Since adding commercial practitioner to my professional service offerings, it still surprises me that a larger percentage of my colleagues on the residential side of the industry do not practice commercial, and vice versa — especially in a business where managing change and market cycles is a constant.
While fear may be the biggest reason for inaction, the bottom line is that agent success in both the residential and commercial industry requires a commitment to the brilliant basics of farming, prospecting, working your sphere of influence (SOI), providing the highest standards of quality service, and being a fiduciary that acts in the best interests of clients.
Real estate is complex and challenging, yes, but if you are looking to have your best year in 2020, consider adding commercial real estate services to your overall client value proposition.
Residential and commercial real estate have some similarities and overlap in some critical areas as they relate to the client, but there are many disparities as well. Commercial is typically more practical, focused solely on the investment itself and whether the numbers ‘pencil out’ or meet business objectives. Residential is more sentimental and highly emotional. Either way, the challenge is to understand the client’s unique set of parameters, circumstances and overall goals, and to help them through the entire relationship from search, to negotiation to closing and onward the next opportunity.
For me, there are many reasons to be a residential real estate agent. Primarily, it’s that feeling of helping a family or individual work through what can be the single largest investment of their lifetime: the dream of homeownership. And years later, helping that same owner to sell at the highest price possible in the shortest amount of time — as well as helping the client’s extended family and friends. Plus, it fills my commercial pipeline when that side of my business is in a lull.
Commercial real estate, on the other hand, allows me to impact people’s lives from a more business and finance-centric perspective.
Ultimately, being both a residential and commercial agent affords me the opportunity to build a more diverse client base and to be more selective with whom I choose to partner. This flexibility allows me the freedom to focus on the most important aspect of any residential or commercial opportunity: my client. It’s those relationships that sustain me, my career, and my goals to make an impact on people’s lives and to help build better communities where I live and work.
Learn more about commercial licensing opportunities with Century21, and expand your own skillset in 2020.