How do you find your CREs?

[Ahmad Gharaibeh]

Hello,

I am interested in commercial real estate.  How would one find such property?  Loopnet seems to be a last resort type of listing and people seem to have access to these property outside the scope of a standard listing on the internet.

[Joel Owens]

Hi Ahmad,

Occasionally Loopnet has Gold. I will find a property listed by a single owner or broker on the basic that most people can't see without the paid account. They know nothing about pricing and you get  a good deal. Other times and old property became stale but now they are super motivated to sell.

So I have my full time office assistant make tons of calls a day to other brokerages and owners directly looking for properties. I also call property management companies and developers. We do mailers as well.

Finding the property is just one component. Knowing how to conduct proper due diligence, obtain optimal financing, and buy at the right price for the market cycle is key.

Roy mentioned driving around and looking at property. That is one way of doing it but you might not want value add but  a fully stabilized product. My clients nationally do not have TIME even if they know how to do it to locate a property. If someone is making 500k a year or more at  a job then they use other professionals to source properties. I do this all day sourcing commercial property for clients.  

Depending on the size of the brokerage they might market properties internally for a few weeks to their lists and the really good clients even before then with a basic one page flyer.

Buyer broker and listing brokers do not want to work with flaky or indecisive buyers. When I work with sellers or other brokers they know my buyers are real, educated on the process, and I have reviewed and seen their financial capability. I am on the lists for internal properties so I can get my clients the first looks.

So define how active or passive you want to be, and the type of asset class ( retail, multifamily, industrial, office, etc. to get focus and direction with your investing plans. Deal size 1,2,3,5 million etc.) will affect financing and types of loans with quality of product available.

Additionally go to the proper commercial broker based on what you want to invest in. For instance if you want industrial I wouldn't be the best fit. I have a few contacts but my deepest network is for retail and larger multifamily properties because it is what I focus on day in and day out.

Hope it helps.