Advertise with Us

Bookmark and Share

What You Don't Know About Commercial Real Estate Agents

Like it or not, if you are going to purchase a commercial property, most of the time you will have to deal with a commercial real estate agent. While you may find a number of commercial real estate agents you will unfortunately run into many that are unethical and are not fully qualified to offer a high level of service.

Commercial real estate agents have the power to make or break a good deal on property. As the selling agent for a property, they are the ones that you do all of the negotiating with in order to get the best price possible. If you know how to deal with a real estate agent, you can in fact walk away with an excellent price.

Never ask the commercial real estate agent for property advice

A vast majority of commercial real estate agents are not property investment experts. If they were, they would be doing property investment as a full time living and not selling real estate which is a very competitive field with usually very low salaries. Do not ask a commercial real estate agent for property investment advice - they will tell you whatever you need to hear in order to purchase the property. Real estate agents are not trained in real estate investments - they are trained on how to sell property and how to negotiate to get the best price for the seller. If you ask your real estate agent how many properties they actually own or have purchased in the past, you will find that most agents have only really purchased their own home and maybe one investment property or no properties at all. How can they give you property investment advice based on this experience?

A commercial real estate agent favours the seller

Most commercial real estate agents are paid very low salaries and rely on the commissions they make when selling properties. Real estate selling can be a very cut throat environment and most agents will do anything they can to maximise their commissions. A real estate agent is not on the buyer's side at all. No matter how friendly the agent seems, they are trained to say the right things and be as friendly to you as possible in order to gain your trust so that they can sell you their property for the highest price possible. While there are some genuinely trustworthy agents out there who speak only the truth, this is the exception, and even trustworthy agents need to meet quotas in order to maintain their jobs.

Written communication helps in dealing with commercial real estate agents

Commercial real estate agents are ethically and sometimes legally bound to present written offers to their vendors. If you make a ridiculously low offer for a property verbally to an agent, they will just say that the offer is too low. Chances are they will not inform the seller of the offer. However, if you present a written offer to the agent, then they are ethically and sometimes legally bound to present this offer to the seller no matter what they think of the offer. This has the benefit that if the seller if absolutely desperate to sell, they may accept the offer, and the agent is bound to sell at that price.

Don't fall for a commercial real estate agent's tricks and emotions

If a commercial real estate agent tells you that they have received another offer from someone else that beats yours, tell them to accept the offer and make it clear that you will not be increasing your offer. Then chances are the agent will be back to you the next day or so saying that the other buyers finance did not come through or some other excuse and would you be willing to resubmit your offer? Don't fall for agents tricks, as they are trained on all of these techniques. Call their bluff and you will find that many will crack and come back to you.

Commercial real estate agents are trained to play on your emotions as they know that emotions can help them get a better price from you. Treat all dealings with an agent as business deals and you will find that you will end up getting the best price for the property.

Keep all of these points in mind when dealing with real estate agents, then you are much more likely to get the best price you can for the property that you want to purchase.

/div>