Already Found a Space? What a Commercial Real Estate Leasing Broker Can Still Do

What is still open at each point in the deal

• You have toured, and no proposal has arrived. Everything is open: rent, free rent, the improvement allowance, the term and the options. A broker can request the proposal for you and bring a second floor into the conversation.
• You hold a proposal, unsigned. The landlord's numbers are an opening position. This is the cheapest moment to change them, because a figure in a letter of intent is one sentence to rewrite.
• The letter of intent is signed. Its business terms are mostly non-binding, but landlords rarely reopen them and a tenant should not without a reason. What remains is everything the letter left vague: the delivery condition, how escalations are defined, the security and the sublet language.
• A draft lease is on the table. The broker checks it against the letter of intent while your attorney negotiates the legal terms. Changes now cost weeks, so choose the ones that matter.

The lease negotiation guide lists every term that can move.

What to tell the broker on the first call

• Which spaces you toured, and with whom: the landlord's agent, another broker, or nobody.
• What you have signed: a touring agreement, a representation agreement, a letter of intent.
• What has been agreed in writing, email included: rent, term, dates.
• Your date, your headcount, and what you like about the space.

Send the documents as well as the summary. A broker who knows where the deal really stands can say in one conversation what is realistic.

How the stage you have reached decides the broker's pay

In most transactions the landlord pays the broker fee, under an agreement between the landlord and the brokers. When a tenant has already toured a building alone, or signed something with another firm, whether and how a new broker is paid on that building depends on those earlier steps and on the landlord. That is why the first call covers them.

Ask us, before any work begins, how Nomad would be paid on your deal and what you would be asked to sign. On your search, we work for you. Do ask whether the building you found is one the firm leases for its owner, since Nomad also offers agency leasing and owner representation. The brokerage page explains the fee.

Why comparable floors still matter before you sign

A landlord negotiates differently with a tenant who has somewhere else to go. Even if the floor you found is the right one, walking a few others of the same size shows whether its rent and concessions are in line, and gives you a real alternative if the lease stalls. None of this promises better terms. It tells you what you are comparing against.

The floors below are sized for a team of about 24. If your space is in that range, they are the ones to see before you sign. The letter of intent entry explains why a second option stays useful until the lease is executed.