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FacebookI want to purchase a commercial real estate property, preferably a retail or office property. How do I find a good agent to help me out since I’m a complete novice? Specifically, what are some good screening questions I should ask him/her to make sure they know what they’re doing- beyond just the standard “how long have you been doing this” kind of stuff?
word of mouth is the best
you can talk to friends or relatives who have bought property and ask them
or you can look around and see what properties are for sale or have recently been bought call the new owners and ask them about their real estate agency
I can’t answer specifically for commercial. But generally speaking:
You’ll want to know what, if any, fees there are to you. Some ‘Buyer’s Agents’ charge a fee to the buyer.
You’ll also want to know what their search methods are for finding available real estate. For instance, do they search with in their own listings, do they search “for sale by owner”… etc.
Other than that, ask around. Go to other businesses in the area you are looking to purchase and get their opinions.
GL
Go with a brokerage that specialises in CRE such as C.B. Richrad Ellis…..funny thing about CRE is that mist inventory is rarely advertised in traditional medium but a specilaized CRE agent will know who is selling and will help you determine if the price is too high. There are certain things to look out for when analysing income-producing proeprty that are unique to CRE: 1) Strength of net cash flow 2) Cap rates 3) NPV (net present value) 4) Character of bldg. A good CRE agent will know about these factors.
internet,internet, internet! Thank goodness for the internet it allows all businesses to compete for your business including commercial real estate… my suggestion would be type in “city name commercial real estate” and see what comes up.. when i search in my area for real estate this site comes up http://www.barryloomis.com/
He has tons of information and he would be worth contacting, as you see he also specializes in one area.. you want to look for the same thing but of course for your area.. if they work in commercial real estate they will have it listed on their site.. you can make a list of ones you found and start calling..
a web site says a lot about a realtor..the example above has tons of information, he spent a lot of time into it which tells me a lot about him as a realtor…
hope all this helps!