Clearly Better Commercial
Property management

Marketing Your Commercial Property to Attract the Right Tenants

Attracting the right tenants to your commercial property can help you grow your commercial portfolio without investing in additional properties. Understanding your local market, building a list of target tenants, and employing the right marketing strategies can help you find the perfect, long-term tenants for your portfolio.

Understand Your Local Market

Your local market plays a large role in your success finding tenants. Let’s say you own a medical building. Are you the only medical building in your area, or are you close to other clinics or a hospital? What are the vacancy rates in the buildings around you? What amenities do these buildings offer, and how do they compare to yours?

Answering these questions in regard to your neighbors and neighborhood can help you understand your local market and the types of tenants who may be attracted to your area. Armed with this knowledge, you’ll be able to craft sales and marketing materials that speak to the benefits of leasing in your building.

Understand Your Ideal Tenant

Once you understand your local market, it’s time to do some research on your ideal tenant. There’s more to understanding your ideal tenant than simply wanting them to pay rent on time. You’ll want to decide how long your ideal lease is, the tenant improvements you’re willing and unwilling to make, and the types of businesses that would fit well with your current mix of tenants.

Invest in Photography

Professional photography is one of the best investments you can make in the marketing of your property. Many tenants look for space online, and having lots of beautiful photos of your property can separate it from other available spaces. You can take your listing to the next level with video or interactive walkthroughs of your building and tenant suites.

Blend Traditional and Digital Marketing Strategies

With your professional photography and videography in hand, it’s time to create your property’s listing. You will have a greater chance of finding the ideal tenant if you blend traditional and digital marketing strategies. Develop a one-pager for your property that you can send digitally as a pdf or hand out to potential tenants. Be sure to create an online listing for your available space and promote it on social media, too.

Property owners who partner with Clarity Commercial can take advantage of our online listings as well as our full suite of done-for-you marketing services. We maintain and up-to-date list of available properties for lease on our website. Our property managers work tirelessly to market your property to your ideal tenants, including digital marketing, print marketing, and flexing their professional networks.

For expert help marketing your commercial property, get in touch with the Clarity Commercial team today.

Maintenance for Commercial Properties

Spring Cleanup and Maintenance for Commercial Properties

The snow is melting rapidly and potholes are cropping up across the metro area—it’s early spring in Minneapolis, Minnesota. It may not quite be time to put up the ice melt and gas up the lawn mower, but it is time to put together your spring-cleaning checklist. Commercial properties require seasonal maintenance just like homes do. Here are five of the items Clarity Commercial will be taking care of for our clients in the next 60 days.

  1. Patching Up Parking Lot Potholes

The snow is on the way out and leaving massive potholes in its wake. It seems like new craters appear every hour. For commercial property managers, March is the season of cold-patch asphalt and power sweepers. While your parking lot snow mountain may persist through May, March is when you need to fill potholes and sweep your parking lot to remove salt and sand. We partner with reputable asphalt and paving companies to keep our clients’ parking lots clear and safe.

  1. Inspecting Roofs for Damage

Several roof collapses made the news this February after nearly 40 inches fell across the state. All that snow strains the integrity of commercial roofs. If you were lucky enough to avoid a cave-in, it still pays to have your roof inspected now that the snow’s melted. Clarity Commercial hires professional commercial roofing companies to perform roof inspections at the properties we manage. If we uncover damage, we work with our clients to have it repaired to keep tenants safe.

  1. Cleaning Out the Gutters

Gutters on commercial buildings can become blocked with leaves and other debris over the winter. A commercial roofer can inspect your gutters while they’re looking at your roof. Or, you can hire a gutter specialist to give your gutters a thorough cleanout. We have resources for both.

  1. Scheduling Window Cleaning for March

The busy season for window cleaners runs April through September. We like to stay ahead of the curve and have the windows of our properties cleaned in March after most of the snow has melted. That way, our buildings look their best while their neighbors are waiting for their spring refresh. Clean windows also let the warm spring sunlight to brighten offices and atriums.

  1. Maintaining HVAC Systems

While the heat will be on in most commercial buildings for another month or so, it’s a good time to schedule your HVAC maintenance appointment to clean your ducts and get your air conditioning ready for the warmer months.

