In late 2013, we moved into a really nice new office space. You probably think it was a slam-dunk, since office space is what we do for a living. We might know our stuff, but that doesn’t mean our search was a piece of cake. For one reason or another (perhaps because I know too much), many buildings were off the table before we’d even started our search.
Here’s what we took into consideration as we began looking for a new space:
• Landlord’s reputation
• Maintenance of the building and parking lot
• Historical information about the pass through
• Experience with getting deals done with particular landlords
• Amenities that weren’t always obvious to the casual eye

Many times, companies looking for new space only look at the actual space. If the landlord has done a good job of ensuring the space is clean and neat, potential tenants tend to look past walls in the wrong places or other small, “fixable” issues. Most tenants won’t know if a landlord is good or bad unless they’ve hired a true tenant representative.

What is a true tenant rep? One who works at a firm that doesn’t take listings from investors. See, agents at traditional firms are trained to let the landlord know they are showing listings in hopes of winning listings away from current agents. How do I know this? My first two years as an agent were spent working for traditional firms. I saw enough then to know I never wanted to work for a traditional firm again.

Having been inside most of the buildings under consideration for our new space, I was able to start looking at floor plans right away. Any building that seemed like it might work for us was considered. Here at Compass, our space needs aren’t really that large. We will grow to 10 people this year. A well-laid out plan could accommodate us in less than 1,500 square feet of space, whereas a poorly laid-out space would have required as much as 3,000 square feet. A larger plan would likely have everyone working out of large private offices, and this wasn’t our goal. On the contrary, we want to promote teamwork, so private offices weren’t even a consideration for us.

When I saw the floor plan for our current building, I knew it looked close to perfect. Once I saw the space, I knew that with the addition of one wall, we could be ready to go in just a few weeks.

Now that we’re in, I’m proud to say our new space is beautiful, and we’re proud to be centrally located with lots of amenities by our side. Here’s to our new home.