What Are The First Steps When Looking For Commercial Real Estate?
What are the first steps when looking for commercial real estate?
To get started, you can conduct a simple Internet search using any typical search engine. There are also a few dedicated commercial real estate websites, such as CoStar and Loopnet, which can be good vehicles for finding commercial space, comparable sales and public records. However, many of these sites only give users access to a limited amount of information, then lead you to a representative to get the remaining details.
Those sites can get you a little more in tune with the properties available in the market, some of the industry terms and the geography, so when youre calling a broker you are prepared with some general information. But keep in mind the information youre getting about commercial real estate on these sites is most likely coming from brokers. Its hard to find information from owners or developers.
The commercial real estate industry is not good at using the Internet for selling a product. Most of whats out there will just lead you to a broker or salesman sort of, Call us and well help you. The prominent strategy is to withhold information to get you to sign up with them or contact them regarding a search or a sale.
Whats the next step after an Internet search?
The next step would be to call around and qualify brokers. What youre looking for is whether the person is a tenant or buyer representative, and some people do both. You have to ask yourself whether you feel comfortable with someone who handles one side or both sides of the transaction.
If you work with someone who handles just one side theres no conflict of interest, since theyre working for the best deal for either a buyer or a seller. However, if he or she handles both sides, you can argue that they know the market better because theyre seeing it from both sides of the transaction, but there may be a conflict of interest.
Also, look for certain designations or titles attached to the representatives name, such as SIOR or CCIM, which stand for Society of Industrial and Office Realtors and Certified Commercial Investment Member. SOIR means the representative has been in the industry for at least five years and has hit a certain volume of transactions. CCIM is similar, but indicates that person has also taken college-level classes.
Find a broker who knows the market well because he or she will likely have information on properties that are not yet on the market. The broker can do the investigative work; he or she has knowledge of the area and good intuition, which will save you, as the buyer, time.
Have a broker come out and talk to you about what kind of space youre looking for. Show him or her the space youre in and work with him or her to understand his or her process. Its not unusual in the first meeting for a broker to ask for a representation agreement, which says youll only work with that broker. This helps prohibit a prospective buyer from using the brokers resources, such as time and gas, and then squeezing him or her out of a deal.
To get started, you can conduct a simple Internet search using any typical search engine. There are also a few dedicated commercial real estate websites, such as CoStar and Loopnet, which can be good vehicles for finding commercial space, comparable sales and public records. However, many of these sites only give users access to a limited amount of information, then lead you to a representative to get the remaining details.
Those sites can get you a little more in tune with the properties available in the market, some of the industry terms and the geography, so when youre calling a broker you are prepared with some general information. But keep in mind the information youre getting about commercial real estate on these sites is most likely coming from brokers. Its hard to find information from owners or developers.
The commercial real estate industry is not good at using the Internet for selling a product. Most of whats out there will just lead you to a broker or salesman sort of, Call us and well help you. The prominent strategy is to withhold information to get you to sign up with them or contact them regarding a search or a sale.
Whats the next step after an Internet search?
The next step would be to call around and qualify brokers. What youre looking for is whether the person is a tenant or buyer representative, and some people do both. You have to ask yourself whether you feel comfortable with someone who handles one side or both sides of the transaction.
If you work with someone who handles just one side theres no conflict of interest, since theyre working for the best deal for either a buyer or a seller. However, if he or she handles both sides, you can argue that they know the market better because theyre seeing it from both sides of the transaction, but there may be a conflict of interest.
Also, look for certain designations or titles attached to the representatives name, such as SIOR or CCIM, which stand for Society of Industrial and Office Realtors and Certified Commercial Investment Member. SOIR means the representative has been in the industry for at least five years and has hit a certain volume of transactions. CCIM is similar, but indicates that person has also taken college-level classes.
Find a broker who knows the market well because he or she will likely have information on properties that are not yet on the market. The broker can do the investigative work; he or she has knowledge of the area and good intuition, which will save you, as the buyer, time.
Have a broker come out and talk to you about what kind of space youre looking for. Show him or her the space youre in and work with him or her to understand his or her process. Its not unusual in the first meeting for a broker to ask for a representation agreement, which says youll only work with that broker. This helps prohibit a prospective buyer from using the brokers resources, such as time and gas, and then squeezing him or her out of a deal.
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