The Sales Bible

Tenants who act now — before the market fully recovers — will lock in concessions (free rent, TI, below-market base rent) that won't exist in 18 months. Especially in SF proper where vacancy is compressing fastest.

Prime buildings are already competitive. As of Q1 2026, prime vacancy is 4.8 percentage points tighter than non-prime. Tenants wanting trophy space need to move now. Their best options won't be there next year.

With zero construction in the pipeline and limited speculative development, the supply glut is being absorbed by demand. When it clears, rents go up and concessions disappear. History is very clear on this.

US life sciences vacancy is 23.4% nationally. Landlords are negotiating hard. For life science tenants, now is the single best time in a decade to renegotiate, expand, or relocate to better space on better terms.

CBRE is the only firm with real-time proprietary data through VTS Lease — giving our brokers market insights unavailable anywhere else. We're not reading the same CoStar reports as everyone else. We see live deal flow, live touring activity, and live absorption metrics.

→ "We see what's happening before it shows up in the market data."

Because CBRE represents major landlords AND tenants across the Bay Area, we know exactly what landlords will accept. We know their pressure points, their financing situations, their vacancy stress. We walk into every negotiation knowing the other side's playbook.

→ "We don't just negotiate leases — we know what the landlord will accept on day one."

For any company with multi-market footprint — or any company that may expand beyond the Bay Area — CBRE can seamlessly coordinate across 100+ countries. One relationship, global execution. No other firm matches this depth.

→ "When you open your next office in Austin or NYC or London, we're already there."

Beyond leasing: CBRE offers project management, facilities management, workplace strategy, valuation, capital markets, and sublease disposition — all under one roof. The tenant who hires CBRE for leasing has access to every real estate service they'll ever need.

→ "We don't just find you a space. We can build it out, run it, and eventually sublease it for you."

CBRE has a specialized life sciences practice in the Bay Area led by dedicated Vice Chairs. Lab buildouts, regulated manufacturing, specialized MEP requirements — we have the exact expertise for the most complex life science real estate. Not a generalist team pretending.

→ "We've built more labs in the Bay Area than anyone. We know what your build-out will actually cost."

CBRE closes more transactions in the Bay Area than any competitor. Landlords want to do business with CBRE brokers because the volume is there. That relationship capital translates directly into better terms, faster deal-making, and concessions other brokers can't get.

→ "Landlords pick up our calls. They want to close deals with us."

CBRE's research team produces the most cited, most comprehensive market reports in the industry. Our clients make decisions based on data, not gut feel. Every recommendation we make is backed by the deepest proprietary dataset in commercial real estate.

→ "Our clients know they're not guessing. They have the data."

CBRE's project management team handles design, permitting, construction, and delivery. For tenants executing complex buildouts — tech campuses, lab buildouts, creative offices — having the PM team on the same platform as the brokerage compresses timelines and reduces risk.

→ "We've reduced buildout timelines by months because we're not handing off to a stranger."

Our deal volume means landlords compete harder for our clients' business. When you're known in the market as a major team, landlords extend concessions to stay in our deal flow. Every client we bring benefits from the team's reputation and relationships.

→ "Landlords know when a Moran Team client is in the market. They want that deal."

Our landlord rep work is a secret weapon for tenant clients. We know the financial pressures on specific buildings, which landlords need to fill space vs. which can afford to wait, and what deals are getting done off-market. Our tenants walk in armed with intelligence their competitors don't have.

→ "We know the buildings that have loan covenants coming due. That's negotiating power."

Most brokers handle the obvious items. We negotiate the things most clients don't even know to ask for: HVAC exclusivity, generator rights, signage above the 10th floor, ROFR/ROFO on adjacent space, lease buyout options. The fine print is where real value lives.

→ "We've saved clients millions on provisions they didn't know were negotiable."

We don't hand clients off after the LOI is signed. We're in the lease negotiation, the TI process, the construction oversight, and we remain your resource throughout the tenancy. When your lease is up for renewal, we know your space and your business better than anyone.

→ "We're not deal-and-done. We're your real estate advisors for the life of your lease."

