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Commercial Real Estate Advisor - What They Do and When It Pays Off
27 October 2026What is a commercial real estate advisor?
A commercial real estate advisor supports companies, building owners and investors in decisions on leasing, selling, buying and managing property value. The advisor analyses the market, transaction terms and contractual risks, and then runs the process on the client's side. Their role goes well beyond simply finding an offer.
The scope of an advisor's work depends on the client's goal. A company looking for 2,000 sq m of office space needs different support from the owner of a building with 8,000 sq m of vacant space, or from an investor considering the purchase of a warehouse park. In each case, different data, documents and decision criteria matter.
In practice, an advisor combines knowledge of the local market with financial analysis and transaction experience. They compare not only the base rent, but also the service charge, fit-out costs, indexation, lease term, break options and incentives offered by the landlord.
For a tenant, the difference between two offers with similar rents may come down to costs hidden in the lease. For a building owner, on the other hand, what may matter is the pace of leasing, the tenant profile and the risk of income being concentrated in a single occupier.
Advisor vs. agent and residential agency – the differences
A commercial real estate advisor is not a residential estate agent. The market for offices, warehouses, retail units and investment properties operates on longer leases, higher transaction values and more complex documentation than a typical residential tenancy.
An agent can successfully bring the parties to a transaction together. An advisor goes further: they build a strategy, prepare a comparison of options, conduct negotiations and help assess the business consequences of specific clauses. The boundaries between these roles may partly overlap, so it is worth defining the scope of the mandate precisely before starting work together.
The Real Estate Management Act of 21 August 1997 does not currently establish a separate, regulated profession of commercial real estate advisor. What matters, therefore, is the team's experience, the way it represents the client's interests, its knowledge of the specific segment and its access to up-to-date transaction data.
What exactly does an advisor do? Service areas
Tenant representation
Tenant representation covers the process from analysing the organisation's needs to signing the lease. The advisor defines the requirements for location, size, transport accessibility, building standard, budget and planned headcount growth. They then prepare a shortlist of options, organise viewings and negotiate with landlords.
For a 1,500 sq m office, the decision should not be based on the rent alone. Other factors also matter: the landlord's fit-out contribution, the rent-free period, the cap on fit-out costs, parking fees, the handover schedule and the indexation mechanism. The scope of this work is described in our tenant representation service.
An advisor can also compare staying in the current office with relocating. This is particularly important when the current lease expires within 12–18 months. This timeframe usually allows the analysis, negotiations, fit-out design and move to be completed without time pressure.
Landlord representation and commercialisation
On the landlord's side, the advisor is responsible for commercialisation, i.e. securing tenants for vacant space. The work starts with an assessment of the building, its surroundings, competing offers and the profile of companies that could realistically lease space in that location.
A different strategy will be needed for an office building in central Warsaw, another for a property on Domaniewska Street in Mokotów, and yet another for a building in Katowice near Roździeńskiego Avenue. The advisor identifies target tenant groups, recommends the terms of the offer and holds talks with companies looking for space.
When vacancy is high, the quality of the leasing documentation, the standard of space available immediately and the speed of the landlord's decision-making also matter. A landlord can entrust the advisor with commercialisation and landlord representation for an entire building or a selected part of the portfolio.
Investment advisory and transactions
Investment advisory concerns the purchase, sale and analysis of income-generating assets. The advisor helps identify the potential pool of buyers, prepare transaction materials, assess the tenancy structure and run the negotiation process.
Before buying an office building, a warehouse or a portfolio of units, an investor analyses the sources of income and the risk of retaining them. They check lease expiry dates, tenant concentration, rent indexation, capital expenditure required in the coming years and the legal status of the property. Some of these issues require a formal legal, technical and financial review, known as real estate due diligence.
In a sale process, the advisor does not replace a lawyer, a property valuer or a tax advisor. However, they coordinate the flow of information and help ensure that the commercial arguments, financial data and documents provided to investors remain consistent. Work on buying and selling assets falls within the scope of investment advisory.
When does working with an advisor pay off?
Working with an advisor pays off when the cost of a wrong decision may exceed the cost of a professional process. In commercial real estate, a mistake does not always mean paying too much rent. It may mean a lease that is too long, no right to sublet, an underestimated fit-out budget or a location that makes recruitment harder.
