When you work as a commercial real estate agent, you should be on the lookout for opportunity in the market. It can come in many forms including the following:
- Businesses moving in or out of the area
- Businesses under occupancy pressure for more or less space
- New property developments coming into the area
- Supply and demand shifts for space locally
- High vacancy factors
- Unsold properties
- Rental pressures
- Landlords that are frustrating their tenants
- Under performing properties
- Poorly maintained properties
- Shifts in business demographic
- Changes in key business activity such as mining or agriculture that will shift secondary business activity
The list is just the ‘tip of the iceberg’ when it comes to the variations of property ownership and use. It is always the case that opportunity will shift and change but you should be prospecting every day to find that new opportunity. Asking the right questions will find that opportunity.
The agents that do not prospect regularly enough ‘struggle’ when it comes to building market share. Poor property enquiry and listings are the direct result. Today you must build good networks of landlords, tenants, and business owners. This property market is challenging enough without us creating greater hurdles for ourselves. Network a lot of the right people; that’s the rule.
In today’s property market you should know several hundred local business identities and property investors. The only way you can ‘track’ this number of people is to have a great database or contact management system that is well maintained. It is a personal process for each and every salesperson and cannot be delegated.
Top agents have a focus on growth and market share when it comes to the best properties and the best clients. In many respects they will not take listings of small and insignificant properties. They want to protect their time and effort. It is a worthwhile business focus to adopt. Spend time on the best listings and the best clients.
Here are some points of focus for you to develop your commercial or retail real estate agency business:
- Review the property history of your area to see what has happened over the last few years by way of prices and rents. Make sure you are selling or leasing a property type or location that is active in the market today and will be so in the future.
- Provide a unique and high quality service to your clients that other agents fail to provide. To win the listings, you must be the ‘right choice’ of local agent.
- Verify every property before you spend time on it. The verification process will normally involve price, rent, motivation, market supply and demand, plus the quality of the improvements, services and amenities.
In saying all of this, there will always be opportunity in any commercial or retail property market; you just need to see it and adjust your efforts accordingly.
Commercial Real Estate Online 