15 years
Hi Chris,
Ahh, this is a question I have a lot to say about!
We are actually going through this right now in New York and the last few months have certainly been a learning process.
As a whole, you are right. Most brokers do not really understand what you are looking for. However, that's not even the biggest issue. The big issue is that when you are looking for a specific property that doesn't fall in a neat category, such as "apartment" or an "office", most brokers don't want to spend their time on this. It's too complex, it requires too much research, and it typically means that they'd need to go outside their own listings and look into others.
Over the last two months, we've worked with about 20+ brokers. Even though many advertise that they have access to all properties in the city, the reality is different. YOU are the one that ultimately has to go out and dig and find the properties that are suitable. Even though you'd think that for a $30-50K+ commission (that many of them would get), they would do the research for you, more often that's not the case.
That being said, we did find a small handful of agents that are doing their job. They understood our needs and are making an effort to find properties for us. There is one in particular that we got along with. But even in his case, we often end up looking for spaces ourselves and then simply emailing the ones we like to him, so that he'd simply represent us (schedule showings, negotiate on our behalf, etc.). Since it doesn't cost us anything (landlord pays the commission), we might as well have an additional party on our side.
By the way - you won't avoid dealing with agents. Landlords pretty much always have somebody representing them, so even if you find the property on your own, you'll still be working with the landlord's agent.
As for the zoning, well - the short answer is that there is no way around it. You can (and should) talk to an architect and a lawyer from the very start. But, at the end of the day, you have to be the one to do the research and find out what works and what doesn't. Even many lawyers and architects we've been dealing with don't really understand our requirements. You'd be amazed how much you'll learn in a month or two :)
If you have any other questions, I'd love to help where I can.
Boris
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