Your commercial property is still vacant because pricing, positioning, and leasing execution are not aligned with real demand, and nobody owns the full leasing system end-to-end. If you have no inquiries, it is a traffic problem. If you have tours but no offers, it is a conversion problem. If you have offers that stall, it is a process and decision speed problem.
Vacancy is one of the most visible profit leaks in commercial real estate and one of the most misunderstood. Every empty month compounds lost rent, CAM recovery gaps depending on lease structure, and ongoing carrying costs like taxes, insurance, and utilities. Vacancy also weakens your leverage. The longer a space sits, the more likely you are to pay for it later through concessions, TI, or lower net effective rent.
Vacancy is rarely a single cause. It is almost always a misalignment between demand, pricing, and execution. If your space is vacant longer than the typical lease-up window in your micro-market, you no longer have a market problem. You have an operating problem.
Before you change brokers, cut rent, or remodel the space, identify where the leasing system is failing. Vacancy is a funnel. If you cannot point to the stage where deals are dying, you are guessing.
| What you are seeing | What it usually means | What to fix first |
|---|---|---|
| Few or no inquiries | Visibility, pricing, positioning, access friction | Listing quality, signage, pricing reality, broker outreach |
| Inquiries but no tours | Slow response, weak qualification, showing friction | Response time standard, showing process, quick deal package |
| Tours but no LOIs | Mismatch on use, condition, terms, TI expectations | Space readiness, positioning, concessions and TI posture |
| LOIs but no signed lease | Slow approvals, unclear terms, weak execution | Decision guardrails, lease timeline, document readiness |
Upside - Low short-term effort. No uncomfortable pricing or terms discussions.
Downside - No diagnostic signal. Leasing urgency fades. You react late and vacancy costs accumulate quietly.
Upside - Faster diagnosis. Clear accountability. Corrective action within weeks, not quarters.
Downside - Requires a weekly cadence, owner decision guardrails, and a manager willing to enforce accountability with the leasing agent.
This framework is designed to create clarity fast. It tells you whether you have a traffic issue, a conversion issue, or a process issue. It also forces the core question owners avoid.
Who owns the leasing system end-to-end.
If traffic is low, the problem is visibility, pricing, positioning, or access.
If tours happen but LOIs do not, the problem is positioning, condition, deal structure, or follow-up.
Momentum matters. If the process drifts, deals die quietly, and the broker will blame “the market.”
If approvals are slow, vacancy extends. The fix is not more meetings. The fix is clear guardrails.
Vacancy requires weekly cadence. Monthly updates are too slow for leasing.
Minimum viable weekly leasing report.
In many commercial vacancies, the leasing agent markets, the manager operates, and the owner approves. Vacancy persists when nobody owns the full leasing system end-to-end.
Owner should own
The third-party property manager should own
This operating model is especially effective when you prefer to use an outside commercial leasing agent. You want the broker focused on leasing. You want your manager focused on execution, accountability, and momentum.
If you own a commercial property in Southern California under roughly 1,000,000 square feet and you have a vacancy that is not moving, the fastest path forward is clarity. Traffic, conversion, process, or decision speed.
To make the first conversation productive, bring:
It depends on size, use, and your micro-market. If the space has been actively marketed and is beyond the typical lease-up window with little traction, the issue is usually operational. Pricing, positioning, follow-up, decision speed, or space readiness.
Not automatically. First diagnose traffic and conversion. Cutting price without fixing follow-up and process often fails. In many cases the real fix is response time, deal packaging, and clearer concessions and TI guardrails.
Not always. Many vacancies improve without changing brokers by enforcing weekly pipeline reporting, faster response times, clearer owner guardrails, and better tour readiness. Replace representation when activity is low, reporting is weak, and there is no accountability.
A third-party manager can coordinate and manage the broker relationship so leasing is not a loose process. This includes weekly cadence, response standards, space readiness execution, and faster approvals within guardrails.
Weekly. Vacancy is an active project. Monthly updates are too slow for leasing momentum.
Vacancy is not a mystery. It is a signal that something in the leasing system is misaligned. When pricing, positioning, and execution are owned and reviewed weekly, vacancy shortens. When they are not, vacancy lingers and value leaks quietly.
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