finding lists of retail shop building owners

[Randy Krock]

Hello everyone

My name is Randy Krock and I am looking into purchasing a retail shop building in Southeast Virginia. I was wondering if there is a source of lists of people who own these types of buildings, simiar to List source or something similar in the residential real estate? Im currently driving around looking at potential spots along with using google earth to go up and down major thoroughfares in my area. It is a little slow going and was hoping to have an easier way of identifying potential properties. Thanks for reading enjoy your day!

[Jerry Puckett]

Hi @Randy Krock

You can certainly use ListSource to do this very thing. Jot down a few of the addresses you identify as being just what you want. Plug those in to ListSource and get a read out of the property type, land use code (State or County) and the zoning. Look for patterns.

You use this info to reverse engineer the types of buildings you really want, then use those as a criteria in a map or zipcode search. Listsource will give you back a list of all qualifying properties. I use these lists to reach out by mail, but you could also plot them on a map, or basically whatever you like.

Full disclosure; I am an authorized ListSource reseller and could handle this for you very quickly. But no reason you can't do it on your own! :-)

Hope that helps.

[Randy Krock]

@Jerry Puckett thanks for the info I am going to use this info to help me out if i run into issues can i reach out to you?

[Jerry Puckett]

@Randy Krock You bet. I'd just ask that you come back here and post about it so the community can bennefit. This is a common question that could use solid answers.

[Ronald Rohde]

Id use google maps. Hire a VA, that way you can implement better filtering criteria. Next go to county assessor website to pull owner info.

[John McKee]

I agree with Ronald go the county website.  They will even tell you which ones are behind in taxes!

[Kobi Mashnouk]

Hi Randy,

The county website route Ronald suggested works great. In general if you like a property enough go into one of the tenant spaces and ask them for the owners information. Then reach out to the owner and even if they are not interested in selling, there is a very high chance they might have another property they are willing to entertain you with, or another connection they have that is looking to sell a property. They might reach out to you later down the road if/when they decide to sell the property that you initially reached out on. You will be surprised how quickly your connections/network will grow the more you reach out. Reach out to various brokers on listings and build relationships with them. They have already done the work of building relationships with these owners.

[Mohammed Rahman]

Hey @Randy Krock - what you're suggesting already makes sense, but others have also mentioned checking out county records to possibly find new information. I use propstream and that's about as reliable as listsource too. 

Alternatively, you could reach out to a commercial broker that specializes in these asset classes as they will have a network they can tap into to put the word out. 

[Randy Krock]

Thanks everyone for the recommendations Im going to keep plugging away I will update with my progress.

[Joseph Gozlan]

@Randy Krock Co-Star and CRExi both have subscriptions that will give you relatively accurate data on ownership and contact details. 

You can also partner with a broker to help you find what you're looking for.