The real estate market is hot right now. In fact, it is downright competitive in almost every market. While off-market deals have been steadily increasing in popularity over recent years, the high demand has made this an option for many property owners. While it’s common to think of the benefits to the seller, there are in fact several benefits for commercial real estate brokers and their clients as well. Let’s dive into how you can find motivated sellers of off-market commercial properties.
What is an off-market property?
An off-market property is a property that is not listed on any public listing service. There are currently more than 50 million commercial properties in the United States, but at any given time only about 1% of them are publicly listed for sale. As a CRE broker, you can find properties that meet your buyer’s criteria and contact that owner directly to see if they’re interested in a private sale. Since roughly 49% of commercial properties are not listed for sale, you can set your eye on a wide array of properties instead of solely focusing on the public listings.
Benefits of off-market deals
Since the commercial real estate market is so competitive right now, off-market properties have drastically less competition (possibly even no competition)! That alone can be a huge benefit for your clients since they won’t be competing with a multiple offer situation. Having the ability to connect directly with the property owner also gives you clear insight into what they want, from price to terms of the sale. Off-market deals can truly be a win-win for all parties.
By considering off-market properties, you can drastically increase the potential properties that meet your clients’ search criteria. From property type to location to size and other distinctive features, you can find a larger pool of properties.
Know your market
Knowing your local market is critical when it comes to finding motivated sellers, and it can be a competitive advantage for you as well. As a commercial real estate broker, your goal is to find the right property for your clients – even if that property is currently off-market. Reaching out to off-market property owners puts you in control and oftentimes means you are contacting them before anyone else. Keep in mind that the owner may not be interested in selling at that time, but it gives you the opportunity to make a connection for the future. When you are looking at off-market properties, you should consider your buyer’s criteria to narrow down the options. It will also be helpful to know what the current owner paid for the property, what improvements have been made since the acquisition, and how the market has changed. All of this information will be critical in determining the current market value of the property.
How to find off-market properties
Our map-based real estate software, LandVision™, makes it easy for you to identify property ownership information. You can conduct your own market research and analysis to identify the properties that meet your criteria. LandVision™ allows you to search for properties by type, size, price, and more. We also make it quick and easy to view the location demographics, traffic details, nearby points of interest, as well as school zones and rankings. Plus, you can run your own comp analysis to help determine the fair market value for the property of interest.
At LightBox, we have had the opportunity to help over 17,000 commercial real estate professionals find off-market properties and we would love to help you too! Contact us today to schedule a demo of LandVision™ and see how easy it can be to find motivated sellers for off-market commercial properties.
