Choosing Representation
Most practice owners hire a broker a handful of times in a career. The people across the table negotiate every week. This page is meant to level that field — whoever you end up hiring.
What a Broker Actually Does
Listings are public now. The value of a broker was never really access to space — it is what happens after you find it: market comparables the landlord would rather you not have, lease economics modeled honestly, and negotiation handled by someone with nothing emotional in the deal.
In most of the leases and purchases we handle, the landlord or seller pays the commission. That's typical, not universal. We'll explain how Skylark will be paid on your transaction before you sign a representation agreement.
The Questions That Matter
If a brokerage also represents landlords in the submarkets you are searching, understand how that conflict is handled before you sign anything. You want to know whose outcome the firm is ultimately paid to maximize.
Skylark’s answer: We represent healthcare practices and, through Skylark Healthcare Realty, healthcare property owners. If a property we represent fits your search, we disclose that relationship before you tour it. Representation and compensation should be clear before you decide how to proceed.
At larger firms, the senior broker who wins the engagement and the associate who runs it can be different people. Ask directly, and ask who will be on the phone when the negotiation gets difficult.
Skylark’s answer: You work with a team. Several of our brokers typically support each project, and one point person leads it from the first call to the signed lease.
Not deals in general — deals like yours. A broker who moves industrial warehouses is not preparation for a build-out-heavy clinical lease with equipment, plumbing, and licensure riding on the dates.
Skylark’s answer: Healthcare is our primary specialty. We help dental, medical, veterinary, and eyecare practices with startups, lease renewals, relocations, expansions, and building purchases.
A good answer is specific and unembarrassed. Compensation shapes advice, and you are entitled to see the shape of it before you rely on the advice.
Skylark’s answer: In most of the leases and purchases we handle, the landlord or seller pays the commission. That's typical, not universal. We'll explain how Skylark will be paid on your transaction before you sign a representation agreement.
An Honest Filter
Skylark represents healthcare practice owners and healthcare property owners across Metro Detroit and Southeast Michigan — if you are a dentist, physician, veterinarian, physical therapist, or eyecare professional, our daily work looks like your transaction.
If you are searching for industrial, general office, or retail space outside healthcare, a broker who lives in those markets will serve you better — and the four questions above will serve you just as well on the way there.