looking for an experienced and effective leasing agent for commercial property in los angeles
I’ve worked with a few leasing agents and they just aren’t effective.  I’ve worked with leasing agents around the area and they seem to push tenants towards the surrounding properties that they’re managing, just not mine.  I’ve always contracted for 1 year at a time for the past 3 years. They can’t find tenants for my property and blame it on the challenges my property brings OR they bring terrible potential tenants they know wouldn’t fit the property well just to show me they’re trying.  How do find an effective and honest leasing agent who isn’t just blowing smoke?
[{"id": "fuoaevq", "text": "What grade is the property? How much square feet? What's an ideal tenant?", "replies": [{"id": "fuopq2e", "text": "Paying market rate commission.\n\nIt\u2019s in between a class A and class B grade quality property.  Spectrum cable is available.\n\nAsking is $2.50 per square foot, full service gross, everything is included (electricity, gas, water, common area janitorial, property taxes, landscape, etc.) Tenant pays for their own phone line and internet.\n\nIt\u2019s an educational 2 story building for kids K thru 12th grade.\n\nThere is an existing music school, art school, and after school tutoring/academy, and a small cafe/eatery serving chinese food and boba\n\nThe art school and after school tutoring/academy may close shop due to the corona.\n\nNo tenant improvements need to be made.  Space is already setup, zoned, and ready to go for any of the following:\n\nafter-school tutoring/academy (3,600 square feet)\n\ndance studio (3,100 square feet and 1,100 square feet)\n\nkarate/takewondo/martial arts/jiu jitsu\n\ncoding school\n\nnursing school\n\ndrivers educational school\n\nyoga, zumba, pilates, etc.\n\nanything educational related suits this property the best", "replies": [{"id": "fupdct8", "text": "You\u2019ve got niche product and are looking for a needle in a haystack. Of course it\u2019s going to take forever to lease. You\u2019re also offering a total hodgepodge of features, school, dance, daycare, yoga... etc. No legit operator is going to touch that, they have refined business models that have  specific needs. You have a \u201cjack of all trades, master of none\u201d product and that is exactly the type of tenant you are going to attract. \n\nI suggest broadening the funnel and expanding the options for the building, you need to be able to offer the space to as many business and function types as possible assuming you want to limit the it takes to lease.", "replies": [{"id": "fupdycn", "text": "I agree, to broaden the funnel and expand options it would be quite costly and wouldn\u2019t make sense as there are an abundance of vacant office space available around the area.", "replies": [], "depth": 4}], "depth": 3}], "depth": 2}], "depth": 1}, {"id": "fuob3ej", "text": "Difficult, but look for someone at a small shop that focuses on your product category. If that\u2019s what you\u2019ve been doing and these are the results with 3 diff brokers, maybe your building is subpar compared to the market, maybe you aren\u2019t offering the potential tenants the same kind of deals (rate, TI, free rent) they can get down the road, or maybe your not paying the brokers market fees so they\u2019d rather take the tenants elsewhere and make more money. There are a slew of other possibilities. Some buildings are inherently difficult to lease and some LLs have unrealistic expectations. \n\nAll of the above is total speculation without knowing the specifics. It\u2019s never as easy as \u201chire x and you\u2019ll get the result you desire.\u201d Get a recommendation for a  broker that works in your product category and be realistic about your building as it stacks up against the competition. If necessary, improve your building to increase marketability.", "replies": [{"id": "fuopuka", "text": "There are no properties in the area like this.  This is a full service after-school academic and educational related facility aimed for kids K thru 12th.  Don\u2019t need to send tour kids to multiple places for tutoring, music, dance, etc...it even has a cafe to feed everyone in the building.  It was designed for your ultimate convenience and one stop shop.\n\nIt\u2019s in a top rated school district, # 2 or # 3 top high school in CA.  It\u2019s located in a middle class suburb with average incomes in the $100k to $160k range.\n\nThe problem is procuring a stable tenant with a solid business plan and whom provides great customer service.  