Score Submarkets for a Tenant’s Requirement Before the Availability Survey

Start with the requirement and the customer, and let the map rule out ground before anyone tours. Write down the use, the size and budget, the timing, and who the client serves. Then ask about the client’s best existing location. The ZIP codes around it show what demand looks like for this tenant, and that profile becomes the benchmark for every other part of the region. The submarkets that come closest to it make the shortlist, and the rest come out of the search with a reason attached.

Run a pass or fail screen first. The screen removes markets that miss a hard minimum, like a population floor or a state the client will not enter, so the weights only compare places that could work. Then agree on weights for what is left with the client up front and keep them adding to 100. Put every factor on the same 1 to 5 scale so raw dollars and headcounts do not swamp each other. Then move the weights a little and see if the top markets change. If they do, talk that through with the client before you shortlist.

It opens with the requirement in a few lines. Then it covers each submarket that made the cut, and for each one brokers report vacancy, asking rents, recent lease deals, sublease options and new construction, most of it from CoStar and calls to landlord brokers. The availabilities follow with a flyer or floor plan for each space. A scored market map belongs near the front, because it shows the client why the search covers these submarkets and leaves the others out.

Count the people who can reach the site in a normal commute, since a metro total includes many who never would. Hourly roles usually draw from about 30 minutes away and better-paid roles from 45 or more. Rivers and bridges can cut that reach sharply on one side of town. Look at where workers live. Then list who else is hiring the same roles nearby, because those employers will compete with your client for the same applicants. If the client already has staff in the region, map their home ZIP codes too, because the people who would follow the move matter as much as new hires.

Compare competition per head of population. A raw competitor count favors small markets and penalizes big ones, so keep the demand fill from your first pass, then load a second Boundary Tool fill that counts competitor markers in each ZIP. Click any ZIP to see both figures in the pop-out and divide in the score sheet to get competitors per 10,000 residents. The areas with strong demand and few rivals for their size rise to the top of the list.

Yes, if you bring the figures. Maptive does not supply payer or physician data, but it maps any number your client gives you or that comes from a source you already use. Put the ZIP codes in one column and the figures in the next. Upload the file and open the Boundary Tool with the fill set to My Numerical Data on that column. Each ZIP colors by the value, with a key of ranges down the side. Census demographics and competitor pins can go on the same map for the full read.

Use each one at a different stage. An MSA comparison is fine for a client choosing between metros, but a metro average hides the gap between a strong suburb and a weak core. ZIP codes give the demographic detail you need to find demand inside a metro. Submarkets are how brokers and CoStar report vacancy and rents, so the shortlist should end in the submarket names the client will hear again on tours. In Maptive, shade ZIP codes for demand and draw a drive time around each submarket center for the labor read.

Yes. Put every metro on one map and shade them all with the same demographic fill, so every ZIP is scored on identical terms. Show one metro at a time when you present, or keep them together to compare the top bands side by side. Keep one score sheet for all metros as well, because weights that change from city to city make the ranking meaningless. For requirements that cross the border, the region toggle in Customize Metrics switches the demographic read to Canadian census data. That lets US and Canadian metros be ranked on one list.

Send the live map instead. Maptive creates a view-only link that you can protect with a password, so the client can click any ZIP or market and read the numbers behind its tier without editing your work. For the survey book or an email, Export Map Image saves the view as a PNG or PDF with the legend in place. On a call, presentation mode lets you walk the client through the shortlist one market at a time and answer questions on the map itself.

Maptive includes more than 50 US Census variables down to the block group, plus Canadian census data, on every plan. A licensed market data library adds jobs and businesses by industry, consumer spending, retail sales by store type, and five-year forecasts for population and income. You read any of these inside a radius or drive time through Customize Metrics, or shade boundaries by them. Rents, vacancy and comps are not part of the library, and those still come from CoStar or your own database.