HOW TO: Choose the Right Office Space”:

1. The Neighborhood. There are a few things you want to consider when looking at the neighborhood, the most important being whether or not it is a safe area, which is important for both your customers/clients and your employees. You might also want to consider the perceived atmosphere of the neighborhood—if you’re setting up in a place known for hip and rising businesses, that could really give your own business’s image a nice boost.

2. Amenities and Services. Think about things like where your employees can go for lunch, where you can meet clients, where you can get office supplies, and what other surrounding businesses might make it convenient for employees to run errands after work.

3. Transportation. This is a particularly important issue if you are in a big city center—you want to check for nearby subway or bus lines, but also think about how easy it is to reach you by car or even bike. Be sure to communicate with employees about how the location affects their commute and what their options are.

Location is such an important part of selecting a good office space, so be sure to take the time to consider an office’s location from all angles!

If your business wants to know more about office lease rates in Kansas City, give a commercial real estate broker in Kansas City a call at 913-685-4100!

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Monthly Expenses for a Triple-Net Office Space Lease in Overland Park

If you’re looking to lease a commercial office space, one of the first things you have to do is plan your budget. In order to do this, it is helpful to know what your monthly expenses will be in an office space. Having an idea of the different fees and costs associated with a space can help you narrow down your options as you search. Here are a few things to consider, as outlined in the article “How to Find & Lease Retail Space.”

One aspect of your monthly costs is the different factors that contribute to your rental rate:

  • Location. Location has a major impact on the monthly rental rate of the space. One aspect of location is how close you are to central hubs of activity. An area that has higher customer traffic means higher rent, both in big cities or in smaller towns. Another aspect of location is the surrounding businesses. If there is a large anchor tenant on your property, you might have to pay more. Also, if you have a prime space near the parking area or facing a main street, You will probably have to pay more then if your space is less visible.
  • Quality of the Space. Another obvious factor is the quality of the space. A place that is move-in ready will be more expensive than a space that you will need to renovate or remodel, but be sure to factor in the cost of improvements and what the landlord will contribute to these costs.
  • Vacancies. A property that has multiple vacancies will probably offer cheaper rates then one with less available space. However, they’re in mind that if it’s a new property it might still be expensive even if it currently has multiple vacancies.
  • Length of Lease Term. If you’re looking for a longer lease, you are more likely to get a better deal on your rental rate. A long lease means more bargaining power, which means that you can try to ask for a reduction of your lease payment or or other costs. On the other hand, a very short lease, such as one year term, means that you have almost no negotiating leverage.

Factors that influence rent are not the only things that you need to consider when planning your monthly budget. Often there are a lot of other costs associated with your lease. These costs will depend on the type of lease that you have. Here are a few monthly expenses you should expect if you have a triple net lease, one common type of lease:

  • Utilities. As with any property, don’t forget to take into consideration utilities, including water, electricity, heat, sewage services, internet services, and any others. You can check with your landlord to see if they have estimates for these monthly fees, but if not you can always call the providers of these services to get a quote.
  • Maintenance. This is something that you should definitely discuss with your landlord upfront to make sure you know who is responsible for what elements of maintenance. You will most likely want to factor in heating and cooling systems repairs, lawn care services, snow removal and any other common issues you expect to encounter. You will also want to consider whether you have common area maintenance costs–fees to take care of spaces that you share with other tenants.
  • Taxes. In a triple net lease, you will be responsible for paying a portion of the property taxes. You should be about to get this information in advance either in the listing or from your broker.
  • Insurance. You will also have to pay a portion of the property insurance, and you can also get a quote for this from either the landlord, your broker, or a local insurance company.

Aside from the factors that affect your rent and your monthly costs, there is one more expense to factor into your budget as you look for space:

  • Broker’s Fee. Don’t forget to plan for a broker’s fee if you plan to work with the broker. There are a few different ways that brokers calculate their rates. Often they charge between 7 and 10% of the total cost of the lease. Another system would be charging you per square foot, which might also depend on the length of the lease term.

