5 Great Benefits of Hiring a Commercial Agent

As a property owner, you may wonder if there are benefits to hiring a commercial agent and how they can help you. Highlighted below are five reasons hiring a commercial agent can help you sell or lease your property.

By Andy Mayr, CCIM

1. Employ an Expert: Typically, property owners (both sellers and landlords) do not have the experience of a professional real estate agent and could turn to hiring a commercial agent to help them sell and/or lease their property. Commercial agents (or commercial real estate brokers) can walk through a property and see right away what needs to be done in order to get a deal completed. Agents can recommend relatively simple improvements to a property that can help a space sell or lease faster and for a higher price. In many cases, property owners are so used to seeing their property that they will likely not realize what changes can be made to improve their property. 
2. Use of Sales Tools: Commercial real estate agents have a number of professional tools at their fingertips that can get your property exposed to a myriad of prospects. These tools include searchable databases, such as Costar and Loopnet, that have far-reaching access and can get your property in front of potential purchasers, tenants, and other brokers throughout the country. Property owners do not have access to these services unless they pay a very big subscription fee, but commercial brokers use these tools on behalf of their clients.
3. Avoid Legal Issues: Hiring a commercial agent can also protect property owners from potential litigation. There are all kinds of liability issues that sellers and landlords could face when dealing one-on-one with a buyer or tenant.  Agents, who have experience dealing with these liability issues, can help property owners avoid such scenarios.   
4. Save Time and Energy: Property owners might not have any idea whom they are dealing with when it comes to the financial capabilities of a potential purchaser or tenant. Commercial brokers have the necessary experience to examine the prospects to determine if they have the credit and financial capabilities required to make the purchase or lease. This saves property owners from potentially wasting time and energy dealing with bad credit prospects.
5. Avoid Yourself: It is a buyer’s (or tenant’s) market out there and with all the information available online, they can be tough negotiators. Hiring a commercial agent can help you negotiate the best deal. Experienced commercial agents have been through the process numerous times and are trained in negotiating tactics giving them a potential edge in working out a deal in the property owner’s best interest. As an owner, it is difficult to do that with your property, particularly if you are anxious to sell or lease your space. The prospect can get feedback just by observing an owner’s facial expressions, body language and speech. It is best to avoid this! Commercial brokers provide an extra barrier between the owner and prospect, which helps with negotiations.

Andy Mayr is Senior Vice President at NAI Michael and has been working with us since 1989. He has a wide breadth of commercial real estate knowledge and experience, having completed over 1,000 transactions.