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Why Doesn't AR Attract Commercial Agents?

One of the tough things about being a commercial real estate agent is that so many tools, especially online tools, are geared towards the community of residential agents. Active Rain is no exception. I was looking at the list of Texas Commercial Real Estate Agents today, and noticed that I was the top agent, of course there are only 88 of us for the entire state! That seems ridiculous to me, given the size of the commercial market in Texas. This thriving community certainly has a lot to offer, not only to real estate professionals, but to (potential) clients as well.

I was initially attracted to AR through an article in a magazine, either Texas Realtor or the national publication. Again, these publications are generally chock full of residential articles, and very rarely ever cover commercial. I flip through them on occasion if it's unusually quiet in the office, but most commercial guys I know don't even bother. Could that be why they haven't been exposed to AR?

I would encourage those of us that specialize in commercial to encourage our coworkers to join, and contribute. For the rest of you, if you know a commercial agent, encourage them to take a look. Certainly if anyone has any ideas on how we can attract more commercial agents to AR, please comment.

Posted by Patrick Foley on 01/04/2009 04:43 PM

Comments (10)

Commercial Agents in the Networking Channel

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10 Comments on Why Doesn't AR Attract Commercial Agents?

JAN

you should start your own group and maybe more commercial people would join, I will. Let me know and I will link in

Patrick- Looks like an area that you can shine in by taking the bull by its horns and running with a great new idea, get the commercial agents involved, start your own group here, on the outside, on facebook, etc. You will gain some great new contacts!

Write a post about commerical experiences from time to time, link to your webs site (very nice) and get the back links to Google. You'll benefit by the synergy and your web site will have better SERP.

Also, just by being on ActiveRain where there are few commercial members, you should generate some referral business from residential agents/brokers.

I limit my practice to residential. However, I refer out a good 4-6 good commerical contacts every year.

Hello Patrick,

I understand your point since I am a commercial real estate agent. I think agents and firms do not participate on-line because commercial real estate has some variables within it that residential does not. I am fairly certain, and would be seriously suprised, if there were only 88 commercial agents in Texas. I think there are only 88 active on Active Rain. Heck look at Austin, Texas alone and check against the Texa Real Estate Commission (TREC) registry (I haven't), but I would be suprized if there are not more than 88 commercial agents in Austin alone.

As for no invovlement on-line; the firms/agents may think they have enough business, technological incurred generation gap, clientele does not utilize internet to locate such services (think REIT, Hedge Funds, etc.). That's just some speculation without researching the issue intensively. I am working on getting my fellow agents involved, but there is resistance that suprises and baffels me. Good luck with your encouragements and getting other agents to engage on-line.

Hi Patrick, I'm with you on this one. But 88 agents?! LOL. In all of Wyoming there are only 97 ActiveRainers, and only 3 of us identify ourselves as commercial real estate agents. Hey, be glad you don't have more competition...

The commercial groups I've found are Commercial Property Exchange, Commercial Property Haves/Needs, and Commercial Real Estate.

You should also look into taking the CCIM classes - that's a great education and source of commercial networking.

All the best for the new year,

Hi Patrick, me again. I just looked at your profile and see that you found all the same commercial groups that I did. If you run across any others, let me know.

JAN

Tim - Thanks for the input, I will certainly let you know if I come across any other groups. I've looked into CCIM, but am looking at a number of options right now, so I don't want to commit the money required just yet.

Samuel - I guess I didn't really make myself clear. There are hundreds (perhaps more) commercial agents in the Austin area, and far more in all of Texas. I was referring to 88 Texas commercial agents that are a part of ActiveRain.

Lenn - I have had some referrals because of that very reason, though it appears that many residential brokers are moving into the commercial realm as the economy slows and everybody looks for more work.

Nestor & Sonny - Certainly something to look into, thanks.

JAN

i think that the real reason why commercial agents aren't here (on the social internet...) is because they (we) don't want to give information away for free. Information is money, right? We only give if there is possible reciprocation.

I have never worked in Residential RE so I don't know how open they are with each other, but I think CRE will change over the coming years. The facebook generation is likely to tear down the walls...

JAN

What many rez agents do not understand is the complexity of commercial deals, including the compensation of commercial brokers- there just may be no compensation available to a co-broker and they have to get it from their client. I can not tell you how many rez agents I have told that to- and they became hostile. Or they will agree to take too little commission for a mountain of work- rezoning, annexation, etc. and then expect to make money and offer 1% co-broker compensation. Without proper training, how can they know what to price a property, what a cap rate is, how does the cash flow work, etc?

Commercial real estate is a specialized field. I recall reading a stat someplace that stated 70% of commercial deals that involve a residential broker fail to close. If anyone can verify that information, I'd be grateful. However if true, who in their right mind would employ a brain surgeon with a 30% success rate? Not me, I'd be looking for somebody with a success rate closer to 100%. That would therefore disqualify most rez agents.

Before you rez agents get huffy and upset, how many commercial classes have YOU taken- at $1000 a pop? No CCIM, no IREM or other such classes? Not a member of any commercial professional associations? Think the 4 "P's" of marketing will get it sold? Then how can you- with a copy of the Standard of Practice and Code of Ethics in hand take on a commercial deal with no training or experience? You are supposed to refer it out or get help if you lack what it takes to handle the deal. I have both rez and commercial experience.

I see this all the time: Rez agents get greedy and want a piece of the commercial pie. The smart ones take a slice via a referral fee. The others walk away with zip more often than not. I had a $500K deal go south in 2008 that a rez agent tried to do; her broker was clueless. Ethics and legal issues precluded my being too involved with her client. Neither do most rez agents understand that the deal may take a year or more to consummate.

A national commercial MLS would be great rather than the fragmented, various non-communicating between MLS methods used today. It is a shame the commercial MLS fail to co-op as agents learned to do a long time ago. Until then I'll continue going to the local CCIM luncheons, after hours and other typical commercial venues to market and connect sellers and buyers.

May we all have a great 2009!

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