If you’re starting the process of looking for a commercial office space to lease, it is important to try to plan your budget before you even start looking. If you have a good idea of your monthly costs as well as what a broker’s fee will be, you can start to look at properties that are in your price range, rather than wasting your time and energy looking into spaces that you will not be able to afford.

If you would like to learn more about office lease rates in Kansas City, give us a call at 913-685-4100. We can also tell you more about our affordable office space in Kansas City, and you can even set up a tour!

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3 Ways to Stay on Top of Emails in Your Office Space in Kansas City

The amount of time the modern office worker spends sifting through e-mails is astounding. Workers can spend a significant portion of their workday trying to read and respond to e-mails, with people in management positions having to deal with hundreds or thousands of e-mails on a daily basis – research suggests that one fourth of the average workday is spent on emails alone, the second biggest time commitment next to an employees actual job specific duties. E-mail can be a great way to communicate with clients, coworkers, or employees, but it can also become a very real drain on a person’s time and energy. Here are three suggestions for staying in control of your inbox, as suggested in the article “4 Tips to Better Manage Your Email Inbox”:

#1 Timing is Everything

Effective time management is the best way to keep your inbox from overwhelming you. The first step in taking control of the time you spend on your e-mail is setting aside specific periods throughout the day to check e-mail. The amount of time you spend on each e-mail checking session and the frequency of these sessions will vary depending on your business style. Some people like to limit themselves to just two or three times a day, but some entrepreneurs find it more effective to check e-mail every hour or even every 15 minutes.

Whatever your limits are, consider really enforcing these for yourself by exiting out of your e-mail program for most of the day, shutting off alerts and beeps from incoming messages, or even turning off your cell phone for certain chunks of time. You can also create an automated response that lets people trying to contact you know exactly when you will be checking your e-mail during the day and offering them a phone number to call if their issue is urgent.

Not only is it important to schedule your e-mail checking times, but also to really be productive during those periods. This means dealing with e-mails immediately as they come into your inbox. Try to make fast decisions and take action instead of postponing issues until another day. If you cannot respond right at that moment at least send the person a message letting them know you’ve received to their e-mail and you are working on providing an answer. Then add the task to a to do list or calendar and set a deadline for yourself to follow up with the person.

#2 Isolate What is Important

Promotional e-mails or spam can really clutter an inbox. Every now and then take the time to unsubscribe from newsletters or advertisements that you do not look at. You can even simplify this process by searching your inbox for the word “unsubscribe” and then sorting through those search results to see what you can eliminate.

In addition to occasionally unsubscribing from mass e-mails, you should also scan through your e-mails as soon as you open your inbox to determine what is important out of that batch of new messages. Delete anything that is spam or unnecessary, scan and archived e-mails that do not require a response, and then you will be at a point where you can better evaluate the tasks you really need to tackle. Remember that if an e-mail is important it should not sit unread in your inbox for days at a time.

#3 Stay Organized 

While it is good to consistently delete or archive e-mails, there are probably still many messages you will want to keep. It is a good idea to keep track of important communications with clients or fellow employees in case you need to refer back to them later to clarify an issue. Keep these old e-mails organized by taking advantage of labels, categories, and folders in your e-mail program. Group messages just like you would any other files so that you can easily locate E-mails about a specific topic or aspect of your job if necessary. You can put these folders into even broader categories labeled clients, finances, or projects. In addition to taking advantage of folders and subfolders, also be sure to mark your e-mails according to importance so that you can easily find high-priority messages when you need them.

If you have been feeling overwhelmed by the emails you deal with on a daily basis, consider stepping back to evaluate a better strategy for handling your correspondence. Setting a schedule for yourself, addressing things according to importance, and keeping your inbox organized might help you limit the amount of your workday spent on e-mail.

