commercial real estate

They never appreciate in value. Never never never. Research research research. buyer beware.

I spoke with a REIT executive who confirmed my impression that the days of bidding wars for commercial real estate, even in the hot Washington DC market, are over for now. Where once brokers set bid deadlines and were assured of a dozen offers, brokers are now “quietly marketing” properties to a handful of buyers. The fear? No one wants to strike out, end up with no offers for their building, and be embarrassed.

The parallel is the residential side where once brokers could have an open house on Sunday, set a bid deadline of 7 pm on Monday, and count on a bidding war.

I made a foray into trulia.com. can’t see using it to search for my next home.

maybe the same people who make their own beer will enjoy slogging through these incomplete listings of a handful of the properties that are on the market on their own, drifting through the wind without a sale (no pun intended).

Amazing that even in this day and age they have managed to raise $18 million that has clearly been squandered on worthless gimmicks like a “heat map.” Exactly what value does the $18 million heat map have to me as a home buyer? Zilch. Smoke and mirrors, ladies and gentlemen.

The realtor.com (found via Microsoft’s MSN real estate site) has 52 listings in my zip code. Trulia? 15.

The grand total of real estate experience on Trulia’s leadership team? Two years and 10 months.

The commercial world needs a free service like this because there’s no true multiple list in our world. Trulia defines superfluous.

Go ahead. Persuade me I’m wrong.

I have every exclusive listing professional photographed.

Jim Oesch, one of the best commercial real estate photographers in the country, charges me well less than $1000 to shoot a building. Jim is flown all over the country to shoot buildings.

He makes buildings look so good, I’ve actually got complaints from prospective buyers: “the building doesn’t look nearly as good in person!”

I argue your marketing materials not only sell your listing, but win you your next one. Whether we’re talking about a residential commission (in the five figure range) or a larger commercial sale, it’s money well spent.