Startup Office Lease Brokers in NYC: What One Does on a First Lease
A startup office lease broker runs the search and the negotiation for the company taking the space. If you are working out how to lease an office space for the first time, the broker turns headcount, a date and a budget into a shortlist, tours, landlord proposals, a letter of intent and a signed lease. In most transactions the landlord pays the broker fee. Before you start with any firm, ask who runs your search, how it is paid and whether it also leases buildings for owners. Nomad Property Group is a licensed New York real estate broker, and its answers are below.
Rather have a broker answer it for your team?Tell us team size and timing. A broker reaches out within the hour during business hours.
Ask a broker about my leaseUpdated 2026-10-03 · Nomad Group
What the broker does at each stage of a first lease
- The brief: your headcount, date and budget written up as one requirement.
- The survey: direct listings, subleases and floors that have not been marketed.
- The shortlist and tours: usually three to five floors, seen in one afternoon.
- Test fits and proposals: a layout on each finalist, then landlord offers put on one basis.
- The letter of intent: the economics settled in a short document.
- The lease: negotiated alongside your attorney, with the broker keeping the landlord to the agreed terms.
If the floor needs work, the handoff to the buildout follows. Nomad's brokerage page describes each stage.
Who pays the broker on a startup's lease
In most transactions the landlord pays the broker fee, and the tenant writes no separate check. The lease and the commission agreement decide it on each deal. A sublease is the usual exception: there the company handing over its space tends to pay.
Whatever firm you use, find out how it is paid on your deal, and what it wants signed, before you share your budget.
Who the broker works for on a startup's first lease
Every building has a listing broker, hired by the owner to lease it. That person is not your broker, however helpful on a tour.
On your search, we work for you. Nomad also offers agency leasing and owner representation, which includes leasing some Manhattan buildings on the owner's behalf. Were such a building to reach your shortlist, we would be on both sides, which New York calls dual agency and permits only with the informed consent of both parties. Ask us which buildings that covers, and put the same question to every other firm.
Six questions to ask any broker before a first lease
- Which leases have you closed in the last two years for companies of our size, in the neighborhoods we are considering?
- Who will tour with us and negotiate the letter of intent: you, or someone we have not met?
- Where does your knowledge of subleases and unlisted floors come from?
- Will every landlord offer come to us on effective rent, with free rent and the allowance counted?
- Does your firm lease any building we might tour on behalf of its owner?
- How are you paid on this deal, and what would we sign to start?
How to choose a tenant rep broker explains what a good answer to each sounds like.
Starting a first lease with Nomad
A founder's first message through the start page needs three figures: team size, target date and monthly ceiling. A broker reaches out within the hour during business hours, and a first shortlist can be ready within 24 hours, with the size and asking rent of each floor. The block below shows the whole of our book, since a first search should start wide.
What is on our book right now
Live from our listings · 6 of the 49, cheapest firstNomad lists 49 floors across 11 Manhattan submarkets right now, from 2,500 to 27,344 square feet. 46 publish an asking rent: $43 to $200 per square foot per year, with a median of $75.
- Floors
- 49
- Sizes
- 2,500-27,344 sq ft
- Asking rent
- $43-$200 / sq ft
- Median
- $75 / sq ft
- 237 West 27th Street, Entire 11th Floor 7,158 sq ft $44/sq ft Chelsea about 41 people
- 104 West 27th Street, Entire 9th Floor 7,047 sq ft $59/sq ft Chelsea about 40 people
- 1450 Broadway, Entire 4th Floor 17,296 sq ft $65/sq ft Bryant Park about 99 people
- 825 Third Avenue, Partial 29th Floor 5,230 sq ft $89/sq ft Grand Central about 30 people
- 900 Broadway, Suite 202 4,000 sq ft $115/sq ft Flatiron about 23 people
- 277 Park Avenue, Partial 40th Floor 19,097 sq ft $130/sq ft Midtown about 109 people
The full guide
This page is the short answer. The long one, with the numbers worked through, is here:
Related topics
- Where to Find Office Space in NYC for a High-Growth Startup: Four Sources
- Office Space for Rent for Startups in NYC: The Cost per Person
- Finding Office Space by Neighborhood: A Startup's First Office in NYC
- Office Space Finder for NYC Startups: Five Inputs In, a Shortlist Out
Does a ten-person startup need a broker for its first lease?
It can lease without one, by calling a building's listing agent. But that agent works for the owner, and a ten-person lease still raises the guarantee, the yearly increases and the deposit, with less leverage to repair a bad clause later. Since the landlord usually pays the fee, most first-time tenants are better served with their own representation.
Is the broker a substitute for a real estate attorney?
No. The broker handles the business terms: rent, free rent, the allowance, the term and the security. The attorney handles the lease document: defaults, insurance, the guarantee language and the definitions that decide what the business terms mean. A first lease needs both, working together.
How long should choosing a broker take a founder?
About two weeks. Send one page describing what you need to two or three firms, meet the person who would run the search at each, and call two past clients of the ones you like. The whole choice should be quicker than your first afternoon of tours.
Will a broker still advise a smaller office or a shorter lease?
A good one will. Commissions usually grow with rent and term, so it is fair to ask any broker for an example of advising a client to take less space or a shorter lease. The answer tells you whose interests the advice serves.
Talk to a broker
Want this answered for your team?
Tell us three things: team size, timing, budget. A first shortlist can be ready within 24 hours, with the asking rent on every floor that publishes one.
- Within the houra broker reaches out during business hours, no automated triage
- On your sidewe work for you on your search, and the landlord usually pays our fee
- Open pricingasking rent published for 46 of 49 floors, size and address for all
- 300+ officesdelivered in New York, 2M+ sq ft leased
Or call 646-688-3158
