How it works
Five steps from a first conversation to a signed lease. No presentation, no pressure — and the best outcomes start 12 to 18 months before your lease expires.
The five steps
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Tell us what you're planning.
A short conversation about your business, current space, timeline, and goals. No presentation, no pressure. If your lease doesn't expire for two years, that's fine — starting early is what creates leverage.
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Define what you need.
Location, size, timing, property type, budget, customer demographics, operating requirements. For a restaurant that means venting and foot traffic; for a medical practice, patient draw radius and parking; for a warehouse user, clear height and loading.
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Explore the options.
Including spaces that never reach the listing sites. You get a side-by-side comparison with real numbers: effective rent, concessions, build-out costs, and what comparable tenants nearby are actually paying.
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Evaluate before you commit.
You see the alternatives and what each one actually costs before anything is signed. A renewal negotiated with alternatives on the table is a different conversation from one negotiated without them — even if you end up staying.
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Negotiate and move forward.
Representation on your side through letters of intent, negotiation, and closing. Base rent is one line in the deal — the improvement allowance, free-rent period, escalation caps, renewal options, and expansion rights decide what the lease actually costs over five years.
“So how do you get paid?”
Fair question, and the answer is why many tenants go unrepresented when they shouldn't.
When commercial space is leased, the landlord pays a leasing commission. That commission exists whether or not the tenant brings their own representation. Without a tenant's broker, the landlord's broker typically receives it in full — and that broker's job is to get the best terms for the landlord.
In most commercial lease transactions, the tenant's representative is compensated through that same commission rather than through a separate fee paid by the tenant. Arrangements vary by transaction, and we'll explain exactly how yours works before you engage us.
When to start
Leverage comes from starting 12–18 months out, while leaving is still a credible option. Tenants who call 60 days before expiration have already lost most of their negotiating position.
Not sure where you fall? That's what the first conversation is for.
Start with step one
Tell Greg what you're planning — a short conversation, nothing to prepare.
Greg Cho · 703-629-8563 · outreach@trncor.net