Should you use a Property Manager or a Leasing Agent to Lease a Commercial Property?

The main difference between a property manager and a leasing agent having the leasing assignment for a commercial property is motivation.

The property manager is paid a monthly fee to manage a commercial property. His or her first duty is to the property and the property owner. The second duty is to keep the tenant, or tenants, happy. Then the object is to grow the management business and to obtain more properties to manage. The last duty is to lease the property. So long as the first three items are taken care of, the property manager has a viable business with steady income and a growing company. Finding new lessees is the least priority and is just the icing on the cake.

The leasing agent has only one source of income: Closing deals on properties. He does have an obligation to the property owner and will make efforts to obtain new listings, but unless the agents are consistently closing leases and earning commissions, they will be out of the business in a short amount of time.

The leasing of commercial spaces is –far and away- the number one priority of a leasing agent. At Omni American, leasing is our business.