Find the Right Commercial Real Estate Office Space to Fit Your Needs

Commercial real estate professionals can help you find the right fit for your business. Whether you're looking for commercial office space to rent or you're looking to purchase an office or office building, the professional commercial real estate agent can create a customized solution that addresses your particular needs. There's much more to office space than just land. It can boost productivity by giving your executives the right place to work, and by providing you with a friendly and welcoming place to meet with customers, it can help brand your company.

You and your team are likely to spend thousands of hours in your office area, and the right space will make a huge difference in how you set up your business, how you connect, how you feel about work, and more. Your decisions will also have an impact on your bottom line, as sales office space and yet real estate transactions for many companies are a key component of overhead costs.

What if you are Just Starting Out in Business?

Finding and leasing professional office space that meets your needs as well as your budget is both exciting and stressful to start-up entrepreneurs, mostly the latter.

Here are a few recommendations to consider as you search for your commercial real estate office space. 

1. Know the amount of space you need.

Generally, budgeting for about 1,000 square feet for every four to six workers is a good rule of thumb.

2. Consider your business associates or employees.

Map where the business associates or employees live and look for an office space from there that is fairly convenient for each employee to travel regularly. The most important consideration in the process is to arrive at a centralized location. You will gain more talent, current and future if you make it easy for everyone to get there.

3. Be open to subleasing an office.

If you are beginning to earn revenue, but you are not profitable, you may the landlord may not feel comfortable renting you a commercial space for long periods. If this is your situation, consider sub-leasing your first office space. Shorter subleases are often month-to-month and week-to-week, more rarely. Some may last a year as well.

4. Work with an agent you trust.

Err on the cautionary side and don't work with an agent who never succeeded in finding an office space for someone you know. 

Once you have gathered personal recommendations, do some additional homework if you feel it is necessary. Not all agents on your list will follow-up with you or do as they promise.

5. Consider setting up in a shared space.

If you work with a tight budget and require a flexible, lower-cost arrangement, it is probably your best bet. The advantage you have this arrangement, you will be with other like-minded startup types and you can always relocate your office if your needs change, even suddenly. Depending on the specific location, you could rent a range of office space arrangements:

• team-friendly environments, 
• dedicated individual desks
• entire meeting rooms 
• Time specified arrangements such as hourly, weekly, or monthly basis, or even indefinitely. 

6. Don't overlook checking out your Landlord.

Renting from a bad landlord is like working with a bad boss. They can make your life and your associates and employees' lives miserable. Speak to building tenants (or those in co-working arrangements) that you are considering renting space to ensure that you end up with a qualified and fair-minded landlord.

7. Keep in mind that it's all negotiable, including leases.

When it comes to finalizing your office space, there are no hard and fast rules. Take for example. If your rent for an office is listed as $5,000 a month; see if you can negotiate it down by 5%-20%., You never know, the space may have been vacant for a long time and the Landlord is to drop the rental price.