Your company has a bunch of office locations throughout the US. You can hire one of the giant commercial real estate companies to represent you in negotiating those leases, but there is a better way. Listen to today’s podcast to hear Bob and Jan talk all about Alliance of Tenant Representatives (ATR).
The old school way of securing space for multiple locations nationwide has been with the big house method – hire one of the big commercial real estate firms that have offices all around the country. In the 1980s the saying was that nobody ever got fired for buying IBM. That’s because IBM was the predominant manufacturer of personal computers. Today, of course, they aren’t even in that business. So how does this practice work? Think of a quarterback and wide receivers. The quarterback stays in the backfield (the HQ city of the client company, maybe even offices with the client) and the wide receivers are in the local cities where the offices are located. There’s nothing wrong with that model. After all, the big company has offices in tons of cities so the client assumes that having an office in that city means they are getting the best service in those cities. Well, not necessarily true!
It depends on who’s handling the assignment in that city. The wide receivers are often younger tenant reps who may not have as much experience as the client thinks. Enter, the Alliance of Tenant Representatives. ATR is an association of independent tenant rep brokers around the country. We even have our first international member in London. Let me quote from the website: “The Alliance of Tenant Representatives was founded upon the principle that a real estate advisor cannot serve two adversarial positions. An ethical real estate advisor must serve the best interest of either the tenant or the landlord but not both. An ethical real estate advisor will not switch such service back and forth when convenient…The strength of ATR is its individual members; each is a leader in its own niche area of specialization, yet each can access broad-based support and expertise from other member firms, always to the benefits of our clients.”
Obviously, REATA and ATR are a match made in heaven as they both stand for the same principles-have no conflicts of interest and always put the client first. To be a member of ATR, the entire firm, not just the individual member, must exclusively represent the user – companies that lease or buy buildings. They are all independent, but if they take any landlord listings, they must resign. The way these brokers think, act and conduct their businesses are right in line with what REATA stands for.
Bob Gibbons is a Real Estate Advisor & Tenant Advocate (also known as a tenant rep) with REATA Commercial Realty, Inc. which is a tenant advisory firm based in Plano, Texas. Bob serves companies in Plano, Frisco, McKinney, Allen, Richardson, Addison, Dallas and the surrounding areas and specializes in companies which lease or buy office and warehouse properties.