Want to level up faster than your peers? Learn the language of retail real estate—and the best place to start is your own lease files. Most agents fake their way through lease lingo (spoiler alert: not a great long-term plan). A lease isn’t just paperwork—it’s the playbook for every negotiation, every deal, and every dollar. Here’s what I do with my rookies: we set aside one hour a week to read our leases—out loud, together. We break down each sentence:✔️ What does it mean?✔️ Why is it there?✔️ How does it impact the landlord and tenant relationship—or the bottom line? We talk exclusives, prohibitions (huge time-saver), CAM, LOIs, TIs, and more. It’s not sexy, but it’s powerful. Don’t wait for your boss to schedule this—Rockstars take initiative. Do it yourself, and email your questions later if needed. Because the fastest way to gain confidence, avoid rookie mistakes, and negotiate like a pro… is to actually understand the lease you’re selling. Imagine that!

Congrats on finishing your first market study! Now… keep it going. Because guess what? The market already changed while you were reading this. A market study is never “done”—it’s a living, breathing document. Without current intel, you’re not selling… you’re guessing. Want to stay sharp without burning out? Put your study on autopilot: ✅ Subscribe to community papers and local mags (print ads = gold!)✅ Open every Valpak and piece of direct mail—it’s a retail treasure map✅ Set up Google Alerts for your city, centers, tenants, and competitors Watch for hospital expansions, new apartment approvals, construction delays, and incoming or exiting anchors. This is the kind of insight that makes you the go-to leasing expert. Bottom line? Keep up, or fall behind. The market doesn’t wait—and neither do deals.

You’ve done the boots-on-the-ground market recon—now it’s time to organize all that golden intel into a proper market study. And no, scribbles in a notebook don’t count. Start by building a simple Excel file. List your subject property at the top, then add nearby shopping centers in order of most competitive to least. Each column should reflect a key data point you collected: square footage, rent, occupancy, anchors, visibility, etc. And don’t forget a notes column—this is where you drop your side-by-side comparisons. For example: “Great parking, but less visible than subject property.” Here’s the truth: Your first draft won’t be perfect. That’s okay! I go through at least 6 drafts when coaching rookies through their first real market study. You’ll refine and tighten your list as you go. Start broad, then narrow it down with every pass. Market studies are living, breathing documents—and when done right, they’re your secret weapon in leasing negotiations. So organize your info, and let the data make you unstoppable.

My grandfather used to say, “You get nothin’ for nothin’”—and when it comes to online listing services like LoopNet and CoStar, he wasn’t wrong. Sure, they’re fast, convenient, and yes, sometimes free. But if you’re using them as your only source of leasing intel, you’re short-changing your strategy—and your results. These platforms can be helpful in a pinch (like when your boss swings by your desk and wants market rent data yesterday), but here’s the hard truth: they’re rarely 100% accurate. Rents, availabilities, square footages, tenant mix—there’s always a lag, a gap, or a missing detail. And if you’re relying solely on that data to drive your leasing decisions, you’re playing a dangerous game. A true Rockstar leasing agent knows this: real market knowledge doesn’t live in a database—it lives in the field.✅ It’s built by walking the centers.✅ Talking to tenants.✅ Calling brokers.✅ Grabbing coffee with competitors.✅ Driving your trade area and seeing what’s happening in real time. Online tools are great supplements, but they are not substitutes for boots-on-the-ground research and relationship-building. Want the real scoop on your market? Close your laptop. Grab your keys. And get out there. Your next deal—and your reputation—depend on it. 4o