Collaborating for Excellence: How Attorneys and CCIMs Achieve Success in Lease Agreements

Evelyn Ward, CCIM, is a senior vice president with Transwestern responsible for marketing and leasing efforts in the Houston office. She has completed over 3.5 million SF of lease deals and more than $150 million in land transactions during her career. Receiving her CCIM Designation in 2011, Ward became a Senior Instructor for The CCIM Institute in 2022. She currently teaches CI 103 - User Decision Analysis.

Collaborating for Excellence: How Attorneys and CCIMs Find Success in Lease Agreements

Covering the business portions of contracts requires expertise. CCIMs deliver unmatched expertise and a commitment to excellence. This is especially true as we help attorneys who don’t deal with these transactions every day.

For example, there are many parties involved in business lease agreements. They include:

• Landlords who own the office space
• Tenants who lease the space for their business operations
• Commercial real estate brokers who oversee the deal
• Lenders, accountants, and investors who are involved in the financial aspects of the agreement
• Attorneys who oversee the legality of the agreements

Considering these deals involve so many people as well as multiple rounds of negotiation, it’s critical to rely on an expert commercial real estate broker to oversee and handle the deal. When a CCIM is involved, they deliver specialized skills alongside other knowledgeable professionals such as attorneys. This helps ensure a comprehensive and successful commercial real estate transaction for all parties involved.

Why It’s Beneficial for Attorneys to Seek a CCIM in Lease Agreements

For attorneys managing the legal aspects of an agreement, CCIMs offer significant advantages, including extensive expertise, access to specialized tools that provide comprehensive market information, and exceptional negotiation skills.

Ideally, negotiations over the lease details and tenant rights should take place prior to the lease agreement’s drafting. This helps attorneys lessen the back-and-forth of negotiations within the lease agreement where a tenant generally ends up with less leverage, which is another benefit of seeking out a CCIM. While some smaller points make it through in that agreement phase, the big picture items should be knocked out ahead of the attorney’s review of the lease agreement aka the RFP or LOI stage.

Understanding Each Party’s Priorities

In commercial real estate, a business’ leasing process begins with a CCIM understanding the landlord’s priorities as well as the intended tenant’s priorities. CCIMs ask the right questions, gather relevant data, and ensure an optimal fit. Our approach involves actively listening for understanding and considering the entire picture.

Local market knowledge is crucial in this context. We leverage data to assist both landlords and prospective tenants in understanding their options, which also enhances our ability to accurately assess timing. Is there ample time for a decision or is it a time crunch? Then, we’re able to determine if the tenant wants to build out or needs a move-in ready spec suite. Part of the vetting process is looking at ownership and their financial wherewithal. We’re examining what is on the horizon, and we’re networking with our peers in the industry to provide more accurate forecasts as well as deal terms for recent leases executed, which is a huge differentiator that sets CCIMs apart. As CCIMs, we’re also measuring leasing costs, capital costs, and more.

Once the tenant has toured and found a space, it’s time for negotiations with the landlord via an RFP or LOI, which get fairly detailed to ensure an efficient lease draft process. There are typically 2-3 rounds of negotiation during this RFP/LOI phase.

Working with Attorneys on Lease Agreements

Then it’s time to actually legally draw up a deal. This is where attorneys come into the picture. They’ll go through the draft lease agreement and examine the details paying special attention to sections like negligence and insurance, in addition to examining the lease in its entirety.

The CCIM is the person who understands every person’s expectation in the deal. It’s the CCIM who knows about controllable versus uncontrollable expenses and negotiates a cap on controllable expenses. They know what’s achievable and where an agreement can happen.

Lease agreements are not win and lose. We want both sides to be satisfied, which is why as CCIMs, we’re skilled negotiators. Then when we’re working with attorneys and the other critical parties in these deals, everyone has a much smoother process. That helps our clients, and it fosters loyalty, which builds long-term relationships. In other words, CCIMs are tough on the problem but not the people involved.

Collaboration achieves the best possible outcome in commercial real estate. Its CCIMs’ commitment to excellence and laser-focus for success in each transaction that sets us apart to build those stronger, more reliable relationships across the industry. These strong relationships built on trust are not only with our clients but every player in the process. That equates to success for everyone.