Dealing with landlords and their representatives can be challenging at any time, but when you're a novice or emotionally or financially attached to the deal — as many tenants understandably are the entire leasing process becomes much more difficult.

You may well have some preconceived notions about commercial leasing. However, you should be mindful of numerous issues. These include the following:

It’s a business, not a marriage

A typical landlord may have several hundred or even several thousand tenants, but the typical tenant has just one landlord. Furthermore, landlords own their property as an investment. The tenant is leasing the space as a means to an end. The landlord wants to own the property.

The tenant doesn't really want to lease space the tenant wants to operate a successful business.

Not all commercial real estate agents know what they're doing

The commercial real estate industry (like every other industry) has its winners and its losers, its rookies and its seasoned professionals. If the lease-making process isn't going the way you think it should, the problem may well be with the commercial real estate agent who simply isn't experienced, very good at his/her job and/or knowledgeable about a property.

Shabby property maintenance

When you tour a property for lease and see graffiti, broken signage, dirty sidewalks and potholed parking lots, you can pretty much expect it will stay the same way during your tenancy. Warning signs are everywhere so be sure to inspect properties whenever possible.

Absentee or distant landlords

We worked with one doctor who was planning to sign a 10-year lease on a nice property that was turned into condominiums. The property was divided and sold to various small local investors. To visitors, it looked like a nice normal plaza under one management, but underneath each tenant dealt with a different landlord/investor, each with different levels of interest or involvement with their condo property.

This came to our attention when we had a deal essentially negotiated with the landlord's listing agent and put in a request for the tenant to meet the landlord. When the landlord refused, it sent out all kinds of negative signals as the landlord should have been insisting on meeting the tenant.

If the landlord isn't visible or transparent during the offer-to-lease negotiation stage, don't expect her to be anything more once you become the tenant. If the landlord is absentee or lives in another city or state, try to find out how often she comes to visit her property and her tenants.

It's all negotiable if you know what you're doing

If there's one statement we hear most frequently from tenants, it's this: "The landlord is not negotiable." The tenant has come to this conclusion either by trial and error and poor negotiating skills or using the wrong professional to help him.

Perhaps the tenant is simply repeating what the landlord's real estate agent has told him. The fact of the matter is that it's all negotiable if you know what you're doing.