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The commercial-listings quandary
With so many choices,
you have to decide where to spend your resources.
by Chris Rosprim For the majority of agents and brokers, the MLS is just about the only listing tool available. What’s more, virtually anyone–agent or consumer–with access to a computer system can view the listings in the MLS from any computer. Anywhere. Anytime. What a concept.
As a commercial broker, I’m envious. How nice it would be if commercial practitioners had a clear choice for placing commercial listings for all other commercial agents and consumers to search. The reality is that the listing options available to the commercial real estate professional resemble the confusion of government speak. Organizations vying for my listings’ information include LoopNet, CoStar Group, Commercial Real Estate Exchange, Property Line, the North Texas Commercial Association of REALTORS®, and even the Texas Association of REALTORS®, to name just a few.
Of course, there is also the MLS in any given market. Most commercial brokers do not make use of the MLS for a variety of reasons, opting instead to market their listings through one or more commercial-property sites. Most of the sites charge a fee for each listing, are subscription-based, or charge to access the database. Some are statewide, some are regional, but the majority promote themselves as national. Each has its own pros and cons. The choices presented are many, and decisions have to be made based on the particulars of the commercial REALTOR®’s portfolio–and budget.
The labor required to maintain listings on several of these sites can really add up–not to mention the fees you have to pay to add properties, search the database, or prepare various types of reports. Some of the sites permit free and easy use to search for commercial properties listed in their database. Others charge or require the user to register (or both). In these cases, many consumers may elect not to pursue their search for a commercial property from that site.
When that happens, the real reason for the existence of these sites is undermined. The object after all–at least my reason for wanting my listings in a database–is to give exposure to properties on a listing site whereby others in the market for commercial property can search and find what they are seeking. So those who operate a commercial-listing site must start by making all commercial REALTORS® aware of their site and entice them to list their properties. If you count the existing, well-known MLS–the one that lists mostly residential properties but that also permits listing of commercial properties–I have an even dozen from which to choose. Sure, each site as well as the brokers who list properties on that site can advertise and promote the site. Am I supposed to expect consumers and other commercial practitioners to search all those options? If you were looking for a property, would you check a dozen sites? I know I wouldn’t. If that’s the case, do I then spend my time and money sending my listings to 12 services?
I wonder how many commercial property databases will survive long enough to be around this time next year. As I stated initially, I’m jealous of the relative simplicity with which residential agents list their properties and by which, in many cases, anyone in the world has the ability to access anytime, anywhere to research available properties. Is there a lesson to be learned here? For myself, being an active participant in most of the choices available to me, I long for the simplicity of the residential MLS program.
Chris Rosprim, CPM, is a broker with Scott Brown Properties Inc. in Denton. You can e-mail him at chris@texasrealtyteam.com.
Illustration © Digital Vision.
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