What’s the market doing?

Where do you think we should price this availability?

These are examples of questions the Customer Service team at Rofo hear every day. We thought it might be helpful to put our tips down on paper to help provide a process for pricing your vacant space. Below are some steps and questions to ask yourself:

Step 1: Get some rough comparables: Start by searching Rofo, brokerage websites, Craigslist and any site you run into on the web for rent pricing in your city and better yet your neighborhood. Check out For Lease signs in windows near your office, warehouse, or storefront and figure out where they have priced their space. Try to get at least 5 to 10 data points and figure out roughly where your space fits from a quality perspective (low end, mid, high end).

Step 2: Decide where you want to fit in the market

You’ve got some time: If you have some time and just want to get the best deal possible, price your building towards the expensive side of the market and see what happens. If interest is tepid, try offering some moving concessions such as free rent or discounted move in costs. Wait until your patience is wearing thin and start adjusting the price towards to medium or low end of the price scale to lease it

You’re in a hurry: Look for the best comparable property from your search in Step 1 and price your space at a 10% discount. Market the property across the web and make sure you are as flexible as possible on terms. Offer commissions, free rent, or any other concessions that you commonly see in your online search.

Step 3: Test it!:  Now that you have priced the listing, start to aggressively market the space and see what happens. Network like crazy, test different advertising mediums, and see what drives the most phone calls and appointments. If you are getting a large volume of tours but not getting a lease signed, its time to lower the price.

Step 4: Analyze: If lowering the price is not working, its time to analyze if its the space/price or the market. Rofo can help provide search data for your area if that’s helpful which is a great indicator of small business demand.  If its price issue, lower the price until it leases (and you are still making some money). If its a market issue, think about creative ways to get short term tenants into your space to gather some revenue. Would someone store something in your space for a few months? Is there an event that desperately needs a location and will pay for a few weeks to rent your space? Is there a non profit that can get you a tax refund for renting to them rent free for a few months?

Hopefully some of these tips help you decide where to price your available space.