In commercial real estate, brokers break down into 4 general categories, and it is imperative to understand that each specialty comes with its own set of experience, tools, time requirements, connections, loyalties, and processes. Each has their place and serves a distinctly different purpose.
- Seller representatives who focus on marketing, negotiating and closing sales of properties on behalf of owners.
- Buyer representatives that seek out on and off market properties for deals that are best for their clients.
- Landlord representatives that canvas, attract, curate and screen tenants that would benefit the landlord or project.
- Tenant representatives that do site selection and tours for companies looking to move or expand to find the locations that meet the client criteria and budget.
When it comes to selling your commercial property, hiring a broker who exclusively represents sellers is the wise move. This specialized focus allows them to avoid conflicts of interest 3 and leverage their marketing experience 1 to maximize your returns. Here’s why you should entrust your sale to a seller-dedicated commercial broker:
Undivided Loyalty and Avoidance of Conflicts
Brokers representing both buyers and sellers inevitably face conflicts of interest – their fiduciary duty gets divided across multiple clients with competing interests. 4 When your broker solely works for sellers, their undivided commitment is to you and your goal of achieving the highest possible sale price. You avoid murky waters where the broker could potentially prioritize a buyer’s needs over yours.
A Seller-Centric Skill Set and Mindset
These brokers have finely tuned their expertise around marketing properties aggressively to prospective buyers and negotiating the best deal terms. 9 Their entire mindset is geared towards getting you top dollar, rather than trying to appeal to the conflicting mentality of buyer representation. From pricing strategies to marketing tactics, every decision focuses squarely on your interests as the seller.
Uncompromised Marketing Prowess
Effective property marketing is critical for generating bidding wars that drive up sale prices. Seller brokers invest heavily in marketing capabilities like active prospecting, lead databases, online listings, print/email campaigns, and their professional networks. 6 This dedicated marketing engine comprehensively promotes your property to qualified buyers without any distractions from representing other parties or spending time on searching for properties and touring with buyers.
Negotiation Edge
The most skilled negotiators know that representing unified interests is crucial for optimally extracting value. Your seller-focused broker wields this advantage, deftly playing offers against each other during negotiations while prioritizing your profits above all else. 3 There are no competing interests to delicately juggle – just an uncompromising push to achieve the highest sale price possible.
When you hire a commercial real estate broker who solely represents sellers, you avoid conflicts of interest and gain a potent marketing force with deep selling experience completely aligned with your goal of maximizing the sale. 5 For the serious seller, this focused representation is an intelligent investment toward the highest possible return.
It’s quite often during conversations I hear from a prospective seller say, “Sure I’d sell, but do you have a buyer?” The biggest problem I see with that, is that if I’m already working with a buyer, I’m looking to get them a good deal, not the seller.
If I give you a value I believe inline or leading the market, it’s because I want to get you top dollar. In order to do that, I need to run a marketing process free from conflicts to attract the buyer that will pay the price we set together. Not the price a buyer wants to pay before anyone gets to see the property.
When the deal closes you want to look like this:
Not this:
If you want to find out more about how we set pricing or our marketing process, contact me to discuss the next steps.
