Author Archives: admin

Who’s Getting Top Dollar, You or Your Commercial Real Estate Broker?

To get top dollar for your commercial property, you market it to the world.  A recent MANSARD survey of over 1,000 investors revealed that commercial broker to commercial real estate broker networking is believed to be the number one activity a commercial real estate broker undertakes to fill vacancies or sell property.

Yet commercial real estate investors continue to hire commercial brokers who market their property to an exclusive list. If you choose that route for confidentiality, read no further.

Others, I’ll ask you, ” Who’s really getting top dollar? You or your commercial broker? ”

Commercial real estate brokerages developed to represent owners of real estate. Offices competed for property listings and worked to lease or sell their inventory to their commercial real estate investor and tenant prospects. Over time, some offices chose to cooperate with one another, share fees, and collaboratively sell or lease a commercial property because it helped them perform faster, saving their clients money while delivering results and the dollars they desired.

The more people who worked to lease or sell your commercial property, the better your chance of success.

Other commercial real estate investment companies believed they possessed the complete list of tenants and commercial real estate investors.  They maintained that they had the best channel to market and as long as they did, owners would come to them to promote their property opportunities, keeping 100% of their fees and controlling their slice of the action.

Old habits die hard. Some commercial real estate companies continue to cooperate, others do not. The ones that don’t, send your opportunity to their market and tell you they’re exposing it to the world.

Here’s why this matters to you: your commercial real estate broker’s responsible for placing loyalty to your interests above his own.

This means exposing your property opportunity to the largest possible audience to generate a deal.   And if you stand to make more money on a deal going in one direction vs. another, your commercial real estate broker is obligated to give you the best advice to suit your needs, not his own–even if that means he makes less and you make more.

The next time you’re meeting with your commercial broker, ask him whether he cooperates with other brokers and markets openly.  It may mean a faster, more lucrative transaction for you.

About the Author: Jeremy Cyrier, CCIM is the founder/principal of MANSARD Commercial Properties and member of the CCIM Institute faculty. He delivers thoughtful, large scale commercial real estate solutions to the individual challenges owners and tenants face. Jeremy Cyrier, CCIM was elected by Banker & Tradesman as one of its New Leaders in 2009. You may reach Jeremy at Jeremy@Mansardcre.com.

Get free updates sent straight to your email box by filling in your name and email below.

How to Win the Acquisitions Game – Boston Commercial Real Estate

An investor called the other day and complained, “I’ve talked to a bunch of brokers, but can’t find the deal I want. Can you send me a list of what you have for sale?”

We sent our list and asked the investor what he wanted. He said, “You know, a good deal. Something that makes sense. All I’m seeing out there are opportunities that are either overpriced or gone before I had a shot at them.” Continue reading →

What’s Your Terminal Cap Rate Assumption?

Don’t repeat the same mistake that investors made over the past 5 years.  Commercial real estate investors were betting on the come–that the next investor would pay a lower cap rate–and as cap rates decompressed, or increased, values declined and investors who based their projections on a lower terminal or exit cap rate, were caught holding the hot potato. Continue reading →

How to End, Endless Negotiations – Boston Commercial Real Estate

Time kills all deals, right? Yes, but to make deals happen, you must avoid time’s accomplice, the do loop.  We enter do loop unaware and full of good intentions, but what we have is an endless negotiation or circle of discussions that accomplishes nothing except to make us feel as though we’re accomplishing something. Continue reading →

MANSARD and Property Politics Team Up To Train New England CCIMs

Jeremy Cyrier, CCIM, principal of MANSARD Commercial Properties and Wayne D’Amico, CCIM, principal of Connecticut based Property Politics teamed up to train CCIM’s from across New England on the CCIM Institute’s Site To Do Business in Boston this week.  The class was held at 60 State Street Boston at the offices of Wilmer & Hale in cooperation with the Greater Boston Board of Realtors and was attended by commercial real estate brokers, data from across New England.

The all day event featured a full tour and use of the CCIM Insitute’s Site To Do Business, which is a GIS platform used to perform market analysis and to identify demand and opportunities in the commercial real estate markets across the United States.

Chris Norwood of NAI Norwood Group said,

“great job on the class….Leaving the class I feel much more comfortable with the site and enjoy working with it much more than I had in the past…I am liking this site more and more, with your help.”

H. Sandy Brown, President of the New England CCIM Chapter said,

“On behalf of all the attendees of your session, I would like to thank you both for a very informative and entertaining program, last week.  Your insights and practical applications of the usage of the STDB were fantastic.  I know we all left the program with a very practical knowledge of the site, and many ways that we can use it to help us better support our clients.  That, in itself, will make us stand our amongst other practitioners in our markets.  This is the true meaning of what it is to be a CCIM!!!

Again thank you for doing such a great job!!”

To invite Jeremy to train you or your employees on the Site To Do Business, email him at Jeremy@Mansardcre.com with the words “Site To Do Business Training” in the subject line.  Include your name, when you would like to be called, and the best number to reach you. Jeremy will then contact you to discuss scheduling a Site to do Business training session for you and your employees.

Get free weekly email updates of this blog.

About the Author: Jeremy Cyrier, CCIM is the founder/principal of MANSARD Commercial Properties and member of the CCIM Institute faculty. He delivers thoughtful, large scale commercial real estate solutions to the individual challenges owners and tenants face. Jeremy Cyrier, CCIM was elected by Banker & Tradesman as one of its New Leaders in 2009. You may reach Jeremy at Jeremy@Mansardcre.com.

How to Get Tenants to Your Building

Landlords are landing tenants.   What’s their secret?

They know how to stimulate demand.

Landlords landing tenants understand this secret and know that most brokers and landlords are spending time on the “symptom” and not the “problem”.   The “symptom” is easy to treat: do more. The “problem” is much more difficult: change your approach. Continue reading →

Selling Your Commercial Real Estate in a Down Market

When do you know that selling commercial real estate in a down market is the right decision? Ask Sam Zell.  He says, “Everyday you’re not selling, you’re buying.”  If he’s right, then how do you make a decision about the right time to sell commercial real estate in a down market?

Continue reading →

How to Catch a Commercial Real Estate Lifeline

Have you ever heard the story about the man who rows out to sea, jumps in the water, lets his boat float away, proclaiming “I am a man of faith. God will save me.”?

A fisherman spots him treading water and throws him a lifeline. The man pushes it away and says, “No, thank  you. I am a man of faith. God will save me.”  The fisherman shakes his head and calls the Coast Guard. Continue reading →

Unemployment Rate Falls – The Impact on Your Real Estate Investments

The department of labor released their November job loss figures this week boasting a decline in the number of new unemployment benefit claims continuing a five-week trend (see the press release). The immediate response from investors in real estate who were wishing for any sign of good news in this murky economy is a sigh of relief – we are on the mend!

A decrease in claims means that more companies are adding new employees than they are letting go, and thus it appears the job market is improving. Commercial real estate owners nationwide likely view an improved job market as a sign that vacancy rates will decline, companies are more financially strong, and values will level out or even begin to increase. As shown in previous economic downturns, as joblessness decreases, the result is an increase in rental rates and occupancy rates. Continue reading →