Commercial real estate is a special class of investment property. It lives and breathes income and price. As a real estate agent, that should be the basis for your listing presentation and to improve your chances of closing on the listing with the seller of the property.
As agents and salespeople, we are up against several other real estate agents in most listing presentations. The seller needs to be convinced of your ability to get the best price for the property and in the timeliest way. That is the best leverage you can use to win the listing.
As part of the pitch in the sales listing presentation, consider this question:
“Just how can the income of the property be used to enhance the price that the seller can get in today’s market?”
To answer the question you really do need to know about the current and future cash flow that comes out of the property. That means reading the lease in detail and with focus on:
- Income strength
- Lease term
- Rent review and option terms
- Income growth
- Tenant profile
- Tenant stability
- Minimal vacancy threat
- Lease strength and controls over the tenant
- Lease protection for the landlord
These points will attract investment buyer interest. Knowing the answers will help you convert the seller’s property to a listing. Show the seller that you really do understand the lease and the value it brings the property in sale.
Not all presentations are simple when it comes to selling commercial property and you can have a number of hurdles to overcome. Importantly you can be prepared for these hurdles if you take the right steps such as:
- Comprehensively inspect the property before you meet with the seller. As a result of that inspection be prepared to talk to the property from a detailed perspective.
- Take pictures of the property that can be available on a laptop for use in your presentation with the seller if required.
- Itemise the strengths and weaknesses of the property today that will be points to handle in the marketing campaign. As part of the listing presentation focus on the strengths and how you intend to use them in the marketing of the property.
- Establish the target market that will be ideal for the property promotion. From that target market show how you intend to reach them, and exactly what the requirements are from that target market in today’s terms.
- Understand where the competition property is located relative to the subject property and just how the competition property can impact the marketing of the subject property.
- Understand the local property history and comparable rents and prices from completed sales and listings for that type of property. Be prepared to use those figures as evidence and argument to support your marketing campaign.
- Understand the supply and demand for local property including the threat of new property developments coming up.
- Be prepared to talk about return on investment in the current market and how that will impact price to the seller.
- Comment on property enquiry of recent time, where it comes from and what they are looking for.
This knowledge will help you find the right points of closure as you present your real estate services to the seller of the property. Local property knowledge and your ability to provide it whilst tapping into the target market will help the seller see that you are the real estate agent of choice to market the property and get the best price.