The best leads still come from Brokers
I use any number of means to market my commercial properties: costar, loopnet, google base, craigslist, washington post ads, direct mail, email blasts, cold calling, etc. etc. When it comes to selling buildings, there’s still nothing that beats brokers.
When I market empty buildings, I need to reach out to cooperating brokers. Larger users of space got successful by leaning on trusted advisers. They are represented by brokers 95% of the time.
When I market larger investment property, I start with my own relatively conclusive list of owners and investors across the mid-Atlantic. Once I’ve gotten the word out to that list, I expand my efforts to include the cooperating brokerage community.
Most of the buyers the internet brings me are still “small potatoes:” they might buy a $300,000 condo from me, but rarely are they in the market for that $10 million free standing warehouse. I’m not worried about being disintermediated yet (a word we real estate brokers made up I think). The process of buying real estate is still complicated…a lot more complicated than buying a stock.
Tags: costar, craigslist, Google, loopnet, washington post