In the past two columns, I’ve reported on the increasing glut of vacant and soon-to-be-available office space in several suburban locations as a primary indicator that some sectors in our regional economy are softening and that the commercial real estate business in those areas is in for some hard times. While true, these are by no means the most useful points that should be gleaned from this information.

With each passing day, landlords, property managers, and their brokers are slowly but surely coming to terms with the cold hard fact that it’s now a tenant’s market in such locations as Sorrento Mesa and Carlsbad, where existing and imminent vacancies hover at or above 50 percent and even in the Del Mar and UTC areas where vacancies, present and future, are in the high 25 percent to 33 percent range. The cat’s out of the bag now; everybody knows there’s plenty of space available. Landlords are going to have to become increasingly competitive in luring new tenants to fill their empty office spaces.

Competition is such a long-awaited and refreshing force in today’s commercial real estate market. It’s unfortunate that it took the collapse of major industry in our region’s economy to restore competition in these areas. Nonetheless, it has. The sudden growth of available office space spells opportunity for thousands of businesses and professional service providers in those locales and elsewhere who now have abundant options for their near-term future office space needs. We’re not talking about small inventories of space, either. Technology companies have been forced to shed hundreds of thousands of square feet of office space. And I believe there will be more to come in the near-term future.

When you think about it, nearly half the region’s office users are — or should be — thinking seriously about their future office space needs now. Most tenants are on a five-year lease which means 20 percent of the market is either renewing leases or moving to new spaces each year. However, we need to add to that the additional 20 percent whose lease expires sometime within the following 12-month period, taking into consideration the significant lead time most companies require to identify and plan their future office space needs.

The tenant who is ready to pounce immediately when the right deal presents itself will inevitably find such an opportunity. Office space tenants who have even the slightest inkling that their present space is not working out should make themselves ready to take advantage of the great deals that are to be had in these suburban locations. We’re not talking about Brawley or some building in East Bugtussle; these are urban-close locales in well-established communities with great access to freeways, housing, and commercial amenities.

However, the exploratory process takes considerable time — much more than would be the case in a tighter office market. And, it takes professional help to be sure that tenants are seeing everything that’s available and, if necessary, help the tenant find another one to sublease his or her space should that be necessary.

Some tenant moves involve multileg swaps in which tenants trade spaces outright or one tenant displaces another who, in turn displaces another, who then takes the space formerly occupied by one of the parties. Again, in a market flush with space inventory, tenant representatives can become very creative in terms of meeting the needs of many parties in a single transaction.

The most important first step for tenants beginning to look around is to find and establish a relationship with a tenant representative who knows the market and will represent their interests exclusively. Tenants should explain their present lease commitments and discuss their present and future office needs in terms of space, location, and other factors.

Keep in mind that having a tenant representative on board creates marketing exposure for the tenant’s present space — an important positive in terms of finding another user for the tenant’s space. If the broker can find another tenant to sublease the space for the balance of the leasehold, the tenant becomes a free agent with total flexibility to take advantage of the competitive deals that are beginning to be made in these locations.

Office space is a major fixed cost of doing business, second only to a typical company’s payroll and employee expenses. Leases are long-term obligations that can actually determine how well a company can do its business. Identifying space needs, looking for and finding a location that fits those needs, and getting professional help to negotiate optimum terms and conditions are as critical to a company’s business life as any operation.

I say this because there are far too many office tenants for whom their present and future office space needs are not as high a priority as they should be, given the numerous opportunities there are to take advantage of the new abundance in Class A office space.

With great deals on great spaces now readily available in great suburban locations, it’s time for enterprising office tenants to get ready to pounce. We can help.