If your business is interested in office rental space in Kansas City, give us a call at 913-685-4100 to learn more about office lease rates in Kansas City.

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4 Tips For Creating an Organized and Inspired Office Space in Kansas City

The new year is a great time to reorganize your office. Here are a few tips for keeping your workspace tidy and more pleasant to be in, as suggested in the article “New Year Resolutions – Organized Office & Studio Space”:

  1. Stay on top of the clutter. Don’t wait until you know you’re going to have a visitor to clean your workspace. Try to set aside some time every Friday to clear out old papers, organize your supplies, and put things in their designated places.
  2. Organize electrical cords. There are so many systems and gadgets to keep electrical cords organized and off your desktop. For example, you can feed your cords through a hole in your desktop, plug them into a power strip, label each cord, and keep them all and a basket attached to the underside of your desk.
  3. Find effective and interesting storage options. Storage areas or containers can also fit into your decor. There are so many DIY options for sprucing up old cabinets, shelves, or containers!
  4. Treat yourself to interesting supplies. Perhaps a really nice pen or some personalized stationery really brightens your day. Giving yourself a few of these items might cheer up the ordinary work routine and give you more incentive to keep your supplies organized.

Organizing and personalizing your workspace can have a positive effect on your mood at work! Check sites like Pinterest for lots of easy, affordable, and interesting ideas for your office.

If you would like to learn more about office lease rates in Kansas City, give a commercial real estate broker in Kansas City a call at 913-685-4100.

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3 Steps to Cleaning Out Clutter in Your Office Suites for Rent in Kansas City

Clutter in an office space can be a major block to productivity.  Here are a few tips for keeping things clutter free, as suggested in the article “How to be clutter free in a wireless workplace”:

Step 1: Think about your needs.

Every office has different priorities and concerns, so it is important to think about what your office needs before making any changes.  Do you have multiple rooms in your office or one work area that contains technology?  Are you usually on the go?  Think about how you work before deciding what will actually be on your desk.

Step 2: Address your desk.

Do you need a telephone if you usually use your smart phone?  Would a wireless keyboard and mouse free up some space?  Little things like this can make a big difference in decreasing the clutter caused by wires.  If you have a lot of files sitting out, consider putting them in a cabinet under your desk or scanning them and saving them on an external hard drive.

Step 3: Update.

Sometimes it is important to take a look at your technology and see what can be updated.  Consider wireless backup drives, wireless headphones, and a wireless printer to reduce cords.  You can also make sure your Wi-Fi is boosted with a router to make sure it is functioning at peak performance.

Reduce the clutter of cords in your office by taking some time to purge and upgrade if necessary!

If your business is looking into office rental space in Kansas City, give us a call at 913-685-4100 to find out more about our office lease rates in Kansas City.

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Three Small Office Lease in Kansas City Provisions to Carefully Review

It is important to review all of your lease before signing it, possibly even with the help of a broker or attorney, but here are a few provisions in particular to read carefully, as suggested in the article “Real Estate—Commercial Leasing”:

  1. Basic/Net Rental Rates. Make sure that the basic or net rent that was listed in the lease matches up to listings of the rent in other official documents, such as the confidential information memorandum (CIM), rent roll, and any other income documentation that you need to serve as a record of the value of the space. You will want to be on the lookout for any discrepancies, including in the date listed and any information on rent increases.
  2. Compare Rent to Actual Payments. Make sure that the rental rate listed for a space matches up with what tenants actually pay. Legally, a landlord might not be able to enforce a higher rental rate if they have regularly accepted lower payments from tenants or made an oral agreement to reduce rental costs.
  3. Area. This is another item to check against what is on record in income documentation. You can also ask the landlord if they have area certificates to double check that both the space listed and the measurement standard match up with what is on the lease.

Do all of the research you can to make sure that your rental rate and the amount of space you are renting are correctly listed on your lease.

If you would like to learn more about office lease rates in Kansas City, give Kathy Woodward at DDI Commercial a call at 913-685-4100.

