Advice for first time commercial renter
Apologize if this is not the correct place for a post like this.

My wife runs a company currently out of our home (College/military care packages).  The business is currently about 16 months old and it has always been profitable. Business is increasing and we are launching some new business lines and working on closing some deals to be the preferred care package provider for several local universities.  These new lines/contracts should significantly increase our sales and profits.  We are slowly running out of room and as business increases we will need to start looking at commercial properties to lease and move the business into.  We would most likely be looking for a warehouse or industrial park property (storefront is not necessary).

I have heard lots of rumors that the requirements for getting into a commercial lease are much more difficult than the requirements for an apartment/single family home lease (ex. multi year leases, demonstrated income/profitability).  Just wondering if anyone could share some suggestions on what we should/should not look for when selecting potential property locations to lease, and what you as landlords/property managers look for in potential tenants.
[{"id": "cxpcpyp", "text": "First locate what areas of town you would be able to get into.  You aren't looking for a retail storefront, you need a small to large warehouse type space. If you need around 1000 Sq ft, you may be good to lease a office in the back of a park. If you are bringing in big trucks, look for what area of your town is Industrial Zoned. Then look for something to lease. As far as credentials and terms,  you'll need to be 2+ years for most non residential lesses. If a building has gone empty for awhile , maybe Owners just want to get someone in there. But they'd like to see some income. ", "replies": [], "depth": 1}, {"id": "cxpfsr7", "text": "I lurk in this sub for the same reason.  Well, that and I'd like to own some commercial real-estate some day, but that's far off.  \n\nTl;dr: Most leases are hard to get out of, and generally heavy.    use your contacts to find a less formal sublease, assuming you are okay moving, which it sounds like you are. \n\nSo, my experience?  I live in silicon valley, so rents are high here.  YMMV, and all that.\n\nMy experience is that if you want to have a \"real lease\" - which you *only* want if it's difficult for you to move, then yes, the contracts are hard-core and one-sided.   everyone wanted a personal co-sign.   (and on a $2K/month spot and a 3 year lease, that's big bucks... and that was in 2009.  it's way more than that now.)    -  now, my company rents, essentially, time on unix servers, so our primary expense is space, power bandwidth, cooling, etc... for the servers, which I rent from a big name co-lo;  my bill there is on the order of $7-$10K/month for what amounts to 100sqft of space (and a *lot* of power)    I'm not going to go into that, because while it *is* a commercial lease, it's different from renting warehouse space in a lot of ways that are probably not relevant to you.  Also, that's a situation where I can't just move, so I want a formalized, locked up contract where they can't just ask me to move.\n\n\nbut I also need space like you need space... a place to stack my spare computer parts and to do some assembly/troubleshooting work.     What I found is that I want an informal sublease.    \n\nMy first place was a guy in my computer club who lived in a commercial warehouse he rented.   One of those sea-steading libertarian nutters.   He was paying a bit over two grand a month for this giant place.   I paid him like $500 a month for what amounted to about 500sqft of warehouse space.   He was an awesome 'office roommate,' and totally put up with all my shenanigans.   would totally rent from him again.       (to be clear, I wasn't living there.  I just rented out space in a warehouse that someone else was living in.) \n\nNow, downside?  we got kicked out midway through, not because he wasn't supposed to be living there, I mean he wasn't, but we got kicked out 'cause he couldn't make rent.    but eh, it was awesome while it lasted.    I gave away my awesome warehouse shelves and shoved the rest of my spare pool that wouldn't fit at home in a storage unit while I looked for a new place.\n\nSo, then I noticed that my supplier of computer parts was advertising an office.  It was about the same space for the same money.  It was carpeted and up a flight of stairs.  :( but what do you do?    It was pretty great, too.  The landlord was super cool and would take me out to lunch and stuff.  (We probably spent more on computer parts from them than on rent, too.)  \n\nI was lured away from that by another business person (this time the used computer dealer, who seemed to do this for a lot of people) offered to let me have some of his new warehouse.\n\n\nBut the main point here is that you can get decent sublets at below market rates if you are willing to go into situations where the landlord can ask you to leave.      Also, that this is an area where having a robust network of contacts helps you a *lot*   -  get to know your local small business owners. \n\nMy perception is that the more formal real-estate game with brokers and stuff is setup more for people who are in situations where they can't just up and move;   for retail places, moving is a huge deal, for instance.    For me, moving my servers is a huge deal.   But moving my spare pool?   worst case I round up some friends and we can dump it all off in a storage unit over the weekend.   ", "replies": [{"id": "cxq99lk", "text": "Great comment and the last paragraph sums it up.  The less complex op can make the the better.  \n\nLook at it like doing your taxes.  If you made 20K last year you do not need a cpa.  If you made 2 million through owning a business, salary, and five different investments and you are setting up retirement etc you'd be crazy not to.\n\nKeep it simple and don't invent complexity if you don't need to and you won't need brokers and Lawyers here.  