COMMERCIAL REAL ESTATE SERVICES

We will help you determine everything that must be taken into consideration before deciding whether to renew at your present location or to relocate.

To reach the proper decision, you need the clearest possible definition of your goals – tangible and intangible. Your first and most obvious tasks are to (1) clarify the adequacy of your current physical requirements, and (2) establish a budget for renewal, renovating your existing space, or the possibility of relocation, the move itself and for continuing occupancy costs.

Start by comparing your future requirements with your existing facilities in such terms as physical size, layout, equipment, technology, organizational structure, security, and special purpose spaces.

You must weigh the relative importance of more subjective matters such as location, accessibility, corporate image, building services and amenities, along with any special mechanical and service needs.

Finally, to the best of your ability, you must project the course of your company’s growth or contraction over the term of your new lease.

To protect your best interest, rely on Rakow to help you achieve your lowest possible leasing cost. To do so, it is advisable to search other available properties.

That way, you begin a process by which you may be able to leverage the cost of other properties in negotiating your lease renewal.

Alternatively, you may uncover a more desirable property that justifies relocation.

Applying 40 separate criteria to each property, our search software delivers critical data, as well as full-color photos of each location, right at your desk.

When the search narrows down to a short list, we will provide you with a detailed comparative report, then accompany you on a physical tour of each location that interests you.

Let us help you search through our database updated daily — of virtually every available office space in Westchester County, NY and Fairfield County, CT.

We will prepare and send an identical Request for Proposal (RFP) to the owner of each property on your short list. By so doing, you get a point-by-point, “apples-to-apples” basis for good comparison.

We focus on issues that most tenants typically fail to consider until well after a lease is signed and the tenant moves in. By then it’s too late to revisit in terms of the existing lease.

RFP criteria include: property characteristics and lease considerations. We help you understand property characteristics, which include loss factors, building configuration, amenities, hours of access, mechanical and electrical systems, hours of air conditioning/heating operation, security and fire protection systems, cleaning specifications, general physical condition, reputation of the owner, parking and, of course, location and esthetics.

In addition, we help you focus on lease considerations, including rental rate, taxes and operating expense escalations, operating expense inclusions and limitations, term, base year, work letter, owner’s contribution to work, rent-free period, options to expand and extend, contract or cancel, sublease rights, non-disturbance, subordination and electricity, etc.

Rakow will provide you with a systematic comparison of each issue across various locations — whether they are owned, leased, or built-to-suit. What’s more, as part of our demographic consulting, we will conduct market analyses and identify suitable alternatives in each locale to which your company may wish to locate.

We will work with you to analyze responses and rank the candidates. We will also help you compare the economics of the competing buildings and project your total occupancy costs over the entire term of your lease.

Toward these ends, you will find that our comprehensive financial analysis tools are particularly helpful.

Here is where our role as your tenant advocate becomes even more critical.

We are deeply experienced negotiators, with the market knowledge and skills to establish the best possible deal with each finalist. We know how to create a competitive environment that works to your distinct advantage.

We will help you formulate an overall negotiating strategy as well as a specific strategy for each property.

If you find a property that seems to meet your needs, we will be instrumental in developing a letter of intent, outlining key terms of your prospective lease. If there’s more than one legitimate relocation candidate, we may proceed with drawing up actual leases so that the fine points can help you make your best-informed choice.

Once you have surveyed the marketplace and possibly found one or more attractive relocation alternatives, you enter renewal negotiations with a distinct advantage.

You now have the ability to walk away from terms that are not to your liking, increasing the likelihood that the landlord will take steps to retain your tenancy.

Rely on Rakow to leverage your advantage, resulting in renewal terms that are surprisingly favorable. Even then, the power of the decision to renew or relocate remains solidly in your hands.

As your tenant advocate, you’ll find that the value of our service now escalates substantially. This is true whether you have finalized your decision-making process in favor of either renewal or relocation.

We will help you sort through the enormity of details that impact operating costs, working conditions, peace of mind, comfort and convenience for years to come.

What’s more, we will act jointly with your attorney as we negotiate on your behalf – protecting your interests while laying the groundwork for good relations with the owner over the course of the lease.

Once finalized, we will create a lease abstract detailing all key elements and help ensure that your tenant improvement punch-list is completed to your satisfaction.

If you’ve decided on relocation, we can connect you with qualified specialists in project and construction management, along with business services and facilities management, movers and more — all to assure a smooth relocation process.

Specific types of vendors with whom we can connect you specialize in moving, office and telecommunications equipment, phone and data wiring, paint and carpet specialists, furniture, art , personnel, security, insurance, interior plantscaping, and more.

We will set up time lines and help you to organize and lead the work of these vendors in preparing the space for your use and then moving you in.