8 Important Steps When Selling Commercial Real Estate

Steps for Selling Real Estate

Here are some steps you can take to make sure that things go well when you are trying to sell commercial real estate.

S elling your commercial real estate takes a lot of skills you may not have used before. It is not as easy as it looks, and if you are serious about selling your commercial real estate, then you need to really think about what steps you will take to make a sold commercial real estate your reality.

1. First step for selling real estate is you have to know what a fair price for your commercial real estate is. If you don't know, there are two things you can do. First, you can get your commercial real estate appraised. An independent appraiser will be able to give you a solid opinion of your commercial real estate's value. Not only that, but you will be able to see a list of comparable sales in your neighborhood which assisted your appraiser in coming up with your value. Another thing you can do to find out a fair price for your commercial real estate is to check out recent sales in your neighborhood. However, you have to keep in mind that other commercial real estates may have sold for more or less than your commercial real estate will, based on factors like location, age and features in the commercial real estate.

2. Once you have a fair price for your commercial real estate and put it on the market, you need to set about marketing your commercial real estate. This might not be something you're comfortable with, especially if you are not used to marketing. That's why a lot of people are interested in getting realtors to help them with this step. After all, their job is to get your commercial real estate sold.

3. Whether or not you use a realtor, you need to know basic marketing techniques to make sure that your commercial real estate is being publicized. It has to show up in major databases online, and you have to make sure that you put the listing into local newspapers. To take the extra step, you need to have an Open commercial real estate event where people can just come over and take a look through your commercial real estate to see if it is commercial real estate that they might like.

4. Another step for selling real estate is fix your commercial real estate up. Start thinking of your commercial real estate the way a buyer might. Are there weeds growing out in your lawn? Are there major broken appliances in your commercial real estate? If you don't plan to fix some of the cosmetic problems, your buyers may want you to pay for those repairs. Make sure you know what the problems are, so that negotiate about them fairly and to the point.

5. You have to be patient. You should be able to tell from the appraiser report, or by talking to the realtor, that typical exposure time for commercial real estate is a few months. Don't be discouraged if your commercial real estate doesn't sell right away. You might be just around the corner from a sale.

6. The most common form of selling commercial real estate is trying to get a cash sale. This is where you will receive the entire amount of money for your commercial real estate at the closing. This is probably the ideal way for most sellers. At times this may not be an option. For instance if the value of your property has gone down or for any reason you are unable to sell your property for the price that you need to get. There are other great options available such as selling via land contract.

7. My favorite way to sell commercial real estate is via land contracts. You may have heard of land contracts being called "seller financing" or "rent to own" or something along those lines as well. If you need the full amount up front this is not an option for you. If you are able to take a down payment and finance the commercial real estate for your buyer you will usually end up making a lot more money in the long run. Many times you are able to sell your commercial real estate for a higher price and you will also be able to earn interest on the money that is owed to you. If you sell via land contract many times the taxes, insurance and repairs will all be the responsibility of the buyer. You will also have the commercial real estate as well as any money that has been paid as security in case the buyer breaches the land contract for any reason. If you are still unable to sell your commercial real estate for your desired amount you may want to try a third option of renting.

8. Like most markets the commercial real estate market has its ups and downs. If you get caught, like so many people around 2009, where you need to get more money out of your commercial real estate than it is worth at the movement you may need to consider renting it out. Renting isn't hard and the more you do it the easier it gets. If you have problems starting off lawyers, realtor's and property management businesses will be glad to assist you with any of your needs. If you are able to rent your commercial real estate for a while you may be able to hold off taking a loss on the property. Renting allows you to hold your property and wait for the market to go back up and hopefully even make some money on it in the mean time. Even if you break even at the end of the year you will probably still come out ahead. If you have tenants paying your mortgage it may not seem like you're making any money but some of that money is actually going toward your principle. Also, renting has tax benefits that may be overlooked and you may want to talk to an accountant for some more helpful advice with that.