Does your property representative or broker/salesperson talk about social media? They should! Recently I heard that over 80% of residential property searches begin on the internet (I’m betting that in the Bay Area, this is conservative). Is commercial real estate lagging in it’s push to provide online information? Absolutely YES! How many connections does your broker have in LinkedIn? Look at their Facebook page too. Do they have a blog? Do they have multiple pictures of the listed property in Loopnet? How about video tours through YouTube.com? What do they use LinkedIn for? I recently was asked to find a contact at a company that serves coffee and found the director of real estate in about two minutes. Amazing access to information now.
A lot of my leads come from Craigslist. Wow, any wonder? Commercial real estate searches are beginning on the internet. Someone can search for a few minutes in their office for new space and find listings. A doctor on his lunch break wants more space, doesn’t tell his staff that he wants to expand or move, what’s the quickest way to start a search? How complete is property information on Craigslist? How are the pictures? Does your broker have links to video tours? Do they have a YouTube channel? Some property owners don’t want video of their property, and that is a decision for them to make, however the search engines love video, so maybe a compromise should be worked out about what to video.
Why is it that commercial real estate brokers in the San Francisco Bay Area aren’t as progressive in using the internet as residential agents? Send me a comment or response, I don’t care if its pro or con to my view, I would like some feedback. We live in a high tech world in the Bay Area. Commercial Real Estate should embrace it too!