Most of the current and previous tenants seem to have issues with employee hiring/management/motivation and business execution, employee and customer retention has been a challenge.", "replies": [{"id": "fuox59s", "text": "Read your last paragraph, I'm sure that's the same thing for your building after reading your description of it. If it truly was a one of a kind asset in your market, it'd be leased in a second. You might want to start looking at your perception of the building from within because it's a bit perverted and obviously the results and outcome show that may be true.", "replies": [{"id": "fupamon", "text": "I\u2019m having difficulty finding tenants with the ability to execute a well thought out business.\n\nThere are many mom and pops who \u201cthink\u201d they know what they\u2019re doing but don\u2019t.", "replies": [{"id": "fupc6ul", "text": "Could it just be offices? Does it need to be Ed related?", "replies": [{"id": "fupdabp", "text": "It would need substantial tenant improvements to convert to office space.  It was designed to be an educational facility.", "replies": [{"id": "fupijli", "text": "Hey, I have a special snowflake building that I neglected and nobody can find special snowflake tenants willing to foot the bill to fix my mistake. \n\nMost brokers will see you as and your property as a waste of time, so all you will find are dumb young kids who don\u2019t know any better who will waste their time. \n\nYou have a loser building with an unrealistic owner, which is a recipe for failure. \n\nI hope you own it outright.", "replies": [{"id": "fupjlv1", "text": "lol, very thoughtful input, i\u2019ll get right on it right away", "replies": [{"id": "fvaj25a", "text": "I gave you a ton of suggestions above, I honestly think you are better off looking at my suggestions and marketing the space yourself, especially because it seems you have knowledge of the educational space that most brokers would not have.", "replies": [], "depth": 9}], "depth": 8}], "depth": 7}], "depth": 6}], "depth": 5}, {"id": "fupoqlm", "text": "So, it's the tenant's that are the issue, not the brokers. It sounds like the people you are dealing with are being honest, you just don't like what they're saying.", "replies": [{"id": "fuprjxy", "text": "not much I can do in terms of making changes to the property to change the type of use it was already setup for, it would be too costly.\n\nthe tenants aren\u2019t operating their business well as they have internal employee management and hiring issues.", "replies": [], "depth": 6}], "depth": 5}], "depth": 4}], "depth": 3}, {"id": "fvaiy9o", "text": "There are so many uses for that type building!  Have you reached out to private schools in your area? some might be looking to relocate entirely, or expand, adding a middle school or high school.  I know several private schools with two separate campuses. You should also research charter schools that might be starting in your area.  Typically, a group looking to start a charter school must apply to the county school board for approval.  You could ask your school board if anything like that is brewing and/or reach out to national chains that run charter schools nationwide.  Also national daycare or preschool chains.\n\nWhat about established daycares or nursery schools that might be looking to expand? Maybe you could split the space between a private school and a daycare, those businesses would really compliment and help each other.\n\nin addition, you could rent the space on weekends to churches, or rent classrooms afternoons after school and evenings to tutoring programs, maybe fitness classes, or adult special interest classes like studying languages and art.\n\nA private school in my area had separate primary and secondary grade buildings.  When private school enrollment cratered in the crash 10 yrs ago, they put all their grades into one building and leased out the other building to a local college that had an extensive \"elder college\" program where active, well-educated retirees attended classes and lectures on various topics like economics, literature, art history, etc.  \n\nOne last idea: check out the homeschool community in your area.  Maybe someone is looking to start or expand a \"part time\"  school, there are a couple in my area with students K-12.  The kids go to class with a teacher a couple of days a week or three half days a week and study at home with her parents the rest of the time\n\nOf course, you need to make sure you're building is in very good shape, and/or offer some build-out dollars so tenants can customize the space to their needs. I'd also make sure the grounds, landscaping and lawns are in great condition, schools always look for nice outdoor space for students.", "replies": [], "depth": 3}], "depth": 2}], "depth": 1}, {"id": "fupbi84", "text": "Commercial broker in LA here. I quit working for the major firms a decade ago and have been a family-operated brokerage (side by side with my father) ever since. I can help find you a tenant or at the very least give some good advice without a sales pitch. Happy to help!", "replies": [], "depth": 1}, {"id": "fuq5gzw", "text": "Owners love to blame it on the broker when the reality is the asking lease rate is too high.", "replies": [], "depth": 1}]