Should I hire a commercial real estate agent if I’m trying to open a small business in a strip mall?
One of my relatives is interested in leasing a small space (close to 1000 sq/ft) in a strip mall to open a hair salon. Will it be useful to hire a commercial real estate agent to help her with negotiation for a 3 or possibly 5 year lease? She will have to take into consideration the expenses she’ll need to incur to get the place ready. 
Also, who pays the commission for the agent representing her, is it the landlord’s responsibility once they close the deal?
[{"id": "hzugaj3", "text": "Seller pays commission, and I would definitely advise using a commercial agent to advise your relative through this entire process.", "replies": [{"id": "hzuilg9", "text": "What questions should I focus on before hiring an agent to represent a lessee?", "replies": [{"id": "hzymuxy", "text": "What other deals have you done in the area?  Go talk to those tenants they repped.  Do you rep any landlords?  Go check out those properties.", "replies": [], "depth": 3}], "depth": 2}], "depth": 1}, {"id": "hzukbhi", "text": "I\u2019m a CRE appraiser, not a broker, so I have no skin in the game: always pay an agent/broker when you\u2019re the tenant. LL will be paying out 6-7% commission on your lease whether you have someone representing your interests or not (LL broker will get full commission if you don\u2019t have someone representing you). Also don\u2019t let the LL\u2019s brokers split up where one represents \u201cyou\u201d and one the LL. Yes that person from the team is representing you, but that broker still has a much longer relationship with the LL that he has with you. Just to be safe get a true independent broker to make sure everything is negotiated as best as you can. Good luck.", "replies": [], "depth": 1}, {"id": "hzup1tx", "text": "It's almost always better to have a broker than to not. For a 3-5 year retail lease on 1000 SF, honestly there aren't a ton of people who would take that job just because the commission is pretty small and making the case for a first time operator is not a light workload.\n\nIf you do find a broker who'll take you on, they're almost certainly doing it for personal reasons (i.e. they like you and they consider this good karma).", "replies": [{"id": "hzvo2qv", "text": "I agree better than not , but can you even find decent broker for this? Depends on Manhattan vs Oklahoma but it reads as a teeny lease value.", "replies": [], "depth": 2}, {"id": "hzw1hon", "text": "If you get a young broker on an established team, who is looking to learn, but have their established broker guide them, it\u2019s a win win.", "replies": [], "depth": 2}], "depth": 1}, {"id": "hzv6jfc", "text": "If the terms are straightforward you don't require a broker.  Most Landlords prefer not dealing with a broker due to the % they pay on the initial term. \n\nThat said, if your relative has no experience at all in leasing I'd advise obtaining the services of a **quality** commercial broker.", "replies": [{"id": "hzvbl88", "text": "She was also planning on setting up an appt with the landlord (if a commercial RE/tenant rep doesn\u2019t want to take on this bc commission may be too small for them since it\u2019s less than 1000 sq/ft) and hire a commercial real estate attorney to review the contract.", "replies": [{"id": "hzvo8js", "text": "The attorney can\u2019t help with pricing. Maybe market terms", "replies": [], "depth": 3}], "depth": 2}], "depth": 1}, {"id": "hzzjzvh", "text": "What areas are you looking at?", "replies": [{"id": "hzzm6hg", "text": "DFW", "replies": [{"id": "hzzmj00", "text": "I can't help you. I'm in New Jersey. GL", "replies": [{"id": "i004c31", "text": "No problem. What questions would you suggest I should ask potential tenant reps before I hire one? I\u2019ll be getting in contact with a couple of them tomorrow.", "replies": [], "depth": 4}], "depth": 3}], "depth": 2}], "depth": 1}, {"id": "i0i7yew", "text": "* You should always hire a commercial real estate agent when renting a space. \n* When I say commercial, I mean commercial, not your cousin. And you should find someone making a living at ONLY doing commercial real estate. Look for names from CBRE, NAI, Marcus &amp; Millichap, SVN.\n* The land lord pays your agent, it will be free to you.\n* A good agent will drive down your rent cost because they are 1) experts in negotiation and in the market rates 2) they will maximize the dollars the landlord will give you for your buildout.\n* Don't get emotional about the specific place you want to rent. Go out with your agent and see 10 different places at 10 different pricepoints. \n* A good Commercial Real Estate agent will make your top 3-5 picks submit proposals to you, to earn your business. It's essentially a auction bid scenario to make you a renter.\n* Once all the bids are in, you use the competing bids to lower the prices on the space you truly want to be in.", "replies": [], "depth": 1}]