What about commercial real estate brokers who only work for the office or industrial tenant companies? Why are they called Tenant Rep agents? What is their Business Model? And why do smart and sophisticated tenant companies use Tenant Rep brokers or advisors?
In the majority of larger American cities there are often several commercial real estate firms who disavow working for the owner/landlord or developers’ advantage. Those organizations share the same philosophy, goals and focus of Boise based Tenant Realty Advisors. TRA was founded in 2000 and is celebrating its 25th anniversary. During those 25 years Tenant Realty Advisors has become the preeminent commercial real estate advisory company having advised or spoken for a Who’s Who of national and local companies as well as assisting/representing the majority of new leases or renewals for our Boise law firms from the smallest to the largest. And during those past 25 years no other Boise commercial real estate brokerage services company has fully embraced ONLY working for the benefit of the tenants who pay the rent.
Along the way we have worked on a wide variety of projects to find and secure the best office/industrial space for our clients. Quick question: who represented the Mexican Federal Government when they first established their Consulate to Boise? Answer: Tenant Realty Advisors. Along the way we have worked on some very interesting assignments, have made many friends and worked for a lot of good people. Tenant Realty Advisors didn’t birth the tenant rep concept. Rather it was invented by a Julien Studley in the mid 1950s in New York City.
What is the future for tenant representation in Boise? Great question. Background first. According to sources since 2010 to present, the area population has increased by 32 %. This is new people bringing new ideas and/or expectations. Micron’s 25 billion dollar expansion is estimated to bring 35,00 to 50,000 new residents to Boise alone. As these new companies and individuals arrive with experience engaging Tenant Rep brokers, we see demand for TRA’s assistance growing.
But what will this wonderful sounding service cost me?? Another good question.
It’s almost counterintuitive because the landlord, the owner, the developer’s agent, or leasing agent pays us a real estate fee by sharing in the fee that is paid to them. Make no mistake, there is always a professional fee in the rent the tenant pays. It can go 100% to the building leasing broker or in some cases back to the landlord/owner as the Managing Member of the LLC owning the property. Or better it can be shared between those parties working for the landlord and an agent that is truly looking out for the interests of the Tenant and is committed to securing the best economic terms for the Tenant ( i.e. lowest possible rents, most flexibility and highest possible contribution from the landlord to remodel or modify the space to modify the space..)
The building leasing agent or third party brokers will never ask your landlord for more money for you to remodel or to lower your rent. But we will. We will again and again as the opportunity arises.
If the tenant does not engage a tenant representative working for them they are in effect paying for representation of the landlord. Isn’t that “taxation without representation? Probably that is a yes. We see experienced and knowledable tenant companies wanting real estate agents who don’t have undisclosed “conflicts of interest” ( because their organization does works for many landlords).
Another way of looking at it is this. If you were in a legal dispute with money on the table, would you and your adversary hire the same attorney? That would be a first.
Always understand who is actually working for you.
With Tenant Realty Advisors you never have to worry about that. The answer is in our name….we always work for you.