In commercial real estate, the difference between tenant representation and the traditional brokerage model can determine whether a company secures the best possible lease—or leaves money on the table. Understanding these two models is critical for any business evaluating space decisions.
What Is a Traditional Brokerage Model?
A traditional brokerage firm typically represents both landlords and tenants. This structure can create conflicts of interest. A broker in a traditional firm may have an obligation to maintain relationships with building owners who provide repeat listings and long-term revenue streams. While these firms often have extensive market reach, their brokers are not always able to negotiate exclusively on behalf of occupiers when the same company represents the opposing side of the deal.
In this model, the brokerage’s incentives are often tied to closing transactions quickly and preserving landlord relationships, not necessarily maximizing the client’s leverage.
How Tenant Representation Differs
A tenant representation firm like Keyser operates with one clear mission: to advocate solely for the occupier. This conflict-free approach eliminates divided loyalties and ensures that every recommendation, negotiation, and market analysis is driven by what benefits the client—not the landlord.
Keyser’s model combines deep market analytics, benchmarking, and negotiation expertise to uncover opportunities and savings that traditional brokerages might overlook. Because Keyser never represents landlords, its advisors can objectively explore every option on the market and use data-backed strategies to secure the most favorable terms for clients.
Why It Matters
For growing organizations, lease obligations can be among the largest line items on the balance sheet. Choosing a tenant representation firm over a traditional brokerage ensures that the company’s real estate strategy aligns with its long-term business goals, minimizes risk, and maximizes flexibility.
In an industry often shaped by dual-agency conflicts, Keyser’s conflict-free, client-first model delivers one simple advantage: your interests always come first.
Frequently Asked Questions:
1) What is the difference between tenant representation and traditional brokerage in commercial real estate?
Traditional brokerage firms often represent both landlords and tenants, which can create conflicts of interest when negotiating a lease. Tenant-representation firms exclusively advocate for occupiers, ensuring there are no divided loyalties and every decision is made to benefit the business using the space—not the landlord.
2) Why is tenant representation considered a conflict-free model?
Tenant-rep firms like Keyser do not take listings from landlords or collect fees from building owners. Because they work solely for occupiers, their analysis, recommendations, and negotiations are fully aligned with the client’s objectives. That conflict-free structure allows them to push for better economics, flexibility, and protections that dual-agency brokers may be hesitant to pursue.
3) When should a business choose tenant representation over a traditional brokerage?
Any company making a leasing decision—renewal, expansion, relocation, sublease, or consolidation—benefits from conflict-free advocacy. For most organizations, office or industrial space is a major financial liability. Using a tenant-rep firm ensures the lease strategy is negotiated for maximum savings, leverage, and alignment with long-term business goals rather than landlord priorities.
