Most folks don’t understand just how screwed up the commercial real estate brokerage business is and how it often operates in the best interest of the broker and not the client. To illustrate the point, just last week I heard of a large commercial real estate property coming to market for sale in Ocala, FL that is represented by one of our national competitors.
I have several qualified buyers who might have an interest in the deal, so I contacted the commercial broker representing the property to get more details on the deal. After “Hello,” his next words were, and I quote directly, ” Bartow- we do not have co-brokerage in our listing agreements, so you will have to have your client pay you directly.”
So let me translate: “Bartow, we have a commission in the deal, but we’re not sharing it. What we really hope to do is shop the deal to our usual list of suspects and double-end both sides of the transaction, making a ton of money for ourselves.”
Instead of encouraging buyers to compete for the deal, increasing the price of the property, this broker wants to limit the number of potential buyers and keep the commissions to himself.
At Sperry Van Ness, we do just the opposite of this competitor. We crank up the marketing machine to create maximum exposure with our client’s properties to reach the greatest number of potential buyers and we offer to share our commissions 50/50 with cooperating brokers who bring their buyers to our client’s properties. We are happy to share our fees with other brokers because we know they represent so many qualified buyers ready to make deals.
Checkout this cool video which illustrates how we really help people who need to sell their commercial real estate:
How To Sell Commercial Real Estate
