How does TenantBase work?

TenantBase reverses the traditional commercial real estate model. Instead of spending weeks searching listings and contacting landlords, tenants share their requirements — location, size, budget, and timing — and TenantBase matches them with qualified local tenant-rep brokers and relevant market options.

What does a tenant-rep broker actually do?

Tenant-rep brokers provide market expertise, advocate exclusively for tenant interests, and manage the leasing process from start to finish — space selection, negotiations, and concessions — helping reduce risk and improve outcomes at no direct cost to the tenant in most U.S. markets.

What's the difference between a gross lease and a net lease?

In a gross lease, one all-in rent payment covers most building expenses. In a net lease, tenants pay base rent plus some combination of property taxes, insurance, and CAM charges on top. Those pass-throughs can add 30–100% above the face rate, so understanding the structure before you tour is critical.

Who are the Partner Broker Highlights?

Partner Broker Highlights feature trusted tenant-rep brokers in TenantBase's network — their background, market expertise, and approach to representing tenants. It's designed to help businesses find and vet the right local advisor before starting a search.

How does TenantBase help me find the right space for my business?

TenantBase combines technology with local tenant advisors to match searches based on headcount, growth plans, budget, and timing — streamlining discovery and helping teams lease space that fits their operational and financial goals.

Commercial Real Estate BuildOut

What will Brokers Say in the 2021 DNA OF #CRE Survey?

David O'Rell

February 1, 2021

TenantBase is proud to be partnering once again this year with Buildout and The Broker List on the 2021 DNA of #CRE report. The report provides fascinating insights into the habits, tools and technology used by commercial brokers. This year's report will provide insight into how both brokers and their clients reacted to the COVID-19 pandemic that resulted in an unprecedented number of employees working remotely and the challenges that created for retail and restaurant operators. Of particular interest to TenantBase will be understanding how brokers generated new business when cold calling became much more challenging as people were not in their offices. If you recall from the 2020 report, cold calling/prospecting was the second most used technique accounting for almost 70% of new clients.

As the chart below shows, brokers spend a significant amount of their time cold calling to generate new business. Did brokers accelerate the use of technology to win new business? (And we’re not just talking about Zoom calls, as we know everyone attended way too many.)

The two questions we are curious about are:

How did brokers generate new business?
How did brokers show properties to tenants with social distancing and shelter in place orders?

At TenantBase, our brokers and partners primarily utilized online leads from the TenantBase platform and their past client relationships. In fact, more than 40% of our completed transactions in 2020 were initiated and closed after March when the impact of COVID-19 restrictions took effect. While the restrictions had dire consequences for many sectors and companies, there were essential businesses needed to lease and occupy space quickly. Last year, Industrial and Flex deals accounted for more than half of our completed transactions. Entering 2020, TenantBase, like many of the brokers in this study, believed Office deals would lead the way. Fortunately Industrial was able to make up for the decreased demand by office and retail tenants.

The second challenge after finding new tenants was determining how to tour properties. TenantBase brokers showed properties in a variety of ways. In some cases, it was the more traditional process of going to the property with the tenant, but arriving early to wipe down doorknobs and providing masks, before it became standard practice. Brokers also used their mobile phones to record video walkthroughs or use FaceTime for a real time showing of the space, especially for out-of-town clients that were unable to travel.

2020 made it clear to TenantBase that the need to source new business online would continue to grow exponentially. To accelerate our company growth, TenantBase began partnering with local firms to increase our geographic coverage and now have more than 15 partners that use our platform to enhance their business development processes. Click here to learn more about becoming a partner.

And please complete the survey for the 2021 DNA of #CRE.