A significant percentage of our deals are sourced before they hit the market. Our network of building owners, developers, and landlord contacts means our clients see opportunities — and have time to act on them — before they're public. In a recovering market, timing is everything.

→ "Some of our best deals never made it to CoStar. Our clients had a 60-day head start."

We understand the specific needs of tech and life science tenants: rapid scaling requirements, lab infrastructure, data center considerations, LEED and ESG priorities, flexible co-working hybrid strategies. We're not generalists. We speak your industry's language.

→ "We've done 50 life science deals. We know what Class B lab space really costs to build out."

Landlords routinely give 20–50% more TI to tenants represented by strong brokers. We know what TI is being given in comparable deals right now — and we use that data to benchmark and maximize yours. In a $5M buildout, even 10% more TI is $500K back in your pocket.

We negotiate 3–12 months of free rent depending on market conditions and your leverage. In today's market, with vacancy still elevated in many submarkets, we're getting 6+ months of free rent on direct deals. That's your first 6 months of occupancy cost eliminated.

Locking in your right to renew at a capped rate, or your right of first offer on adjacent space, is priceless in a recovering market. By year 5 of your lease, these options could save you millions — but only if they were negotiated up front.

NNN leases expose tenants to uncapped operating expense increases. We negotiate caps on CAM increases, audit rights, and exclusions for capital improvements. Unchecked NNN escalation is one of the most common hidden cost blowups we prevent.

In a volatile business environment, the ability to exit or right-size your space is critical. We negotiate termination options, contraction rights, and sublease flexibility that most tenants never think to ask for — until they need them.

Assignment rights, SNDA agreements, estoppel certificates, HVAC exclusivity, signage rights, parking ratios, relocation rights, co-tenancy provisions — each of these is a negotiable point with real dollar value. We fight for all of them.

The single highest-value concession. TI directly funds your buildout and reduces capital expenditure. In today's market, we're targeting $80–$150+/SF for Class A office depending on the build. Life science can be $200–$400+/SF. Always push here first. A $10/SF improvement in TI on 10,000 SF = $100,000 in your pocket.

TACTIC: Know construction costs cold. Show landlord exactly what it takes to make the space work — they can't lowball you if you have a real number.

Currently negotiating 6–12 months on direct deals in SF, Peninsula, and South Bay. One month per year of lease term is a solid benchmark. Free rent is economically equivalent to a rent reduction but landlords grant it more willingly because it doesn't show up in comps. Always push for both free rent and TI — these are independent levers.

TACTIC: Structure free rent at the front of the lease (construction period + ramp-up), not at the back. Cash flow in year 1 matters most.

Always negotiate off market comps, not off asking rent. Asking rent is a fiction. What matters is what comparable companies in comparable buildings signed for in the last 6 months. CBRE's proprietary comp data is our unfair advantage here. The spread between asking and effective rent can be 15–25% in today's market.

TACTIC: Run an effective rent analysis (base rent minus TI amortization minus free rent value) to show the true economic comparison across options.

On NNN leases, uncapped operating expense escalations can be devastating over a 5–10 year term. We negotiate annual caps of 3–5% on controllable expenses, audit rights, and exclusions for capital improvements that should be landlord's obligation.

TACTIC: Pull historical OpEx for the building from prior tenant or public records. If costs have been escalating, quantify the exposure — then negotiate the cap hard.

Always negotiate: (1) Right to renew at a capped or fixed rate, (2) ROFO on adjacent suites that become available, (3) Right to expand at predetermined pricing if growth accelerates. These options have enormous asymmetric value — you only use them if they benefit you.

TACTIC: In a recovering market, lock in your renewal options at favorable terms now. In 3–4 years, you'll be very glad you did.

Negotiate a termination option (typically exercisable after year 3–4 with 12 months notice and a defined penalty — usually unamortized TI + a few months rent). This is your insurance policy against business changes. For startups especially, this is non-negotiable.

TACTIC: Frame it to the landlord as a credit quality issue — "We want to sign a longer term, but only if we have the optionality to right-size if the business changes. Help us get comfortable."