Location x 3

When I am working with a small business to determine where they should locate, I have basic and important questions. But recently with the shift in the market to being a buyer's market, I have put some thought into how this affects the landlord/seller. How can you sell your location???

When a business is looking for a location, they have differing needs, so the questions they look at need to be flipped to tell a landlord or seller how to target for their locations. Putting yourself in the other person's shoes can give you valuable insight about your marketing strategies.

1. For the tenant/buyer: What is most important? Visibility, walk-by traffic, security, highway access etc. So as a landlord/seller: where are you? what are its benefits? how can you market them? By far this is number 1 on just about every tenant's list, and it's the least flexible thing about any location, so you need to know what your location's attributes are and play them up.
2. For the tenant/buyer: What is your budget? For the landlord/seller: How much do you need to derive from this transaction? What is your bottom line?
3. For the tenant/buyer: How many employees do you need to accomodate? What is the work environment you are hoping for? For the landlord/seller: How can you make your space the most flexible? What are ways to give the most bang for the buck?
4. For the tenant/buyer: How long of a lease are you comfortable with? What kind of lease are you comfortable with? Newer/smaller businesses are often confused by the nnn lease, more savvy tenants understand the need for passing through the expenses. For the landlord/seller: How flexible can you be in your leasing options?
5. For the tenant/buyer: How is your financial situation? Do you look good on paper? How experienced are you? When a landlord is renting a space, they are truly loaning a space to a tenant and therefore needs to know that the tenant is credit worthy. For a landlord/seller: Do not be inflexible, but do insist on accountability. It will save you headaches and possible legal problems in the long run.