I have always thought of Rosh Hashanah as the “real” New Year. The other New Year, the one that comes in January, is simply about taxes.  Here in New Jersey our summers quickly turn to autumn as fall foliage, with its multicolored panorama, suddenly starts filling the landscape.

          Parents are frantically preparing for the return to school with the last-minute bustle to find the right clothes, books, school supplies, to fill an eclectic list of must-have items.    

          Business owners are now preparing their annual budgets. Most are laser focused on new sales and revenue projections. To get there, they will need to quickly get a handle on operating overhead for the year ahead. 

          The readers of this newsletter are aware that we have been sounding the alarm about the return of the dreaded Landlord market. (See our July, 2026 newsletter, “How To Survive in a Landlord Market”). As we have been warning, due to the consolidation of office space into the properties of the surviving Landlords, tenants are now forced to compete for available office space for the first time in decades.

          As part of the New Year’s planning process, business owners must now focus on their space needs.  For companies that are stable with few changes, they probably want to determine if they need to extend the lease, and if so, for how long.  For companies that are growing or even shrinking, they must explore other options.  Options such as, can we reduce or grow our space, or do we need to relocate the office?  Does our landlord have another space that may work for us, or do we need to find a new location?  

          Many business owners find that trying to make long-term decisions like these in a short-term economy is simply daunting.  This is where a real estate advisor who represents tenants can really help with the whole budget process.

          To begin with, a real estate advisor can help you understand how much space you really need and whether your current space is as efficient as possible. A real estate advisor can help you to leverage a better deal when renewing the lease or relocating the office. They do this by showing you effective strategies to negotiate deals that work for you.  They can help you to find, survey and compare available space options in your market.  Real estate advisors can show you ways to structure a deal that works best for you, not the landlord.

          By the way, did you know that in most cases it costs nothing to hire a real estate advisor as their fees are already structured in the deal?

          So, if you need to get a handle on your operating expenses as part of your planning process for the New Year, why not give us a call, to find out why, at Dickstein Real Estate Services, OUR DIFFERENCE IS YOUR ADVANTAGE®.

Regards,

Lawrence Dickstein