How to Find and Lease Retail Space Without a Broker

For anyone that has tried to lease a retail space, you know that the leasing process is complicated, opaque, and time consuming. In a leasing transact, there are multiple brokers and other service providers involved. The process is flaunt with shady characters, backroom deals, bait and switch, and withholding information, just to name a few. In NYC where competition is fierce, the leasing process can be even more difficult.

In a typical NYC retail space leasing deal, multiple brokers can be involved. There are the tenant brokers that represents the tenant. And the tenant can have multiple brokers representing him because each claims a particular area of expertise. For example, he could have one broker for each neighborhood he is looking in and then one broker expert in his line of business. Then there will inevitably be one listing broker for each retail space that he is considering. With some listings, the landlord may have multiple broker relationships and so he will want to include these brokers each as a listing broker for that property. With so many brokers, good communication and accurate information become challenged. But more importantly, fiduciary responsibilities and fair dealing are called into question.

Brokers, by nature, will gravitate to where they will receive the highest commission. Therefore, the broker system…