Perspective
All of us learn how to communicate at the very early stages of life. It’s one of those essential things that we all have to do whether it’s with our spouses, partners, work associates, kids, or clients. I am sure that there are many people who have studied communication, but I have had no formal training. The older I get, the more I realize how important it is to everything that I do in life.
How does this relate to commercial real estate? In my opinion, it is equally as important to be a skilled communicator, as it is to have technical knowledge in CRE.
As my team knows, I always talk to them about communication. When we get a referral from one of our residential agents, stay in touch. We certainly don’t close every referral, but let the agent know. COMMUNICATE!
We take on a new listing. While it may only be one of many listings the agent has, to that seller or landlord, this is one of the most important things in their life. Let them know what is going on with their property. Ask them how often they want to hear from you. How do they want to hear from you? Do you want a phone call (yes those are permissible), email, or text? COMMUNICATE!
Communications come into play when we are negotiating transactions as well. It will never cease to amaze me how other CRE agents communicate. Some of them you call, and they never call back, or you have to try them multiple times. If I have my property listed I would expect my agent to call back anyone that inquired on my property, the same day. COMMUNICATE!
What really prompted me to write about this was an issue I had with non-verbal communication. I am currently Chair of the National Association of REALTORS Real Property Operations Committee, which overseas NAR’s real estate investments. We have a negotiation going on with one of our vacant spaces. We started out with a written Letter of Intent. But the following communications were back and forth by our broker and the tenant broker, via email.
I was travelling and reading these on my iphone, and it become clear that our negotiations were unclear, because of so many emails flying back and forth. Could the brokers have just changed the original LOI to what they were trying to negotiate? I finally asked the brokers to give me, and my committee a clear document of where we were, that could be understood by my all. COMMUNICATE.
I strive, to say what I am going to do, and do what I say. I strive to follow up or call back anyone that contacts me during my business day. COMMUNICATE WELL is the foundation of my business success.
I’m not talking about a question on Family Feud, but about the need to get a survey when buying a property. Getting a survey is something that is strongly suggested when you purchase a property. There are many questions people ask regarding surveys. First of all, who pays? If I am representing you as a buyer, I want the seller to pay. If I am representing the seller, guess what? I want the buyer to pay. In reality, sometimes the seller pays and sometimes the buyer pays.
Before a survey is done, the surveying company needs the title policy. Then they go to the property to take some field measurements. They get the boundaries of the property, and the location of where the building is (if there is one) on the property.
The next step is to look at the title policy and find any easements that are affecting the property. Those might include where the utilities are – either utilities the property uses, or utilities that may be underground, just passing through the property.
If asked (which it should be!), they will locate the actual utilities that service the property. They will also check the zoning of the property. Lastly, they will compute the actual square footage of the property as well as the useable square footage.
So let me narrow down what a survey should accomplish for you:
• You will know the actually amount of property that you are buying and how much of that is useable. Sometimes a seller may be selling less ground or more ground than they were marketing. You want to make sure that the 20 acres you have contracted is actually 20 acres! Also, part of the 20 acres might be unusable due to flood plains, or utility pipelines. It’s very important to know these details as well.
• You want to verify, when a seller says that there are “all utilities to the property,” that they’re telling the truth. It’s hard to build anything without water, gas, electric and sewer. Just because the sewer line touches the property doesn’t necessarily mean you can use it to sewer your property. Those are things you will find out in a survey.
When buying a commercial property, don’t “survey” people to ask if you need a survey. It’s something you should always get when buying a commercial property or a tract of ground.
This question often comes up (or should come up) during a listing discussion with your agent. It is such an important part of selling or leasing a property that it should always be addressed.Let’s say you just lost your tenant. Whenever a tenant leaves, they leave your space in a pristine manner. Of course that’s not true! The lease says they should leave your space broom clean, subject to only the wear and tear of their occupancy. Sometimes they do leave after vacuuming their space and cleaning everything. In that case, you are thankful and then happily return their deposit.
Other tenants move out in the middle of the night, leaving you with everything that they didn’t want, or anything with no value. Others move out and take their fixtures and all the other items that they used in their business. Have you ever seen a closed grocery store? It’s not a pretty picture. So, if your tenant is gone, you have lost your income stream. The last thing you want to do is spend money. However, I would argue that’s the first thing you want to do, even before putting the property on the market.I use the “3 Strike” rule when discussing how to get a property ready for market. We have all heard of the term “curb appeal” when it relates to buying or selling a house. Commercial properties have “curb appeal” as well. When a broker brings a tenant or a buyer to your property, their first impression is just as important.Summer time is a great time for weeds to flourish. Many times I have gone to a property to see an abundance of everything growing but grass. Sometimes there is trash in the parking lot. It all makes you think the property is in foreclosure. Strike One.After getting your machete out and making it into the front door, you go to flip the light switch and they won’t turn on. There are not many things worse than walking through a strange space, with a flashlight, and hoping not to trip on something on the floor. Strike Two.Then you get to the storage room or warehouse and it’s full of trash. Did I mention the windows were all dirty as well? I’m sure avocado green or burnt orange carpet is coming back in style. I think I saw that same wood paneling on an episode of Mad Men. Strike 3.Everyone always wants to get the maximum amount for their rent or sale price. My suggestion is to help yourself out. Give your property that “wow” factor that attracts a buyer or tenant. Give yourself a chance to hit that single, double, triple, or hit that home run!
Dan Sight,CCIM,SIOR was recently mentioned in DealMakers Magazine! Sight represented Proudfit Investments, LLC in purchasing a 106,000 SF distribution center in Lenexa, KS. Congratulations Dan! See publication here: https://cire.epubxp.com/issue/306204/48