Getting in Touch With Commercial Brokers

[Naaman Newbold]

My wife and I are venturing into larger properties and are running into our first snag: we're having a tough time getting in touch with commercial brokers. Over the past 9 months, we have built a portfolio of 5 properties (11 doors) with our largest being a fourplex. We also have a few deals in the pipeline. The team of property managers and brokers we've built, however, does not have exposure to larger properties. We're looking for properties in the range of 10-25 units (as a basic filter, but not married to those numbers) and we're generally open to any area. We're based in SF and our properties are currently in WI, TX, and TN.

So far, we've tried using our team to find larger properties and reached out to brokers listed on specific loopnet listings. We also plan to meet with a mentor during the holidays to get some advice on approaches. Does anyone have any additional strategies for getting in touch with commercial brokers?

Thanks for any advice!

[Joel Owens]

10 to 25 units is tough. Not much product out there expect for older stuff. Most built in the last 20 years was scale because profitability depends on critical mass with the number of units.

The larger brokers do not deal in 10 to 25 units as it is not worth their time. Most would be minimum 100 unit properties or higher.

If there are 100 buyers looking for 10 units but very little out there it is a wild goose chase for a commercial broker to find it and eventually get paid.