How to Draw on the Five Opportunities of the Commercial Real Estate Market
In commercial real estate brokerage it is critical that you watch the changes and shifts of tenants, businesses, and investors. There will be good property opportunities to tap into most of the year. Property pressures will change for those groups regularly, and on that basis there are listings and property leads to work on.
Where are the leads?
Talking to the right people in a regular way will help you find the leads.
To draw on the opportunities in your city or town, set up a monitoring process across the following facts and trends:
- Vacant properties – Any vacancy is a drain on rental income and can disrupt property ownership. Many landlords eventually get frustrated by extended vacancies and think that the ‘open list’ process will open up the listing to other people in the market. The reality of the ‘open list’ situation is far from the truth. Any property that has not leased is generally overpriced from a rental perspective and may also not have been comprehensively marketed by a professional agent with a good market coverage. Exclusivity will always create better levels of enquiry, providing that the agent in question knows what they are doing and is committed to marketing the property correctly.
- Extended sale or lease campaigns – If a property listing is not comprehensively marketed then the time on market will be longer. Watch for the listings with other agents that are slowing in promotion and not seemingly getting enquiry. It is likely that the property owner will soon look to changing agents. Are you a better solution to take on the listing? Can you do other things that the previous agent has omitted? Can you convert some vendor paid marketing funds?
- Levels of enquiry – Across your office and within your brokerage you can track the levels of enquiry coming in on a weekly basis from the various campaigns. Look for the patterns in the enquiry. What are people looking for and in what price ranges? Can you pick a property type where most of the listings are selling or leasing? When you know the facts about the property enquiry you can do more with your prospecting for listings and you can shorten the time on market.
- Best methods of sale or lease – Some methods of sale or lease will be better than others. Essentially every marketing campaign should be moving tenants and buyers to take action and lift the telephone, inspect the property, and make offers. If your marketing efforts are not producing momentum across those three things then you have an issue with the method of sale or lease, and or the property could have negative elements of presentation or position that should be addressed. Get on top of your property issues and the marketing campaign early. Help the client understand what is going on and how they can allow you to adjust the campaign for more responses.
- Marketing responses – By location and by agent you will see factors and indicators relating to incoming enquiry. Every marketing method should be addressed and tracked for effectiveness so you know that you are pulling in the right levels of enquiry for the marketing spend.. Can you say specifically where most of your enquiry is coming from across the internet, newspapers, and database activity? Can you improve your marketing efforts with video, professionally prepared copy, and better pictures and images? A building can be quite ordinary from a visual perspective unless special marketing strategies and images are used.
So there are many things that you can do here to draw on the fullest of opportunities in your property market. Watch all the indicators and make the right choices for your clients and for yourself. Attract the right listings exclusively and do everything that you can to achieve a positive outcome for your clients. That’s the rule.