Are all commercial real estate agents like this?

Question

I recently purchased a commercial real estate property and on the verge of closing. I am interested in investing in more properties so for the past three months, I have been constant on the look out and looking for properties on Loopnet and Crexi. For any property that looks interesting, I am sending the broker an email and if I don't get a response, sending an LOI and proof of funds to qualify my intent to purchase. Here is where I am getting frustrated. More than 75% of the emails and LOIs are going unanswered. I am scratching my head as to whether the property is sold and the listing services aren't updated, or the broker is just plain lazy and doesn't care. And almost all of these brokers are representing big name companies like SRS, Marcus & Millichap, Horvarth... etc.

This also makes me wonder if I should ever engage a broker when I want to sell my property in the future? If all they are doing is listing it on Costar and Crexi and twiddling their thumbs, why can't I just do the damn thing myself? If they aren't responding to interested buyers, they are being nothing but cockblocks - I am probably better off selling it myself.

Now that my rant is over, how do I get better response to my queries from these brokers? My apologies in advance to all those responsible and responsive CRE brokers who are good at their job. Obviously you are a minority - based on my anecdotal experience.

Prithvi Sri · Answer

@Russell Brazil, I forgot to mention - a phone call is the first thing I do before sending an email. But as we all know, very rarely do people pick up the phone call - especially an out of state phone call. So I do leave a VM and then send the email. Perhaps I should’ve been more clear, but then... I was ranting 😄

Cason Acor · Answer

@Steve Morris he literally said in his post that he provides proof of funds with his offers.

Russell Brazil · Answer

Have you ever actually picked up the phone to talk to someone?

Ash Patel · Answer

I am baffled at the question.  If I see a deal good enough to pursue, I will not lose it.  I will get a hold of the agent one way or another.  I will call their colleagues, their broker, I've even called their previous employers.  In a recent transaction, the agent verbally accepted our offer but for whatever reason refused to send us a contract.  I tried having other people contact him and same deal.  I finally got my agent to put the offer in and he finally sent him the contract.  I have also threatened to call the property owner and let them know that their agent sucks.  That certainly gets their attention.  First mover advantage has made me a lot of money over the years.  Be relentless.  Send your balance sheet with your offer if that helps.  I got a hold of an agent early Sat morning for a listing that went live late Friday night.  Everyone else waited until Monday and some offered $200k higher than my accepted contract price.  Sending an email and waiting is not how you get deals done boss.

Michael K Gallagher · Answer

@Prithvi Sri brokers get inondated every day with mostly BS, your are likely just getting caught up in that filter.  Its been mentioned here before but picking up the phone means even more in commercial than it does in residential.

As an aside if you are purchasing commercial properties why are you not working with a buyer's broker rep?  They likely will have relationships with most of these listing agents you are reaching out to, and like in any real estate transaction its always well worth it to have someone in your corner.  if you are looking for and wanting a level of service, it could be worth building that relationship now on the buy side.

Joel Owens · Answer

Most listing companies make money on VOLUME.

Because of the split to the company and the split to the team they often make very little money per transaction. So they are often overstretched with resources to reply to offers or buyers.

I think when we last conversed was a few years back. I think you were after smaller balance MTNL but not sure. Some listing companies leave listings up as bait to lure in buyer calls when they know the diamond property sold long ago.

Loren Howe · Answer

Just logging in to say I feel your pain.  I used to think residential brokers/agents were a terrible bunch, but commercial is another level of lazy/corrupt.  My experience is the exactly the same as yours, but guess we just have lots more effort and/or expense to even have data to begin to consider a deal.  One bright point is usually in any arena, the more difficulty middlemen create, the fewer investors you’ll have to compete against.

Bennet Sebastian · Answer

Try a phone call. If that still doesn’t work then send a letter directly to the property owner letting know of your interest and lack of response from their broker.

Jonathan R McLaughlin · Answer

@Prithvi Sri Ok, yes I think thats part of it! And saying you will send an LOI without having any pro-forma information is probably producing an eye roll and a push of the delete button. Might be different now that you have the property closed, but try something like the script i gave you and I bet the responses are much better. Your goal is to signal 1) you know what you are doing and CAN CLOSE 2) you won't waste their time and 3) The overall relationship is  potentially worth at least a callback

John McKee · Answer

Welcome to the world of Commercial Real Estate where anything goes!  Brokers don't have the time to answer every call as there are a lot of tire kickers out there! Be relentless on your search!  I usually come in representing myself as a big time landlord (although I am not).  For example:  we are looking to add to our portfolio of Class A real estate and we would love to take a look at this property immediately because it meets our criteria.  Please let us know your availability for a phone call.  Sincerely,  abc realty LLC.

Also in your LOI add your banker, title company contact, or anyone else on your team that helps to complete your transactions.  Puff up your chest and proceed forth and you will get noticed.

Are all commercial real estate agents like this?

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