This can be as simple as renting an apartment ", "replies": [], "depth": 2}], "depth": 1}, {"id": "cxpmc9c", "text": "It will depend on the landlord. I would get in touch with a reputable broker in your area. ", "replies": [], "depth": 1}, {"id": "cxpni8b", "text": "I think the best recommendation is to finds tenant representation broker who will help you with your specific need. The tenant rep broker is generally always earning his commission from the landlord, so you won't necessarily pay directly for his services. \n\nYou can also start your search on your own with a site like CommercialSearch.com, which is a listing advertisement site. I'd still look to get a tenant rep broker to help you though as they'll work for you and guide you in the process.", "replies": [], "depth": 1}, {"id": "cxqak57", "text": "I'm going to break with the rest.  Based on the following assumptions (which if they aren't true, disregard the rest of my answer) I think you can do this yourself.  \n\nAssumptions are:  \n\n1.  You are talking a small space.  I am picturing 1-2k sf in my mind.  \n2.  You are looking for cheap rent.  You do not need heavy electric, cross docks, office, etc.  Any warehouse will do.  \n3.  Area doesn't particularly matter.  \n4.  Term doesn't matter.  You can move if you have to.\n\nAt least in my market you can get that for like $7 / SF.  Maybe less. Gross.  So say you get a 1k sf space, you are looking at 7k / year.  You want a one year lease it sounds like.  Tenant agents work on commission paid by the landlords typically.  The commission on what you are describing is around $500-$1k theoretically, BEFORE they pay expenses like the brokerage, franchise fees, E&amp;O (hell gas money for a transaction in that range).  \n\nFinding a broker is going to be difficult.  \n\nBrokers are great at lots of things, like valuing property, negotiating, market knowledge, working through construction stuff (TI), helping with financing, structuring long term deals (options, rights of refusals etc), working through tenant v landlord responsibilities, minimizing expenses, and the list goes on and on.  \n\nYou don't need these things.  They won't come up in your transaction unless you make it happen.  \n\nIf I were you, I'd get on loopnet, find 10 spaces that work, then go tour them all with the listing broker.  Tell them before you even do that you want a 1 year lease. Look for subleases if you can.  \n\nBe prepared to personally sign (I see no way a 16 month business looking for short term space is getting out of this).  I have no idea why don't want to anyways.  If you don't believe in your business enough to do that at this stage, then you aren't ready for space.  No one else is going to gamble on you when you won't gamble on yourself.  \n\nDon't request shit be fixed or anything custom.  You will take it as is.  If you can't take it as is, move on to another property.  \n\nDO have your shit in order as a professional business.  By that I mean be prepared to show your business plan, your last fiscal year, and a projection of your next.  Personally, you will have your credit ran probably.  So mind to that.  \n\nThings to watch out for:  \n\nOn a deal this size you should be doing minimal if any maintenance.  Do not sign a lease that has you responsible for hvac replacements etc.  At the same time, they are not doing all your maintenance probably.   Something like you get hit for the first $500 on any incident would seem reasonable to me.  \n\nIt doesn't sound like you are doing anything kinky or exotic, but call the city and check out zoning etc before you sign anything.  Understand what you have to do to get a business permit and zoning cert, make sure you can.  \n\nIf you know anyone who knows anyone who is a commercial broker ask for an introduction.  Chamber of commerces and civic business organizations can be good for this.  You are much more likely to find help if you aren't just a random call coming in and they look at it is a networking type thing and helping out an existing client's friend.\n\nLook into small business grants from the local city/state.  You can be surprised what free money is available sometimes", "replies": [{"id": "cxqc2ki", "text": "Everyone, Thanks for the info. It is really helpful.\n\nWe plan on working out of our home as long as possible just to keep costs low and to be able to better gauge how much space we actually need.  Earliest we would jump on a commercial space would be summer 2016, but I think we can delay until early 2017.  When we ultimately decide to move, we will probably be initially looking for 2500 - 3500sf, but assuming the business continues to grow at the same rate, we may look for a longer term lease on a larger property so we have room to grow.  The new business line will take us from an average of 40 orders per day to probably 70-80 per day in addition to a surge order in the summer of about 1000-1500 orders, so we need extra room to hold inventory and to store completed orders until they are ready for shipment/delivery.\n\n", "replies": [], "depth": 2}], "depth": 1}, {"id": "cxr9kpy", "text": "Coming from a landlord: get a broker. Landlords pay their commissions and the broker will protect your interests in the negotiation. If you don't have a broker, you'll either roll over (or completely miss) deal points on the way to a lease or you'll move too slowly to secure the space and lose the deal. I've done very well for my company by out brokering guys who have no business negotiating leases. Get a broker.\n\nAlso, a personal guarantee isn't always necessary. As long as the deal costs aren't too substantial and it's not too much space - many landlords don't care. Especially in a high vacancy / not-in-demand market (in case that applies). Short term deals and either minimal build out or building the space on your own dime will keep deal costs low and the requirement for a deposit / guarantee at a minimum. A decent alternate would be to sign a letter of credit with a bank. That costs money but it's good insurance against going dark and having the landlord come after. But a broker can tell you these things.\n\nGet space in a flex/industrial park either near you, near your customers (if you serve them directly which I don't think you do), or near your shipping route if that matters (unlikely but maybe your size calls for it).\n\nLastly: the barriers aren't that high to lease a small space. I've approved plenty of no-credit DBAs and LLCs on even an 18 month deal with a single month deposit on space we've been sitting on for a while. If you don't care about having the best space you can find some very flexible asset managers (landlords) looking to get their properties above 90 or 95% occupied. Just keep the process easy for them, don't take on too much space (get a smaller space with a ROFR or ROFO on other space, hopefully contiguous), and use a damn broker.", "replies": [], "depth": 1}]