What questions should you ask a commercial broker before working with them to ensure they are qualified and experienced enough to take on your commercial property transaction.
As a business owner, you’re familiar with the planning and intention that goes into building and scaling a small business. This same level of intention should go into your search to identify a commercial broker to help you buy commercial property, lease commercial space, and especially to sell a commercial building in Denver.
In our experience, commercial brokerage is a highly referral based industry, which mimics our experience in business brokerage as well with our sister firm, Transworld Business Advisors. So when a business owner begins the search for a Colorado commercial brokerage to help with their commercial transaction asking trusted acquaintances for referrals is a great place to begin. But once you have the names of some local commercial brokers, how do you know they’re qualified?
In this article we will outline some great questions to help you identify a qualified commercial broker.
Relevant Commercial Industry Experience
Asking your broker about their background in the Denver commercial market is a great way to establish a baseline of their knowledge. Do they have any service specialties like tenant representation? Does the broker work with a high volume of building owners in the manufacturing industry? This will help you dig into the types of transactions they have completed as well as the partners they already have built relationships with. Then you will quickly be able to see which broker’s experience is most related to your commercial transaction.
Deal & Market Expertise
Another question to identify a commercial brokers baseline of knowledge is to ask how long they have been working in a specific commercial market. And ask how many deals they’ve done and what type of deal experience they have had. Understanding their presence in a specific location, like Washington Park, or River North is directly related to the deal flow they will have access to. If they’re new to a city, than they will not have the necessary relationships in place to get a transaction done.
Knowing the number of deals a broker has completed lets you in on their negotiation expertise, and their ability to work well with landlords and other deal professionals. You want to make sure your commercial broker is able to negotiate on your behalf – more experienced brokers know where the give and take is and have the finesse and creativity to close the deal that a newer broker will still be learning.
Licensing & Membership
All commercial real estate agents have to be licensed to practice commercial brokerage, so this is an easy question to get out of the way. But does the commercial agent belong to any industry associations like DMCAR or NAIOP? This will be a good indicator that keeping up to date on their industry is important to them and they have regular access to continuing education programming. It also shows their commitment to professionalism and ethics related to their industry.
Core Values
Getting along with your broker, though a softer trait, is important. Ask the commercial broker about their company values and mission and see if you align with them? This will help you understand when it comes down to it, will they conduct business on your behalf in a manner that you agree with.
When thinking about cashing out on your commercial property, or if your office lease is coming up due, finding a quality broker will directly support your bottom line. If this guide brought up any questions, or if you would like to have a conversation with a Transworld Commercial Broker, give our office a call today at 720-574-2953.
Rachael Holstein is the Marketing Manager for Transworld Commercial Real Estate, a full service commercial real estate firm in Denver, Colorado. Her work experience has been largely focused on business development and marketing in business brokerage, finance, architecture, property management, and information technology. A long time resident of Cleveland, Ohio, she attained her undergrad from John Carroll University and her Master’s Degree from Cleveland State University. In 2013, she relocated to Denver with her husband, Joe, and her furry companions to explore the mile high lifestyle! Visit transworldcre.com for more information.
