Medical Office space is one of the most important considerations as you purchase your medical practice, or transition to a new medical practice location.

Once you have chosen the location of your medical practice, decide what kind of space you will need based upon your financial ability and your lifestyle choices.

It is also important to consider whether you plan to share your practice with one or more other doctors at some stage in the future. If so, you will need room to expand.

There is no way around it: your medical office space constitutes a major expense and also projects the image of who you are. Visual layout and decor do make an impression on patients.

On top of this, you and your staff will be working every day of the week in this space. Therefore, the atmosphere and comfort of the space will directly affect your psychological and physical well-being.

While you can manage the entire process yourself, you may want to save time by working with someone who has experience and exposure to the available properties. You might ask fellow doctors in the area for a referral to a commercial real estate broker experienced in working with medical office space.

By working with a medical office space broker, you can ask about the current per-square-foot rates, so you know what you would need to spend to practice in a particular area. The broker can assist you with the latest information on rental rates and available amenities, as well as with contract negotiations.

Once you’ve decided that you are willing to pay a certain amount per square foot of office space and you want a certain number of square feet, then you have an idea of how much it is going to cost.

Armed with your square foot requirement, your broker should be able to locate a space within the area you have chosen.

If this is your first experience with a commercial medical lease or if you are unfamiliar with the geographical area, discuss with your broker all of the important aspects of leasing. Specifically, discuss the following topics with your broker:

• the length of the lease, determined by whether rents are increasing or decreasing
• the cost per square foot in the desired area
• additional considerations, such as ease of parking (including access to wheelchair accessible spaces) or parking validations provided by the lessor as a part of the lease
• the amount of the security deposit, as well as the first and last months rent deposit requirements
• provisions for maintenance and repairs, who does the repairs and how quickly are they handled
• the calculation of pass-through expenses, taxes, security costs, etc 

Ask your broker to explain all of these details concerning your lease. Be sure that you have a general understand the subtleties of the lease document. You may also wish to have your attorney review the lease documents before you sign it.