Patio weather is right around the corner. Get your commercial property ready for sunny days with a little spring cleaning. Clarity Commercial is here to help. Contact us today for help with regular commercial property maintenance.

Commercial Maintenance

Winter Maintenance Tips from Clarity Commercial

So far, January has been a relatively mild month in Minnesota. We haven’t had a run of frigid temperatures or a major snowstorm. But anyone who’s lived through a winter here knows there is a high likelihood that the other shoe will drop. Are you prepared to keep your parking lot and walkways safe and clear for your guests and employees?

Keeping Parking Lots and Walkways Clear of Snow

Mild temperatures in early January melted away most of the snow in Twin Cities, but chances are we’ll get a few more snowstorms before winter’s done with us. Have you contracted with a snow removal company yet?

If not, Clarity Commercial can help. We partner with the best snow removal companies in the area to help our customers keep their parking lots and walkways clear and safe. If snow’s in the forecast, the crew will stop by before the storm hits to pretreat your surfaces. Then, they will clear your parking lots and walkways as soon as the snow stops falling. Once they’ve cleared the snow away, they can treat your lot and walkways with deicer to keep them safe for your guests and employees.

Keeping Parking Lots and Walkways Clear of Ice

Remember the slop storm we got around Christmas? The rain/ice/snow mix left quite the icy mess. If our winter continues to be mild, we may get another one of these messy storms before spring. Keeping parking lots and walkways safe after an ice storm is a tough job.

Clarity Commercial’s trusted partners have the equipment and trained staff to pretreat and remove ice buildup from your parking lot and walkways. They’ll lay down deicer before the storm hits, so the ice cannot build up on your property. After the storm moves through, they’ll come back to plow and shovel, if needed, and retreat any slick areas.

Snow and ice are part of a Minnesota winter, but they don’t have to put your guests and employees at risk of slipping and falling. Clarity Commercial can help you keep your property safe this winter. Contact us today to get started on your snow removal and maintenance plan.

hiring a property management company

5 qualities to look for when hiring a property management company

As a landlord, one of the biggest decisions you’ll make is whether or not to hire a property management company. Some landlords want to manage their properties on their own, while others rely on a property management firm to help in a variety of ways.

Property maintenance is a big benefit, but property management companies also can help with the marketing of properties, lease renewals, collecting rent, and budget projections, among other things. So, if you are thinking about hiring a property management company, make sure that you hire one with a solid reputation, impeccable track record and one you can trust.

Here are 5 qualities to look for when hiring a property management company:

  1. Experience – This goes without saying. You want a property management company that has either been around for a while, or if it’s relatively new, is run by people who have been in the industry for several years and understand the ins and outs of commercial property management. Be sure to ask for references and talk to some of the employees to really get a feel for the company.

 

  1. Tenant relations – Obviously, for a property to survive, a landlord needs tenants. One of the many critical tasks of any property management firm is how they go about getting and retaining tenants. Do they have a plan to maintain relations with the tenants throughout the life of their lease, and what efforts do they make to keep the tenants upon the expiration of the lease? These are important questions to ask.

 

  1. Tenant procedures – Just as important as tenant relations is the processes and procedures the property management company has established in dealing with tenants on a day-to-day basis. Do they have a move-in/move-out procedure as well as a process for after-hours maintenance? These policies are critical for running a tight ship in a professional manner.

 

  1. Maintenance – Speaking of maintenance, you want your property management company to have maintenance resources available for the tenants as soon as they may need one. The maintenance workers should be clean-cut and professional, as they oftentimes are the face of the property, and they should all follow the same procedure – including record-keeping – when responding to a maintenance call.

 

  1. Financial reporting – Understanding the financials of your property or properties is critical. Will the property management company provide you with monthly reports, and if so, what will those reports cover? Can the reports be set up in different systems for accounting purposes? Will the property management company help with budget projections and payment of operating expenses?

Clarity Commercial is an experienced and professional property management company based in the Twin Cities. We manage a wide-range of commercial properties including multi-story office buildings, warehouse facilities, retail spaces and industrial properties, and we offer a variety of services to our clients.

From marketing and maintenance to lease negotiations and renewals, budget projections, site inspections, financial reporting, security system management and so much more, we work hard on behalf of our clients.

