Worthiness Of A Commercial RE Agent?
How many of you use a commercial agent in your search for commercial and residential development properties? And what info do you expect him to provide in your determination of whether it's a great deal?
I need lots of help on this one, guys?
I appreciate it in advance.
As a broker of property with development potential (mostly residential), I do some preliminary screening where it's possible before submitting the property to a client:
1. verify the current zoning
2. look at the tax map
3. get info on the utilities (public v. on-site) and FEMA
4. drive by the property
5. run some numbers based on rough site yield and projected sale value of end product
Due diligence is an ongoing process and is site specific, of course, so the above is just "phase 1."
Everything Nancy said is right on the money. I am both a developer and an agent and I can tell if an agent knows what is going on in about 2-5 minutes of talking with them. Using a good agent/broker can be a major success for you. Above all, don't try to cheat a good agent/broker out of their commission. I assure you that a broker that knows what they are doing will make you a lot more money in the long run than you will make in short changing them. Find the brokers with the best reputation and work with them. Often you will rarely see these peoples names on a sign. I have not put a sign up on a property I have sold in over a year. A few phone calls and it is done.
Again, all the items Nancy mentioned are items that a competent broker would provide to you, though none of that is required. I also try to give the buyer some insight into the political climate and what the possible options may be for rezoning to different use or density. I also try and at least get some basic topography of the property either via an online data base or the county GIS deptarment.
woodsong,
would you know of any good brokers to work with here in the Tampa Bay area or Sarasota county?
How do find these brokers. I want to get into commercial properties but do not know very much about them.
Quote:
On 2004-09-21 00:22, woodsong wrote:
Everything Nancy said is right on the money. I am both a developer and an agent and I can tell if an agent knows what is going on in about 2-5 minutes of talking with them. Using a good agent/broker can be a major success for you. Above all, don't try to cheat a good agent/broker out of their commission. I assure you that a broker that knows what they are doing will make you a lot more money in the long run than you will make in short changing them. Find the brokers with the best reputation and work with them. Often you will rarely see these peoples names on a sign. I have not put a sign up on a property I have sold in over a year. A few phone calls and it is done.
Again, all the items Nancy mentioned are items that a competent broker would provide to you, though none of that is required. I also try to give the buyer some insight into the political climate and what the possible options may be for rezoning to different use or density. I also try and at least get some basic topography of the property either via an online data base or the county GIS deptarment.
I use pretty much the same broker on almost all of my buys. This works in several ways,
1) If John sees a property he thinks I might be interested in he calls me and brings it to my attention. Sometimes that is accompanied with comps, etc. sometimes not. He has a pretty good idea of what I buy and how I decide these things so sometimes we don't bother to do any due diligence until after I walk the property and express an interest.
2) If I am out and see a brokers sign on something that looks interesting I call John and give him the address, the listers name and phone no. He takes it from there, gets price, etc. Sometimes he calls me back to say he thinks it is way over priced and there is no point to look, sometimes he calls me back to say he's scheduled a walk through.
3) If I'm out looking and I find a FSBO or a property that looks like it should be for sale but has no sign then John will run comps, etc. for which he charges me nothing.
4) If another broker approaches me for a property he has listed but which John has not brought to my attention I am free to work with that broker but generally I send them to John. I fugure if somebody is going to collect half the commission for dealing with me it might as well be the guy who deals with me on a regular basis.
5) John lists almost everything I have for sale or rent. The exception would be if I were going to do a residential condo conversion then I would list it with somebody else who specializes in such things.
6) If/when I buy out of state I deal direct with the broker who is the listiing agent.