Strategic Real Estate Consultancy Flashcards
Can you give me some examples of real estate strategies?
- Benchmarking exercises
- Cost saving initiatives
- Transaction management
- Opportunity assessments
- Critical dates management
- Long term strategic planning
- Regular portfolio reviews
- Regearing leases early
- Subletting or disposing of additional space
- Relocation based on business need
How do real estate strategies help business performance
- Helps to ensure the real estate supports business functions
- Improves employee satisfaction
- Helps to improve revenue
How might you measure the impact of real estate strategies on business performance?
- Profit
- Employee satisfaction/retention - employee surveys etc
Why is it important for real estate to align with wider business strategies?
Supports revenue and growth targets
What different stakeholders might you deal with?
- Corporate Real Estate team
- CFO
- Local business leadership
Can you explain a corporate real estate strategy you developed?
- Quarterly portfolio reviews
- Benchmarking passing rents against market rents (liaising with local brokers)
You’ve worked on projects in different countries, were you qualified to do this?
Whilst working on transactions in other countries, I liaised with local agents with market expertise to advise me and provide recommendations
How do you get under the skin of understanding stakeholder interviews?
- Regular stakeholder engagement
- Identify business’ short and long term business objectives
- Keeping abreast of changes to the business, market operated in and generally being commercially aware
What are the benefits of undertaking stakeholder interviews?
- Helps to establish business requirements and preferences
- Keeps the client up-to-date with progress of projects and can receive input straight away
How would you say an external consultant can add value?
- Maintain a consistent relationship with the client
- Support a client team that may not have a Real Estate background
- Provide a holistic approach when supporting in regional portfolio strategies
- Can provide expertise
How can real estate efficiency be measured?
- Building utilitisation rates
- Costs per unit
- Benchmarking
Can you give me an overview of a typical organisation’s real estate strategy?
- The real estate strategy is aligned to main business objectives
- To improve operational efficiencies and enhance the financial position of the business
- Cost saving initiatives to enhance financial position
What is the biggest cost to a business?
- Staff
- Real estate
- Goods and products
When acting in an advisory capacity for a corporate client, what type of data might you analyse in order to
develop an appropriate strategy?
- Lease events / critical dates – expiries, break options, renewals
- No. of freeholds/leaseholds
- Locations
- Types of premises
- Costs
- Area
- Headcount
Can you give me an example of a time you have used your knowledge of real estate to devise a solution to a
client’s requirement?
- Conducted a surrender vs disposal for my client
- Occupied an industrial unit in Birmingham and no longer required the space
- Were deciding between surrendering the lease or disposing of the space entirely
- Presented an opportunity assessment in excel highlighting and comparing the costs to surrender v dispose
What are the benefits of a lease regear?
- Security for LL – extended term and income
- Security for TT – greater flexibility, lower rent costs or improved lease terms
- Provides the tenant with additional rent free
- Increases the value of an investment – longer income
- Mitigates voids and associated costs e.g. empty rates, service charge, letting fees, etc.
Can you provide an example of a time you have delivered advice on site selection?
- Client needed to relocate offices in Lagos as they had a lease expiry in Sept 2023
- I spoke with the client to understand their requirements and objectives – 6,000 sq ft, CAT A or fitted, near VI or Ikoyi, parking, back up generator
- I instructed a 3rd party broker to represent the occupier in negotiations
- Once I had received a longlist of available units, I created a shortlist and recommended the properties that best suited my client with clear rationale
- Result – the local team viewed the properties and we were able to identify a suitable property that met the client’s needs and tests fits were provided to the occupier to review
Can you describe a time when you worked with a client to help them achieve their strategic objectives?
- The client wanted to make cost savings across their EMEA portfolio
- I undertook an analysis of the rents paid in the top 10 sites of the portfolio
- I cross checked the passing rents with the market rents as provided by local market experts
- I then used to information to prepare a spreadsheet on excel. I highlighted the top 10 overrented properties and advised the client on regear and relocation opportunities
- I presented the findings to key stakeholders outlining the immediate financial benefits
- Following this, the client was able to regear leases in several locations and negotiate better terms – extending terms and reducing overall costs
