Here’s the Easiest Way to Use Commercial Real Estate Search Engines
Specializes in providing actionable insights into the commercial real estate space for investors, brokers, lessors, and lessees. He covers quarterly market data reports, investment strategies, how-to guides, and top-down perspectives on market movements.
Let us give you the best piece of advice that we can from the beginning: anything that really saves you time is truly worth its weight in gold. Like land, time is something that’s pretty finite. We aren’t really making any more of it, but we can use what we have better with the proper tools. So the mission, should you choose to accept it, is to do realistic things to free up more of your time.
The easiest way to accomplish this is through using commercial real estate search engines to make it easier to buy and sell commercial properties. You can look up listings for sale, as well as post your own listings when you’re ready to switch from buyer to seller.
What Makes Commercial Real Estate Search Engines So Special?
Let’s focus on locating the right properties. The biggest advantage of using a search engine is that it puts the information at your fingertips. You can quickly filter through the available listings without going through a bunch of properties that don’t match your property portfolio goals.
Keep in mind that the companies running commercial real estate search engines have a reputation to uphold. Indeed, they want to make sure that they’re only listing the best properties possible. They conduct a bit of research to ensure that the property you’re looking at genuinely exists. There is often a fee to have your property listed, which helps keep out fraudulent listings.
Fake listings don’t help anyone, so basic research ensures each listing corresponds to real property. You’ll still have to do your research and ensure that you have a clear title on any property you ultimately purchase. Yet if you see properties listed, you can be confident that it’s at least a real place and that the owners are aware of the property being listed for sale.
What to Expect From a Typical Listing
Every listing will be different from site to site because every search engine is going to have a slightly different setup. However, there are a few things that you should get out of most listings:
- Total List Price;
- $ Per Square Foot;
- Total Square Feet;
- Year Built;
- Property Type;
- Zoning.
Other information in listings includes net operating income, frontage, parking, and whether or not the property is in an opportunity zone.
Do You Have to Have Financing Ready?
When you’re looking at listings, and you see a property you like, it becomes tempting to jump on it. Yet, you might have some reservations. Do you have to have financing ready to go to get a tour of the property?
Most listing agents will want to confirm that you do have financing to see a property, but not all. It’s important to understand that the agent wants to find the right buyer as soon as possible, so someone that’s still doing a lot of proverbial window shopping isn’t high on the list.
If you see something you like, it doesn’t take a lot of time to reach out to a commercial mortgage lender. You can let them know about a property that you’re interested in. Having a set plan for the property is extremely important in commercial mortgage underwriting. The financing is deal-specific, which includes expressing your vision for the property. This is also the case if the property in question needs additional renovation work to reopen to the public.
So no, you don’t have to have a huge war chest right at the beginning in order to make the most out of commercial real estate search engines. However, you do want to make it clear that you have ways to tap into funding to move a deal forward.
A Small Note about Working with Listing Agents
Listing agents are busy. They are working on many things at once, which means that they are forever walking a tight rope between being too busy and not having enough in the pipeline. Despite being incredibly busy, most agents are still striving to be as helpful as possible.
It is common to assume that listing agents are dismissive, but that isn’t true. You and your agent will extensively work with the owner and their agent to move from start to finish on a deal. And while there are two sides to every negotiation, you will do yourself a great disserve to assume that you have to be at war with the other side.
Everyone wants the same thing: to get a property sold (seller), to acquire a property (buyer), and to have a successful close (agents).
Listing Your Properties for Sale
One element that search engines have in spades is online traffic. So if you’re thinking about listing your commercial property for sale, doing it with a search engine is a wise idea. They know how to bring in traffic, and they will partner with you to get the property sold because they benefit from the sale. After all, if they can’t help you get a commercial building sold, then no one else will be interested in their marketing packages.
You can spend a little bit of money or a lot of money to list a property. It just depends on how much the property is worth and what type of buyers you’re trying to attract. Today’s buyer is savvier than ever because they have plenty of information at their fingertips as well.
Look for the best marketing package that is a blend of quality photography, video, and ongoing marketing assistance.
A Few Considerations Moving Forward
Once again, anything that saves time is well worth looking into. If you’re going to grow your real estate portfolio, tapping into time-saving resources is going to help you expand faster than trying to save a few pennies "doing it all yourself".
Commercial real estate search engines are here to stay, and they’re a valuable resource amongst the other tools in your arsenal. Use them well to narrow down the field to the right properties that meet your portfolio goals.
List and Browse Commercial Real Estate for Free with MyEListing.com!
Don’t want to pay to use a commercial real estate search engine? You can list and browse commercial real estate for free on MyEListing.com! Sign up for an account and receive access to accurate market intelligence, customized property type alerts, and more.
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