Me Selling Commercial Property-Help

:eyes
Hello All,
I posted this in another newsgroup but thought that someone might help here.
I have a property that I’m trying to sell. It’s a commercial property in a great location and I have someone (commercial broker from another town) that has submitted a contract. I don’t have a clue about commercial properties…so I’m here asking you.
They want to give $2,500.00 as earnest money on a $200K deal for 3 months for a study, if they don’t buy they get the $2,500 back, IF they want another 3 months they give another $2,500 and I get to keep that much if they buy. (comes off the sell price)
They want me as seller to bring the property up to any and all state, fed codes, whatever…
I want them to take it as is I don’t want to bring it up to code, etc. because they have already offered $20K LESS than what I wanted…
AND of course I have 10 days to get the agreement back to them signed.
Can someone give me a head’s up on how THIS game is played with ME coming out ahead of course. smiles
OHH and they won’t tell me what they are going to put on the property.
Thanks to All,
Dee-Texas

Dee,
I’d like to be already happily retired and living in the Corona commercials, but that ain’t reality yet. :beer

Let’s see. I give you a totally refundable deposit so I can conduct a feasibility study on your property and if I don’t like what I find, I’ve tied your property up for 90 days and I walk. At a bare minimum I would think a non-refundable option fee would be in order and I would think more than $2,500.

I’m certainly no expert on commercial, but that ain’t how it works. Even if you do need to sell, counter with an offer that works for you. It sounds like this is just first blush. The property “may” work for whatever they have in mind, but they’re not ready to pony up if they don’t have to. I wouldn’t sweat it too much and would operate under normal conditions.

There’s no way I’d agree to meet codes without knowing exactly what that means. Even then you run a huge risk if something turns up later.

Maybe Eric will chime in here as this would be up his alley… :brow

Hi here folks -

I’m currently out in West Texas where men are men, the sheep are afraid, and Internet connections are few and far between, but here’s a short answer.

Don’t give an option on your property without getting compensation for it. Simple as that. But that’s exactly what you’re being asked to do here. Non-exclusive is the name of the game unless they want to pay for the priviledge. Could be they’re shopping for someone else (a little stacking going on, who knows?) and don’t want to commit until they’ve made their sale upstream.

Most local bankers are good sources of info for background into the area players and they are often called upon to provide short-term financing (build-outs, etc).

If you’re really wanting to move this thing along then take the bull by the horns (so to speak) and prepare a marketing package yourself. That might include a Phase I EPA study ( or it might not – depends on what you think you may find, right?).

The more questions you can answer, usually the better you will do. The current state of the art seems to indicate that a dedicated web page for the property is also something you want to look into.

And no, you don’t always get to know what’s going on the property (it usually isn’t that hard to find out), but I don’t refund nothin’ on commercial deals.

If you need some more info as to what to include in a package, get back to me.

Good luck,

Eric C

Hi
When you work as a real estate agent, you have to be good at reviewing property documentation as part of the listing and sale process. It is the documentation that will hold the pros and cons of the sale and property listing. Buyers will want to know everything possible about the property before they make an offer and it is the agent that the questions will be directed towards.

So a big part of the listing and inspection process is to ask your questions and to seek detail. In many instances the property owner will tell you some things about the property but there are times when they really do not know or do not want to tell you the whole story about the property.

The real estate agent should therefore have a list of questions that they ask relative to the property they are listing. If you like this can be a checklist. What we will do here is give you some tips on the legal issues that are part of the checklist questions.

The checklist is below gives you some of the common and big issues to get more detail about. Given that each property is unique and different, ensure that no other matters exist.

  1. The property title needs to be searched. Add to that a search of any leases and other encumbrances that happen to be on the title. It is necessary to read them and identify the key issues; that will become part of the disclosure of the sale documentation.
  2. The ownership of the property has to be valid and legally correct. Are you getting sale instructions from the legal owners?
  3. Ask the owner of the property about any unregistered interests, claims, notices, or orders that may exist on the property. These are things that could impact the ownership or title settlement.
  4. Get the survey and plan detail for the property as it will support your identification of the property boundaries from the title. Are there any issues with the boundaries of neighbouring properties?
  5. Inspect the premises and improvements on the property. Create a schedule of those matters for the owner to certify as correct.
  6. Understand where all property documentation is held and most particularly the leases and licences that may apply to the property. It is wise to inspect these documents prior to listing. They may turn up issues that need resolve.
  7. Ask about heritage, environmental, and occupational orders and notices that may exist on the property. When in doubt go and talk to the local planning office at the local council to get more detail or to check validity.
  8. Are there any ownership disputes that apply to the improvements on the property? Are there any items on the property that are not owned by the property owner on the title?
  9. Where are the bank guarantees and other security bonds under the leases being held and what is the detail of such?
  10. Are there any existing lease incentives that are still active on the property? They will need to be tabulated and disclosed in the sale process.

When you list a property for sale, it is your attention to detail in the listing process that helps you with the finer detail that could derail the sale settlement or listing. When you get all of this under control, it is likely that the sale will proceed well and be successful.

Thanks regards - Jensyn

Hi… I want to know that how about the plan that you have made to sale out your property…!! Also I would like to know that how would you manage to sale this out… Thank you!

Don’t hold your breath. Dee-Texas hasn’t been around these parts in over three years…