The best time to search for a space is when you don’t need it. This gives you a lot of lever­age when you nego­ti­ate. It’s easy to walk away from nego­ti­a­tions if you’re not pres­sured to get into the space. This gives you a lot of lever­age in the nego­ti­a­tions, if the land­lord is anx­ious to lease it. Time is your friend.

If you’re under pres­sure, the next best thing is to fall in love with more than one space. Then you can walk away from nego­ti­a­tions if they aren’t going your way and revert to another option. The worst thing you can do is find one space, fall in love with it, and be under a time crunch. You won’t have much bar­gain­ing power under that sce­nario. You can still walk away, but then you’re back to square one.

Of course, the mar­ket will play a part in your nego­ti­at­ing strength. Your bro­ker will help give you an idea of what the mar­ket is like.