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As zipRealty.com passes 70 employees -- on our way to 200 by yearend -- we're rapidly outgrowing our quarters. Incredulous readers will recall that I recounted the tale of our office expansion in this column just over a month ago (see BW Online, 1/7/00, "My Recurring Nightmare: Every Few Months, We Expand Offices").

My partner, Juan, and I can hardly believe it, either. Not so long ago, we signed a three-year lease for 5,000 square feet, figuring we'd be playing hoops in the empty parts for months. Ha! No sooner had we acquired another 5,000 square feet next door than we almost filled it. That's when we realized that we needed a new space quick, or we'd have people with no place to work.

Although we're an online real estate brokerage, that doesn't make this process any easier. We may be aces at residential real estate, but the commercial side is another world. So, we needed an expert. Fortunatly, we're well-connected in the industry. We called Jeff, a fellow alum of Haas, the University of California at Berkeley's business school. He happens to be one of the leading commercial agents in the region.

We told Jeff we wanted about 30,000 square feet with room to double in size again. (We sure don't want to do this next year.) We wanted to stay in our present neighborhood (great for recruiting and employee morale). A building with character would be nice. And not too expensive, please.

Jeff looked at us like we had landed from outer space. He launched into a stern lecture. Dot-coms are gobbling up space like crazy. Places that rented for $1 a square per month two years ago are going for $3 and up. That was nothing, though. Here's the shocker. Bay Area landlords are forcing dot-coms to give them warrants! Yes, options to buy shares of your company at a discount just to secure space. We could feel the sharks snapping around our knees.

After that heartening spiel, Jeff came back with 10 properties. He gave us grading sheets and set up a tour date. On paper, the places were depressing -- far away, boring, and expensive. And we were in the worst possible position for someone seeking real estate -- we couldn't wait. Even if we closed a deal in the next couple of weeks, we'd be hard-pressed to get the space ready in time.

The properties Jeff proposed included a convertible biotech lab, a vacant parts warehouse, commercial business parks, funky new buildings, and wrecks. We liked two spaces relatively near our present office. We told the agent to get rolling.

We ran into snags immediately. Other people were trying to rent small sections of our No. 1 choice before we could close the deal. Luckily, the agent realized how serious we were about expanding. He killed the smaller tenant's deal. (Hey, it's a jungle out there.) In the last few days, we've been negotiating hard and fast. All terms seem reasonable, and the warrants issue hasn't reared its ugly head yet.

I'm holding my breath until the deal is signed. It looks like we'll be moving in by early May. The next challenge will be building out the new site and moving in our 100 or so employees. Thanks to our last expansion escapade, we're better equipped to do this now. Right now, we're waiting and hoping the gods of real estate will smile on us. Please, please, no warrants. See you in two weeks.