Commonly nine to eighteen months. Deal cycles are long, commissions often pay at lease execution or later, and a new broker starts with no pipeline.

AI is good at the busywork: research, summarizing, first drafts and cleaning up data. It is bad at judgment, and it should never touch confidential client information.

Value equals net operating income divided by the cap rate. A lease adding $30,000 in annual NOI at a 6.5% cap rate adds roughly $460,000 in value.

Start from what the property needs rather than from who happens to be looking. The best prospects are usually operators already succeeding nearby.

A co-tenancy clause ties a tenant's obligations to the presence of other tenants. If named stores go dark, the tenant can reduce rent or leave.

A good tenant mix spreads demand across the day and gives customers a reason to visit more than one store in a single trip.

Divide annual base rent by the percentage rate. At $60,000 rent and a 6% rate, the natural breakpoint is $1,000,000, and the tenant pays 6% on every dollar above it.

Because royalties and ad fund contributions take 10% to 17% of revenue before rent is discussed. A franchisee has given away a tenth of their sales before you quote a number.

Five things: average ticket, best day and slow day sales, daily break-even, what they pay today, and who signs the guaranty. Most brokers ask for none of them.

Twelve percent is above the healthy range. Restaurants typically run 5% to 11% of sales. Here's how to test a rent before you quote it.

Second generation space is worth less than its reputation. The only parts that reliably carry over are infrastructure. Layout almost never survives, and moving a kitchen means new plumbing under slab.

Base rent excludes CAM, taxes and insurance. One small food operator quotes his rent as $3,200 a month and writes a check for just over $4,000 — about a quarter more than the number everyone repeats.

Together, roughly 54% to 60% at public chains and closer to 69% at independent full-service restaurants. That gap is the single biggest difference in what a tenant can carry.