Commercial multi families
Are commercial multi families brokers available to show property only on weekday or are they available on weekend as well? I was told that commercial brokers work only M-F which means if I have to see property,I should go on weekday. I am working fulltime and I am sure there will be buyers who are in same position. How are they working out this situation then ?
Not a situation I’ve encountered before @Charanjit Singh. Is that a local law or did you potentially hear this from a lazy broker?
#5 Investor Mindset Contributor
- Investor
- Greenville, SC
Gotta roll with the punches...this is one of the challenges of working and investing/starting a business at the same time. Some brokers show properties after hours and others do not. Where it is not a call for offers situation, you want to analyze and offer asap or risk loosing the property to someone who does.
It's just going to depend on the individual broker. I've met some commercial brokers that mainly operate on a more 9-5 schedule because they just don't need to work weekends or after hours. Commercial properties move slower and those brokers aren't touring their clients around to browse properties in the way that homebuyers do.
@Charanjit Singh Yes, I am in agreement with @Mike Dymski and @Ryan Evans. Commercial brokers tend to prefer M-F for all business and showings. You may find an enterprising one trying to build their business who will work and show on the weekends, but the expectations are not the same as for residential real estate.
@Charanjit Singh I think your question was already answered but just a few more thoughts.
Commercial brokers are just like everyone else in that they would prefer to do their business during business hours and the more experienced, better brokers are probably more inclined to this than others.
So if you absolutely need to see a property in the evenings or weekends call the brokerage and ask for the newest broker/associate and that's the one that would be most likely to show you stuff on a Saturday.
But if I was the broker I'd be a little interested in your experience level as well based on your question. What type of property are you looking at and have you bought much of it before?
I have bought a lot of smaller multi-family and I will quite often put it under contract before I go look at it because I'm familiar with all of the product available in my area and know what I'm looking for.
I don't do that on larger multi-family but I have a good idea of what I'm looking for so I would not go look at it unless it met everything I was looking for on paper and that only happens very rarely.
So let me challenge you a bit. Get to know the properties available of the type, size and in the area of your interest intimately and ONLY go look at them in person if you're seriously interested. And if you're seriously interested, taking the afternoon off work shouldn't be a big deal.
Regardless of whether the broker wishes to work on evenings or weekends, many owners of apartment complexes do not want a parade of folk (tyre kickers) coming through the building. Even for "qualified" prospects they would prefer their tenants not be disturbed after a long day at work (evenings) or a day off (weekends).
Additionally, in many jurisdictions there are regulatory/legislative restrictions on when you can disturb the tenants.
I always figured, if I'm looking to drop $500K to +$1M on a small to mid-sized apartment building, I can make myself available for an hour or two during the week.
... and as @Jeff Kehl indicated, if you've done all your homework and deem a property worth a walkthrough, you've probably already submitted a LoI to the Vendor.
In my experience, it depends on the size of the property and who is representing the owner. A number of multifamily properties sub-100 units are listed by brokers who have residential and multifamily listings and are more than willing to work on the weekends.
Originally posted by @Charanjit Singh:
Thanks @Jay Helms @Mike Dymski for your response.I dont think its the state law. I am looking in Delaware area. I was told that this is how commercial real estate typically operates here i.e. all showings by broker on weekdays only. Thought of checking around with other investors who possibly are in the same boat. Perhaps region specific "de facto" rule !!!
Perhaps an investor from Delaware/Pennsylvania/New Jersey can share their experience !
My commercial broker in Wilmington will do weekends. Send me a PM if you'd like his contact information.
It's all a function of how you value your time as a commercial broker.
You have to remember if it's a big firm they often have 2 to 3 or more people on a team. They take cheap commissions usually for volume.
If commission is 100k then half typically goes to their brokerage leaving 50k. Out of the 50k the person at the top gets most of it like 25k or so and then 2nd person less, 3rd person maybe 8k out of a 100k commission. As you can see they work for next to nothing so do the M-F 9 to 5 thing.
I met a newer client this Saturday for lunch but I was close by running some other errands. They are also looking at buying up to 4 properties in 2018 for up to 10 million each.
I tend to agree about apartment buildings in that tenants often work minimum wage or lower tier type jobs and are exhausted on the weekends and want to relax with friends and family. The last thing they want is some unknown investor buyer going around all over the place. Typically sellers just do not want to run tons of buyer tours wearing their tenants out. They want only very serious buyers who they feel might close at price and terms they want.
I own my own firm so I get to keep all of it minus business costs. The other brokers and agents working for firms tend to be desperate to close a deal because they need volume to pay the bills with the smaller cuts they are getting. Some can still do really well but a majority might make under 100k a year.
Can you just find someone to go do the tour and document with pictures or something?
If the property is that great of a deal I would make time to go look at it during the week.
Have you asked the broker what there plan is for selling the property? Before I bring my client to a deal I ask ( Are you going to try and push the market with multiple rounds of bidding and extract every basis point out of this property OR Are you looking to sell right away to one buyer for a reasonable purchase price and terms?)
I asked this to see where they are in their heads and mindset to sell. If you have a 1031 buyer the rounds of bidding doesn't work because of timing issues with a transaction. Additionally your original offer could change when you are the winning bid weeks to months later because loan interest rates and terms have changed in the market. I like deals where the seller goes with ONE buyer and moves to closing. I stay away from all the market type stuff where they are shopping the asset and sitting on it trying to throw tons of buyers in to push the highest price. That is typically a non-motivated greedy seller. I understand some sellers are pushing the market bet better for the buyer is a motivated seller willing to deal.
