“If you want something done right, you had better do it yourself.” We’ve all heard that cliche, but every seasoned business owner knows they can’t do everything. Eventually, you have to delegate and recruit experts to get the job done.
But finding commercial real estate to buy or lease is one of the most impactful decisions you can make for your business. It can set you up either for success, or for failure. Should you really trust the search to someone else … even if that “someone else” is a qualified and experienced commercial real estate broker?
Here are seven reasons why you should strongly consider working with a commercial real estate broker for your commercial property search …
1. Save Time with a Commercial Real Estate Broker
Business is all about cultivating assets, and there is no more valuable asset — in business or in life — than time. Why? Because it’s in limited supply and it is irreplaceable. You can always make more money, make more sales, or generate more equity valuation. But no one can get back time.
Without a broker, every task that goes into finding the right commercial property for your company has to be executed by you or someone on your team. That’s valuable hours of productivity you will never get back.
When you engage a commercial real estate broker for your search, the broker does most of the work. Your only job is to review the choices the broker puts in front of you and pick the property that works best for you. Your time is free to continue building and operating your business, confident that your search is progressing behind the scenes thanks to your broker.
2. Save Money
Time may be the most valuable asset we have, but money doesn’t hurt either. Working with a commercial real estate broker can save you this asset as well.
Many companies that conduct their own commercial property search end up overpaying. They don’t negotiate as hard as they could. They agree to fees and expenses they don’t have to agree to. They don’t conduct a thorough search and end up buying or leasing an overpriced property. Or they overestimate their needs and end up with more property than they need.
The knowledge, experience, and skill set of a committed and qualified commercial broker can help you avoid all of these cost pitfalls, leaving your business with an even bigger cash cushion to carry you through the lean times and capitalize on the boom times.
3. More Access
By running your own commercial real estate search, you only have access to public-facing platforms. However, this isn’t the full selection of properties available to you. Many suitable commercial properties may be located behind paywalls or as part of broker-only listing networks.
A commercial broker will have access to every property currently on the market. Through their network, they may even have access to properties listed off-market — exceptional deals you might never even know about unless you worked with a well-connected broker.
Beware, though — some big brokerage houses won’t show you all their options because they are trying to give preferred service to huge clients. Essentially, these brokers have split loyalties — you as a client, but also to protect their whales.
Make sure you choose a broker who isn’t beholden to big clients but rather is committed to getting you the best deal possible on the most suitable property.
4. Market Knowledge
The commercial real estate landscape is always changing. To find good deals and act quickly, you have to have your finger on the pulse. Maybe you enjoy tracking commercial real estate markets, reading trade publications, etc. … but let’s go back to #1. Is that really the best use of your time?
A good commercial real estate broker keeps a finger on that pulse. You can benefit from this market knowledge — deal identification, negotiating points, prevailing rates and concessions — by hiring that broker to take the wheel of your search.
5. Specialization in Commercial Real Estate
You’re in business to do the business you are in. A manufacturer knows manufacturing; a restaurateur knows restauranting. They may know a thing or two about real estate, but building that separate skill set is not a good use of their time. Their time is better spent developing their chosen business.
Commercial real estate brokers know real estate. We know where the deals are, and how to spot a good deal from a bad deal. An experienced commercial real estate investor can even help a company get clear about what they need from their space and help them better identify the right property — or avoid the financial disaster that comes from committing to the wrong property.
6. Connections
Despite all the technological advances of the last few decades, real estate is old-school — it remains a business of relationships. The better the relationships, the better your deal.
A commercial broker has many relationships that could help your search. Relationships with other brokers and property owners to put more deals in front of you. Relationships with vendors who will help you acquire and outfit your space quickly for reasonable rates because they value their relationship with the broker and want to do right by their clients. Relationships with other business owners with whom you can form partnerships.
7. No Cost to You
We have outlined several valuable benefits to handing over the reins of your commercial property search to a commercial real estate broker. Clearly these benefits are worth all the money you will pay to your commercial broker for these valuable services … which is $0.
Yes, perhaps the best reason to hire a commercial real estate broker for your commercial property search is that it costs you nothing.
Why? Because if you wind up buying property, the broker’s commission comes from the seller, not the buyer. If you wind up leasing property, the broker’s commission comes from the lessor, not the tenant.
Not only is there no business downside to using a commercial broker for your search, there’s no financial downside either.
If you’re ready to start your search — or at least ready to start the conversation — reach out to me today. As a RE/MAX Commercial Broker, I am independent, accountable to no one but my clients, and able to capitalize on my decades of commercial real estate experience to get you the best deal possible.