The most common situations in which advisory support is worth considering are:
- leasing or renegotiating an office of around 400–500 sq m or more;
- planned headcount growth or reduction that will change space requirements;
- a lease expiring within 12–18 months;
- relocating a headquarters, branch or shared services centre;
- leasing a warehouse in corridors such as Central Poland, the Poznań area, Upper Silesia or the Tricity;
- selling or buying an investment property;
- vacant space in a building that remains unlet for longer than the landlord's plan assumes;
- the need to compare staying in the current location with relocating.
For a tenant, the advisor creates competition between landlords' offers. This does not mean they always recommend moving offices. Often the best outcome of the negotiations is staying in the existing building on new terms, if the location works for the company and the landlord offers market terms.
An advisor is not always necessary. When leasing a single private office, a small unit of up to a few dozen square metres or a coworking desk, the cost of an extensive process may be disproportionate to the scale of the decision. In such cases, a company can compare offers and lease terms on its own.
A small space does not, however, rule out a consultation. Support may be justified when the lease contains unusual obligations, the company is planning rapid growth or the premises are operationally important, for example for a medical facility, a showroom or a customer service point.
How much does a commercial real estate advisor cost?
The cost of an advisor depends on the type of mandate, the size of the transaction, its complexity and the representation model. There is no single rate for all services. Before work begins, the client should receive clear information on who pays the fee, when the obligation to pay arises and whether the advisor works exclusively for one party.
The most common models are:
In tenant representation, the transparency of the model matters more than the commission itself. The client should know whether the advisor has a financial incentive to recommend a particular building and whether they compare the total occupancy cost rather than just the base rent.
How to choose an advisor – 5 questions to ask before you start
The choice of advisor should be based on questions about the specific process, not just brand recognition. The management board, CFO or building owner should assess whether the team understands the market in which it is to operate.
- Has the advisor handled similar transactions? Ask about experience in the specific segment: offices, warehouses, retail units, land or investment assets. Scale, location and lease type also matter.
- What market data do they have? The advisor should be able to explain where their data on asking and transaction rents, vacancy, tenant incentives and planned supply comes from. Asking data from public listings does not show all the terms agreed in negotiations.
- Can they provide references relevant to the mandate? A reference from an office tenant may not be enough for a warehouse owner. Ask for examples of processes similar in terms of objective and complexity.
- How do they manage conflicts of interest? This is one of the most important questions. The advisor should state whether they represent only the client in the given process, whether they hold parallel mandates from the owners of the buildings being analysed and how they disclose such relationships.
- Who will run the project day to day? The client should meet not only the person presenting the proposal, but also the team responsible for market analysis, negotiations, documentation and liaison with lawyers and the administration department.
A well-prepared mandate should also set out a timeline. For an office lease, the timeline usually covers needs analysis, shortlisting, negotiations, signing the lease, fit-out and the move. For an investment transaction, it covers data preparation, investor outreach, property due diligence and negotiation of the documents.
Next step
Before starting a leasing, commercialisation or sale process, it is worth defining the objective, timeline and people responsible on the company's side. The advisor should receive data that allows the financial and operational options to be compared. You can learn more about the team and its areas of expertise on the Walter Herz website. To discuss a specific process, get in touch via the contact form.
Author: Magdalena Zagrodnik
FAQ
A commercial real estate advisor supports the client in the business decision, market analysis, negotiations and assessment of the risks of a lease or transaction. An agent primarily brings together parties interested in leasing, buying or selling. One firm may carry out both types of activity, but before signing a mandate it is worth agreeing the scope and the party represented in the process.
A tenant advisor's fee usually takes the form of a transaction commission or an agreed project fee. In many processes, the commission is paid by the building owner once the lease has been signed, but this is not a rule without exceptions. Before starting work together, the client should receive written information on the fee model and any potential conflicts of interest.
For a small office, a single private office or a coworking desk, full advisory services may not be economically justified. They are worth considering when the lease is long, the space has unusual technical requirements or the company is planning rapid growth. A consultation on the lease terms can reduce risk without running the entire search process.
An advisor uses data on lease transactions, terms achieved in negotiations, vacancy levels, planned supply and the activity of companies looking for space. Public listings usually show asking rents. They do not reveal the full incentive package, the landlord's fit-out contribution, rent-free periods or the details of indexation.
An advisor prepares a strategy for renegotiating the current lease. They compare the terms proposed by the landlord with offers from alternative buildings and calculate the cost of staying versus relocating. Such an analysis strengthens the tenant's position because it shows the landlord the real options available on the market, rather than just a declared willingness to move.
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