Frequently Asked Questions

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You want someone with experience to help guide you through the leasing process which can often times be much more complicated than expected. An agent with market and industry knowledge can show you all available properties, both currently on and off market, as well as help ensure you get the most favorable terms, including renewing at your current space. While a tenant may only go through this leasing process every 3-7 years, the typical landlord has much more practice at real estate negotiations since they will typically have many leases that need to be addressed each and every year. You need someone fighting for your side to help even the playing field.

At West Hawk Commercial Real Estate, our agents are 100% committed to representing only you, the Tenant’s and Buyers of commercial real estate. Our proven 11 step proprietary process ensures optimal results each and every time. Not only are we experienced and knowledgeable in the market, but our commitment to tenant representation allows us to practice real estate free from any conflict of interest which is prevalent in the industry. This is important because the vast majority of real estate brokers out there derive the bulk of their income from landlord listings. Because this is the case, it is not uncommon for them to compromise the interest of a single tenant (you) in an effort to gain favor with a much larger landlord who can provide them or their company with much more business in the future. Because West Hawk agents are not seeking future business from your landlord, or any other landlords out there, you can be rest assured that we have your best interest at heart. 

The general rule of thumb is to begin the process between 6 months to a year prior to your lease expiration. However, often times emergencies may arise in the middle of a lease such as needing to expand space, decrease or even move altogether in which cases we can help at any time. Typically, the sooner you engage with us, the more leverage we can help create to ensure the best terms of your new real estate transaction.

In tenant-related transactions, it is customary for the landlord to pay all real estate representation fees. Our fees, both on new real estate, and the renegotiation of current leases, are paid by the landlord. Not only is our service free to you, but in just about every case we have saved our clients considerable amounts of money while increasing flexibility on lease terms. Attempting to complete a transaction directly with the landlord, or their agent, vastly decreases your odds of ever reaching a fair market rate, let alone beat the market.

As you may imagine, there is no sure answer to this question. It may be important to remember that the vast majority of office and industrial users out there do not own their real estate. More often than not putting a company’s additional proceeds back into their business will yield a much higher result than investing in real estate. However, depending on the goals of the individual business, the executives that may be running the business, the type of business being conducted, the uniqueness of the required real estate along with many other factors, all contribute to which option may be better. We invite you reach out to us today to help with your lease vs purchase analysis.  

The desire of a tenant to simply renew in their current location is common. Moving is often seen as expensive and a disruption to business. With this said, tenants that are viewed as “captive tenants” by their landlord often end up paying the most of anyone out there. It is important to remember that if you were to move, the landlord would most likely face a significant period of vacancy prior to finding a new tenant to fill their space. This new tenant would also likely need to new improvements to the space (carpet, paint, construction, signage, etc). The combination of this vacant downtime and new improvements to the space, (for a new unproven tenant) is an extremely costly endeavor for a landlord. By engaging a West Hawk Commercial real estate agent we not only ensure that you know exactly what alternate options may be out in the market for you, but we help your current landlord remember how important your tenancy is to them. So ultimately if you do choose to stay in your current location you will know how this choice compares to the rest of the market and will ensure the landlord puts their best foot forward.