Contact us today to schedule some time to talk. We’d love to learn more about you and your properties, and discuss ways we can help!

Hiring a Property Manager

5 Ways Hiring a Property Manager Can Save You Money

As a property owner, you’re in the business of increasing your property’s value while keeping your costs under control. This is true whether you own a small office building or several 50,000 square-foot warehouses. Effectively managing your portfolio of properties takes a diverse set of skills. Without the help of a property manager, you have to become an expert in marketing, leasing, maintenance, insurance, taxes, and collections, among many others.

That’s why it makes a lot of sense to invest in the expertise of a property manager. We have the training, experience, and resources to take these and other tasks off your plate. In the long run, working with a property manager can save you money and even help you make more. Here’s how.

  1. A property manager maintains your budget.

How often do you sit down and look at your balance sheet? A property manager takes your budget seriously and works hard to stay within it. We help you understand how much you’ve made and spent so far and present you with budget projections for the rest of the year. We can help with your five-year and ten-year planning, too.

  1. A property manager evaluates your tax burden.

When you’re busy working with tenants, you have little time to spend analyzing and evaluating your tax burden. But income, property, sales, and utility taxes add up. In some cases, they can also be negotiated. Property managers can help you keep track of your tax burden and help you find ways to reduce it.

  1. A property manager handles collections.

Tenants who make late payments or fail to pay can throw off your books. Collections can take a lot of time, energy, and angst. Property managers can take collections completely off your plate and help you recover late or missing rent checks.

  1. A property manager mitigates risk.

Your properties are used for all sorts of tasks that create a diverse set of risks. Your insurance policies should cover it all, so you don’t have to pay out of pocket when it’s time to make a claim. We can help you understand the different risks you face at your different properties and recommend comprehensive liability, fire, and extended coverage.

  1. A property manager markets your property for you.

Okay, this one might actually make you money, not just save it. Property managers like Clarity Commercial can help you market your available properties so you can fill vacant space quickly. The fewer days your properties are vacant, the more money you’ll make.

Working with a property manager can be one of the best investments you can make. If you’re wondering what a property manager could take off of your plate, contact Clarity Commercial today

7 reasons to consider outsourcing the management of your commercial properties

Whether you own one building or several, commercial real estate can be a great investment. It also can be a huge job, from the maintenance of the building to leasing out the space and thinking about capital improvements. That’s why many building owners opt to outsource the management of their commercial properties as a way off-load some of the day-to-day tasks that eat up all of their time.

But you don’t want to outsource to just any management company. Rather, you want one that understands not only the local market, but also the many types of buildings available. You want a company that has experience with multi-story office buildings, warehouse facilities, commercial condominiums or townhouses, retail, and industrial properties.

Clarity Commercial has experience with a variety of building types, and we understand that no two buildings are the same. No two property owners are the same, either, and that’s why we pride ourselves on the personalized attention we give each of our clients and their properties.

We work with our clients to help control costs and increase property value while maintaining tenant satisfaction. And as important as it is to increase property value, there are many other benefits to working with a management company. Here are just seven to think about:

  1. Property maintenance

Let’s face it. Your buildings will need maintenance, and probably improvements. You want a reputable company that can take care of both for you. Doing so will not only help you retain and attract new tenants, but also protect your investment.

  1. Marketing and leasing programs

Management companies like Clarity Commercial are experts at developing and implementing marketing and leasing programs in order to attract the right kind of tenant with the right lease terms.

  1. Collections

You don’t want to spend your time chasing down monthly rents, nor do you want to spend your time negotiating lease renewals. You don’t have to when you outsource those very important duties to a professional.

  1. Increased protection

Clarity Commercial can help you protect your investment with services such as security system management for your buildings and the retention of necessary liability insurance for you.

  1. Additional consulting services

Many management companies like Clarity Commercial will also help you with financial reporting, budget projections, payment of operating expenses, and real estate and personal tax evaluations.

  1. Multi-state management

Clarity Commercial operates across the U.S. so if you own properties in different states, you only need one management firm to take care of them for you.

  1. More time

That’s right; by outsourcing the management of your properties, you get more time to focus on those things you love.

To find out more about our services and how we can help you and your properties, contact us today!