11 Things to Look Out for when Engaging Real Estate Professionals for your Search for Spaces in Malls

First Published: 15 Mar 2021
Last Updated: 21 Mar 2021

Performing our due diligence is important for any transaction – as industry experts, we have created a list of things you should know when working with a Real Estate Professional when finding a commercial space for rent in malls.

Understanding Current External Processes

For customers who are expanding their business and are looking for business spaces in the malls – One of the most common things that they would do is to visit www.commercialguru.com.sg and search for relevant spaces in the malls.

From here, they will naturally reach out to, and contact some agents advertising spaces in specific malls they want to try getting a space in.

However, most customers do not know the truth behind hidden these listings.

We wish to share with you the following to equip you with a better understanding of what is happening:

  1. Normally, retail malls do not allow real estate agents to advertise mall spaces for rent, because the process of getting into malls is entirely different than the process of getting into a shophouse.
  2. Most of these advertised spaces are “Pre-Termination” spaces where outgoing tenant (Tenant who wants to exit their current space in a mall) approaches a real estate agent to find tenants to take over their business that is “in the red”.
  3. These outgoing tenant will pay real estate agent a commission upon successful taking over of the space by the incoming tenant.
  4. However, the incoming tenant would normally not know the truth that all incoming concept are in the end subjected the mall’s approval.
  5. More than 90% of malls in Singapore do not pay Real Estate Agents commission for bringing tenants into malls.
  6. Thus, most real estate agents will end up serving 2 types of clients – Outgoing tenants, and retail malls that pays commission.
  7. And so, the question to ask yourself is: Why do retail malls pays real estate agents commission to bring tenants to them?

We will leave the last question for you to find out.

Our Process as MallSpacesAsia

For us at MallSpacesAsia, we have adopted the active role of representing our tenants to negotiate directly with malls in order to get their business into the malls. 

More often than not, leasing managers from the malls will call you to assist them with demised spaces. 

At MallSpacesAsia, we operate as consultants (who also happen to be Real Estate Professionals) to our clients, and hence we are able to charge our clients a service fee upon successful signing on tenancy agreement. 

So a few takeaway questions to ask your Real Estate agent are: 

  1. Is the mall paying you a commission? 
  2. Is this a Tier 1 mall or lower tier mall? 
  3. Are you talking directly to the mall or you are representing the outgoing tenant? 
  4. Will you be able to assist me in creating the business profile deck for submission to malls?

Talk to us today on why we view bringing clients into malls than more than just finding a space. We will challenge you with strategic business questions to take you deeper into evaluating your business feasibility of getting your business into malls. 

What's Next?

If you are wondering how can you get into malls, we have created an infographic below that can help you with your process — Find out more in detail here: 11 Steps to Get Your Business into Shopping Malls.

We Know Malls and Have Your Interest in Mind

Have an idea? Looking to expand? Found a mall you want to enter? Let us know and we’ll be pleased to help you! We have a team of real estate relationship managers, business consultants, interior design consultants, marketing consultants, fulfillment consultants, and much more to assist you in any queries you may have.

Getting into a mall requires a process and it starts with your concept. Got a great idea for the mall? Talk to us and we can make it happen for you by recommending suitable malls and spaces for your needs. We know the in and out of Malls and will be with you every step of the way!

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