The Plain Facts of Presenting and Pitching in Commercial Real Estate Brokerage
Don’t complicate your inspection and presentation processes in commercial real estate brokerage. Stick to the rules and the focus of communicating and conversing across all the facts. Keep things simple and direct as you sell the features of the property. (NB – you can get plenty of real estate presentation ideas in our Snapshot program right here – its free)
Preparation is the key to success when talking about any property as part of a brokerage relationship, an inspection, negotiation, and transaction. Have plenty of information at hand that is accurate and readily available to support your ideas and negotiation. Drop the ‘jargon’ that is so easy to fall into, and keep to the facts about the property and the location. Keep your property presentations ‘human’.
Preparation and Process in Presenting
Some degree of preparation is always required prior to any property inspection. Check out all the information provided to you by the client to ensure that all the information is accurate and up to date in every respect.
Some clients really do not understand the complexity and the legalities of commercial real estate sales and leasing, and that can later prove to be critical when ‘due diligence’ is underway and all the facts are under review. Check all the property detail that you are provided with; avoid litigation and misrepresentation problems that can later evolve from inaccurate information.
Be accurate in everything you say and do. Here are some ideas to help you with pitching and presenting your property information accurately and specifically:
- Location – provide a map of the location to identify exactly where the property is positioned in relation to others nearby, the highways, and the suburbs. As part of that process, you can offer a copy of the title plan from the title search. If there’s any doubt as to the location of the adjoining boundaries, ask the property owner to undertake a survey to find the corner pegs on the property boundaries.
- Improvements – show the positioning of the improvements in relation to the boundaries and the access points of the property. Question the client about the approvals and code compliances that apply to the fixed improvements on the property. Make sure that the structures are compliant and ‘legal’ for the purposes of your sale or lease situation. Where appropriate, check out the compliances with the local planning office. If you have any doubts about the improvements and the legal use of them, go ‘deeper’ on your questions to understand any potential problems.
- Tenant Mix – there will be leases, tenants, income streams, and vacancies to understand and talk about here as part of any property presentation. Look for all the variables of tenant occupancy and compile an accurate list of occupancy and tenant mix matters. Read the leases as part of that review. Many leases are quite complex, so be prepared to read all the documents in their entirety. Look for the differences between the leases. Some investors are quite sensitive to different lease conditions as the leases are likely to impact cash flow for some time. Read the leases comprehensively; that’s the message.
- Cash Flow – if rent is collected from tenants, understand just how that is done. Somewhere in the rent collection will be outgoings recoveries and vacancy factors to think about. The expenditure factors of the property will also impact the cash flow. Look at the income streams and check to see that those income streams and aligned to the leases and the tenants.
- Opportunities – when you know all the facts about a property, you will find it easier to understand opportunity and the good aspects of the property. Each property will have certain facts and strengths that are worth talking about. Look at the property from the perspective of the target markets. Have your ‘strength stories’ aligned to the selling process and use the facts comprehensively.
What stories can you compile about the asset and the investment? The history of the property is the first place to start. It is notable that local property stories are useful and interesting to a person considering a purchase of a commercial property.
