Friday 4 April 2014

Commercial Market Changes

Commercial Market Changes


by Darrin DeRoches
April 3 - 9, 2014
Properties are slowly coming up for sale throughout downtown Hamilton and recently a couple of buildings have come up for sale and lease. Most commercial properties do not have signage on them and people wonder why. It’s pretty simple. I doubt that you have 3 million dollars burning a hole in your pocket and you drive by a property where the sign will convince you to buy it. Commercial owners also like to use out–of–town agents since they figure it will keep it quiet when they are trying to sell the property. So no sign and an out–of–town agent may keep things quiet but maybe you forgot about the little thing called the internet or worse yet — word of mouth.

    I was having a beer this week — shocker, I know — and the conversation at the table turned to a local bar that is rumoured to be for sale. I know the property and had to tread softly in the conversation since I had already met with the owners and know that they are not selling it yet, but according to this guy in the bar — it’s for sale. Then they tried to figure out how much it would sell for and since I already know the listing price, I humoured them when they came up with a price. I then threw out the real price and they thought it was too much after they figured what is should be worth. I told them about a bar on Augusta priced for 2.9 million ready to go and they also figured that was too much. Of course, none of them own any commercial property but they figured it is way overpriced. These rumours can hurt a business and even a potential sale since everyone is talking about the property before it even goes on sale. Then there are properties who list at an outrageous price to “test the market” and everyone thinks some magical buyer from out of town will swoop in and buy it.

    In the commercial world, the majority of deals are done over a long course of time with people who know the market and sometimes do not even list the properties. A friend or business associate will use “word of mouth” to let it be known the property is for sale and overtime they find a buyer or lease. Kijiji and other internet sites attract more interest than the commercial real estate sites. You really have to think outside of the box when marketing a commercial property in today’s market. Twitter and LinkedIn have become a useful recourse in today’s evolving commercial real estate market. The problem is the majority of commercial agents are “mature” agents who do not evolve as quickly as the market and this may be their downfall. My last few commercial deals have come down to word of mouth, signage and most importantly, Kijiji. Real estate is always changing and a good broker has to move with the times. V

    Darrin DeRoches is a local real estate and mortgage broker. He can be reached to answer questions, comments or stories about real estate experiences through this weekly column at sold@uniquerealty.ca.