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Booking a Meeting Space Near Your Executive Office Rental in Overland Park

There has been a growing trend in businesses booking meeting rooms off-site for various conferences and meetings.  If your business is considering giving this a try, but you are not sure if it is worth it, consider some of the reasons that other businesses have chosen to take advantage of these spaces, as described in the post, Why Should I Book a Meeting Room?:

  •     Convenient locations.  Because there has been such an increase in demand for these kinds of spaces, often it is easy to find a good space within convenient distance of your business.
  •     Morale Boost.  Sometimes just changing locations can inspire and refresh employees who are used to meeting in the same space day after day.
  •     Technology and Space Size.  Most meeting rooms are fully equipped with internet access, projectors, computer terminals, DVD players, and more—all of the same conveniences that are in your own space, or possibly more to take advantage of.  You can also book different sized meeting rooms if you need a bigger or smaller space than you have in your own office space.
  •     On-site Support.  Often there is support staff and catering at the location to help take care of small logistical meeting details.

If you want a change of scene or are looking to hold a large conference that your business cannot accommodate, looking into off-site meeting spaces might be a good option.

Want to learn more about office lease rates in Kansas City?  Give a commercial real estate broker in Kansas City a call at 913-685-4100!

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Understanding Office Lease Rates in Kansas City

Several different factors can influence rental rates, and it is important to have a working knowledge of how rental rates are determined.  Here are just a few of the elements that affect rental rates, as seen in the article Understanding Rental Rates:

  • The lease term
  • Size of the property
  • Views
  • Storage
  • Proximity to other locations
  • The current market/economy

Market conditions particularly affect rental rates, which tend to increase.  Once you sign your lease, the rate for your lease is fixed for the duration of that term.  Since there are so many pieces to a total rental rate and several different ways to quote rents, it can sometimes be hard to understand what people are talking about when discussing leasing rates.

Usually the quoted rate is based on the rent per square foot.  These prices are typically on a monthly basis, but in some locations (i.e. San Francisco) they are quoted on an annual basis.  The math is simple, but it can be a bit confusing to see one rate quoted as $36.00 per square foot (annual rate) versus $3.00 per square foot (monthly rate).  Urban office lease rates are often calculated on an annual basis, while industrial and retail spaces are typically advertised as monthly rates.  It is important to be aware of these differences as you compare rental rates for different spaces.

If you are interested in learning more about office suites for rent in Overland Park, give a commercial real estate broker in Overland Park a call at 913-685-4100!

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Common Area Usage in a Shared Overland Park Office Space

If you have determined that you want your business will be sharing an office rental space with another similar business, you will want to discuss things like dividing costs and responsibilities, and who will be making big decisions for the space.  Another topic to discuss is the use of common areas in a shared space.  Here is some more information about this aspect of space sharing, as seen in the article, “What’s Involved in Sharing Office Space“:

Use of Common Areas.

Most shared workspaces have some space that is used by all tenants, even if it is just the entryway at the front of a warehouse.  It could also be much more than that, such as a reception area, storage space, office equipment, restrooms, conference rooms, and possibly even a kitchen area.  Regardless of whether you have a lot of common space or just a little, you will need to have a clear agreement about how each business will use the space and how much each will pay for this use.  There are a few different ways of determining how to split these costs.

  • Equally sharing the cost of the common space, regardless of how much overall space each sharer uses.
  • Pro-rating the common space cost based on how much overall space each tenant uses.
  • Pro-rating the common space costs based on how much common space each tenant uses.
  • Setting limits on the use of common area space so that tenants who want to use it must split or pro-rate the cost between users.

You will also want to discuss smaller issues, such as keeping the space clean, calendar use of conference rooms, and appearance of the space in general.

If your business has been looking at commercial MLS listings in Kansas City, give us a call at 913-685-4100 to find out more about office lease rates in Kansas City!

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