Preparing for Tomorrow’s Sales Today

In the world of commercial real estate, there is a significant amount of work to be done before seeing a return on your investment.  With that in mind, it’s easy to see the importance of prospecting for commercial real estate agents.  It may seem difficult when you are deeply involved in one project to take time away in order to plan for future commercial real estate endeavors but the wise commercial agent knows to always keep one eye aimed towards the future.

In general, it takes at least three months time between scouting out properties and being able to list them.  Taking the time to prospect for new business today will ensure that you are still in business next quarter.  Not only that prospecting is a way of keep your face out in the local business community.  Networking is an essential aspect of commercial development.  You don’t want your contacts to forget about you while you are immersed in another project.

Just because the people that you are talking with are not interested in investing in a property today doesn’t mean that they will not be interested in the future, and because you put yourself out there to discuss potential investments with them they will come and find you when they are ready.  Making a habit of getting out and touching base with the same people every 90 days or so will let them know that you are interested in working with them and that you have the professionalism and the tenacity to get the job done.

Talking with business owners will put you on the inside track for potential opportunities in the area.  People in business tend to notice things about their neighbors and competition that will be valuable to you as a realtor.  On the same token, if you see a property has a sign up from one of your competitors don’t be afraid to approach their neighboring properties.  One person’s motivation to sell their property often prompts a chain reaction among the surrounding properties and they typically look for competing agents to sell for them.

Commercial real estate is a huge investment. How can you be sure that you are picking a good location for your business?

A Beginners Guide to Commercial Real Estate

Developing commercial real estate is an intense, time consuming endeavor.  In order to ensure that you are making a smart investment you should have a vision for the types of business you want to house, and a basic idea of the sort of building you want to be in, whether it be an office park, a warehouse or a retail center.  It may be helpful to take a class on property management before you begin so that you will have a firm grasp on all of the options available to you.

Once you have made these determinations the next step is to investigate areas where you could potentially build.  There are trade journals and real estate professionals that will give you a basic idea of which areas are in demand.  But before investing any money in any location it would be to your advantage to visit the area and speak to the people that frequent the area and those that are already conducting business there.  These people will give you the most accurate appraisal of an area and will have the insight to comment on areas of business that you might not think to ask about such as accessibility, troubles with the power grid, upcoming construction projects and things of this nature.

Once you have found a location that you feel comfortable with and have assured that it’s zoned for the kind of commercial activity your business requires its time to secure financing.  Typically financing comes from one of two areas, either a business loan or through investors.  It’s not uncommon to finance your business through a combination of the two.

Once the land is purchased you can begin working with an architect and start locating a contractor to carry out the plans.  It will be to your advantage to request in advance weekly and monthly progress reports so that you are kept in the loop as to how the project is going.  Once the building is complete and approved by a building inspector you can begin meeting with potential tenants looking to set up shop in your development.