One of the worst things to hear about your commercial property is the word “vacancy.” As a commercial real estate investor, your goal is to turn a profit by leasing out your commercial properties. But if the spaces are vacant, you aren’t maximizing your full profit potential. Commercial real estate can be a trickier market to navigate since the process of finding good tenants can take a bit longer, but it also reaps many rewards such as having longer leases than the traditional residential lease. However, you don’t want to jump at the chance to sign any company as a tenant of your building. Instead, you should be looking for good commercial real estate tenants with which you can build a longstanding relationship.
With that being said, your goal as a commercial landlord should be to find the best tenants for your commercial real estate property. But how do you find outstanding tenants that pay rent on time, keep their space in good shape, and are likely to renew their lease? Follow along as Price Commercial Management shares a few tips for finding the right tenant for your commercial property.
How to Market Vacancies to Attract the Best Commercial Real Estate Tenants
To get your vacant space filled, you need to get the word out about your property. The more interest you attract, the more tenants you’ll be able to pick from — allowing you to make the best choice based on fit. Here are a few methods commercial landlords can use to get better tenants.
Networking
This may come as a surprise, but work-of-mouth can be one of the most effective ways to fill any vacancies in your buildings. By building up solid relationships with your other tenants, you’ll be able to utilize those relationships to find out if they have any business connections that may be in the market for a few office or retail spaces. However, if you’re new to the commercial real estate industry and don’t have many tenant relationships yet, you may look to attend local networking events for businesses in the area to get the word out about your office space.
Marketing Materials
How are you advertising your vacancies? Did you hire a professional photographer to capture the various office spaces or building amenities? You aren’t going to fill the space if prospective tenants don’t know it is available — and they aren’t going to schedule a visit to see it in person if you don’t have effective marketing materials in place answering the questions they have. Schedule professional photographers and videographers so you can put the property’s best face forward with online listings, signage, direct mailers, and any additional marketing materials you have.
Online Advertising
When companies are in the early stages of sourcing new office spaces, they’re going to turn to their computers to research vacancies in their desired area. Choose a few platforms where you want to showcase your property, such as Loopnet or various social media platforms, and fill out the requested details. This will allow prospective tenants to find your property when your building’s criteria match their set filters. Make sure you fill out as much detail as possible, including square footage, ceiling height, and onsite amenities (e.g., access control, fitness center, lock docks, etc.) so your target audience finds your listing.
Physical Signage
If your building is located in a highly trafficked or sought-after area, it can be extremely beneficial to add physical signage to your windows or outside the building. The sign should include basic information about the space available, photos if applicable, a website, and contact information where the prospect can reach out directly for more information.
Hire a Commercial Real Estate Broker
If you’re struggling to find commercial real estate tenants who align with your property and goals, reach out to an expert. A commercial real estate broker can help you determine the best ways to market and lease your space based on your goals, and they can connect you with great tenants. They can also assist in negotiating new leases, lease renewals and extensions, and more!
Should I Offer Additional Benefits or Amenities for Potential Commercial Real Estate Tenants?
There isn’t a right or wrong answer when it comes to providing your tenants with additional benefits or amenities. However, you should be aware of what the competition is offering so you don’t get beat out by competition for something you could have avoided. When performing market research, ask yourself these questions:
- Do the competitors in the same market provide similar facilities?
- Does my building meet (or exceed) the needs of my ideal tenant?
- What allows my building to stand out from the competition?
- What amenities are more important to tenants and is my competition providing them?
Nowadays, many commercial property managers are finding ways to amenitize their buildings to attract tenants with on-site retailers, flexible desk space, on-site fitness centers, and other amenities. While you don’t need to completely renovate your property to include all these things, it can be helpful knowing that your competitors don’t have a leg up.
How Should I Screen Tenants?
Finding high-quality tenants for your building is of the utmost importance. Increasing your tenant retention starts with executing a system to successfully screen prospective tenants. This is another place where technology can help reduce overhead by screening the applicants and narrowing down the quality prospective tenants that the property manager should get in contact with. Bringing in the right tenants on the front end will save you time, money, and headaches since you’ll have to find fewer replacements to occupy the empty tenancies. You may also consider hiring a skilled commercial property management company to fill the building with the best tenants possible, screening prospects to ensure they’re going to be the ideal fit.
Working with a Commercial Property Manager to Retain Good Tenants
Price Commercial Properties is your go-to when finding attracting, screening, and interfacing with potential tenants to ensure the best possible fit and experience for you both.
A Price Commercial Management property manager will work to retain your new and current tenants by creating a good experience for them to keep them satisfied and ensure that your properties continue to be a source of future income.
Price Commercial Management crafts customizable property management plans based on client needs, including:
- Rent Collection
- Lease Enforcement
- Evictions
- Monthly Property Reporting
- Expense Management
- Revenue Enrichment
- Property Assessments Scheduling
- Routine and Preventative Maintenance
- Relationships with Licensed and Insured Contractors
- Aesthetic Maintenance
Free yourself from the hassle and burden of managing your own property or that other sub-par property management companies have added and let our trusted and proven record go to work for you. Contact our team to learn more about how Price Commercial Management can assist.
