Why would Landlord lease to Tenant when represented by agent, but NOT directly to Tenant when unrepresented?
https://money.stackexchange.com/q/152587
[{"id": "it28vwe", "text": "Could be as simple as the landlord not wanting to deal with unsophisticated tenants. Trying to work deals with people that don't necessarily understand the real estate process can be cumbersome. I'm not trying to make any assumptions about the tenant's level of real estate knowledge, but it could be as simple as that. The landlord would have to be pretty comfortable to not want to deal directly with a potential tenant though.", "replies": [], "depth": 1}, {"id": "it28zhi", "text": "Because most* tenants are a pain in the ass to deal with. They think they know all the shit and that their business is somehow better than everyone else\u2019s (it isn\u2019t). A broker let\u2019s the landlord hand off the pain in the ass nature of the transaction. WAY easier.", "replies": [], "depth": 1}, {"id": "it29m2l", "text": "Personally, I have a love/hate relationship with unrepresented tenants. I hate them because they have no idea what they are doing, deals often go sideways, and everything takes 3 times as long. \n\nI love them because I *always* end up with a better deal and don\u2019t have to pay a tenant rep on top of it. It\u2019s like, I\u2019ve been negotiating RE deals for 15+ years, have a broker repping me that\u2019s been doing this 20+ years, have an IC that approves every deal made up of REPE guys that have been doing this forever - and then a Dr. who thinks he\u2019s the smartest guy in the room decides he can do better negotiating his own 10 year lease than a tenant rep who knows the market (and then they have their family attorney who doesn\u2019t do commercial leases do the redlines). \n\nIn your case, I\u2019m guessing it\u2019s a small retail unit and the owner sees unrepresented prospects as unserious tire kickers with a dream but no real plan, which in my very limited experience in retail was almost always the case.", "replies": [{"id": "it2e63n", "text": "Lol. So true. The family lawyer bit had me cracking up.", "replies": [], "depth": 2}], "depth": 1}, {"id": "it2i1yn", "text": "Depends on the approach of the Tenant.  Most Landlords prefer working directly with the Principle due to lack of commission to a Broker.  However, unless the Principle understands how the industry/leasing/etc operates it can be frustrating.\n\nYour situation may comes down to the Tenant's approach to the Landlord.  Being able to communicate and provide required information is key to Landlords.", "replies": [], "depth": 1}, {"id": "it3bcmd", "text": "I echo all of the points being made about dealing with unsophisticated tenants.  It's PITA dealing with tenants anyway, but trying to work with them on all the crap necessary for all but the most simple lease (e.g., self storage) is a nightmare.  It's just not worth my time.  \n\nAlso, there may be legal issues with the landlord doing direct leasing as many states require a broker to be involved.\n\nJust out of curiosity, why do you care?  The commission generally is paid by LL.", "replies": [], "depth": 1}, {"id": "it3vtey", "text": "Honestly i think the Tenants are just really bad about sounding serious so they are easy to ignore.  They think of it as buying a candybar at 7-11 when in reality the landlord is really investing in their business and taking a lot of risk in them AND it's more like getting debt over equity because we don't share in the upside.\n\nIf Tenant can prove to the LL that they are serious, know what you are doing, and can pay bills then LL will lease space to you.  Most tenants just submit the default message to LL on LoopNet \"Please send me additional information about this property\" and from their gmail or yahoo email address.  It's like... hey bud, the brochure has the info.  Who are you, what is your business, what are you looking for.\n\nAnd of course, many of those that don't sound serious aren't serious and it's difficult to figure that out without Tenant providing more info.", "replies": [], "depth": 1}]