Commercial real estate brokerage is the fourth highest paying profession in the United States. It is a very different field than residential real estate. It's not necessarily harder....it's just completely different. It's a completely different body of knowledge, and most aspects of it are different than the practice of residential real estate.
What most residential agents don't realize is that they can participate in the hefty commissions that commercial real estate agents make simply by asking their clients a few extra questions. After all, the people that you have been selling houses to are the same people that own and run businesses, or that make the decisions to relocate or to expand for the companies that they work for. Some of them also invest in commercial real estate...office buildings, strip centers, hotels, apartment buildings, NNN properties, etc.
Assuming that you have established one or more relationships with good, reputable, honest commercial real estate agents that you can feel comfortable sending your clients to, you need only ask a few questions of your clients that you normally wouldn't ask to begin making extra money. For instance, "do you invest in commercial real estate?" is a good start. Also, "are you the decision maker (or do you know the decision maker) for your company, and are you looking to expand or relocate?" is another good one. It's really not rocket science, and your commercial agent contact can give you further guidance.
I was referred a client from another agent recently whose wife was the decision maker for a sizeable company that needed 15,000 sq. ft. of office space in downtown San Francisco. That agent ended up sharing in my $120,000 commission for that lease transaction. I have a colleague in Minnesota that was just referred a client that needs 50,000 sq. ft. of office space in Minneapolis. The commission from that deal will be over $400,000. The residential agent that referred him that client will get a six figure check for just asking a few extra questions of their client, and for making a phone call to the commercial agent. The residential agent doesn't know anything about commercial real estate, and doesn't want to know anything about it. They are perfectly happy on the residential side of the equation. However, there's no reason for them not to take advantage of the tremendous opportunities on the commercial side simply by referring.
If you don't know any commercial agents, let me know. If you are out of the area, I can probably give you a good referral or two. I was with a large national REIT for many years as the senior attorney, and we had brokers all over the country. I also am on the national faculty and the national leadership council for KW Commercial, and I know KW ommercial agents all over the country. I won't make any money referring you to them. However, that's ok. I believe that what comes around goes around.
By the way, Merry Christmas and Happy Hannukah to all of you.
One of the very best forms of lead generation that I've experienced has been forming my own leads group. If you aren't familiar with leads groups, they involve a group of people in sales that get together each week (or every other week) to exchange leads. The members are generally in various types of sales positions, and are out their cold calling and lead generating. Through the course of these activities, a residential mortgage person might meet someone that wants to buy a home, or a residential sales agent might meet someone that needs a financial planner. In a leads group, each person is charged with thinking of people to refer to the other members of the leads group. That way, you theoretically have 15 or 20 or thirty other salespeople out there with their eyes and ears open to find you clients. Of course, you do the same for them. You can generally find leads groups through BNI and BRN, both of which work through area chambers of commerce.
Another alternative may be to start your own. If you are a residential real estate agent or a mortgage person, you will probably have to do just that. Those are almost always the first spots taken, and many leads groups are started by these folks because they can't find a spot in an existing group.
In any recessionary time, there is always disagreement about where the bottom of the market is and when we will hit it. Here's an article where several economists predict that home prices will hit the bottom around the middle of 2009. Since it is homeowners that ultimately buy from retail stores and open offices that support office buildings, then following the housing markets is always a useful indicator of how the commercial markets will perform.
Happy Reading!!!
http://www.propertytalk.com/forum/showthread.php?t=18439
-Director of KW Commercial Palo Alto. -Member of KW Commercial national leadership advisory council. -member of the national retail advisors network. -member of KW Commercial national faculty. Established commercial real estate broker and attorney with over twenty three years of experience in retail and office leasing, project development, and purchase and sale transactions. I gladly accept referrals across the country from residential agents.
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