Who Are the Voices in Commercial Real Estate?

Duke, great blog post. It’s an honor to be on your list. Those are a lot of questions, but I’ll chime in with some thoughts on a few. First, I’ll make a few comments on the overall commercial vs. residential discussion…

Commercial real estate has lagged far behind residential in virtually every way, whether it be social media, or even traditional mediums of communicating brand. When was the last time you saw an advertisement for a commercial real estate broker on a shopping cart for instance? You just don’t see it.

That does not mean it doesn’t work, more likely it hasn’t been tried yet. We’re slowly beginning to see an increased presence of CRE in social media which is something I believe will accelerate as more “new blood” is brought in as well as a result of general economic conditions being as bad as they are.

Overall though, I’m afraid the change will be slower than most of us would like to see. The reason for this is that residential is an open-book industry compared to CRE. As a residential agent, you need to get a listing up on the MLS within hours. In most commercial corners, no such de facto MLS exists, let alone a requirement to get it posted. This makes information that much more valuable, and limits the extent to which CRE professionals want to “open up”. That doesn’t mean they can’t start a blog to discuss general trends, and whats going on, which is the direction where I suspect most of the blogging will likely head.

As for the value of blogging, I can say that it is time consuming but also rewarding. First, it provides a reason to stay on the forefront of what’s going on in the industry, which is an increasingly important thing to do given the pace of change. Secondly, it is a tool that can demonstrate your value to clients and peers, efficiently and rather inexpensively. An example would be blogging about a news story days before it shows up in Globe Street, The Wall Street Journal, or anywhere else on the internet.

Anyhow, I think I’ve taken up enough comment real estate here. I look forward to reading more and discovering other bloggers through the comments they leave here.

First, thanks for the love Duke! Now to give you Llenrock’s perspective on the questions you pose:

1. In the short run its not, in the long run it is. There are many difficulties in first getting started, both from a technological know-how perspective as well as developing organic growth. Assuming you want to reach an audience beyond those people you already know, there are many steps necessary for search engine optimization (SEO) and picking up traffic. The best way is to start with good content. The next best way is to link to other successful blogs that you admire. All of the social networking takes time and effort, but I can tell you first hand that it has led to actual business for our company with people we have never met before, so YES it is worth it.

2. While all content could be relevant depending on who your target audience is, and what individual readers find valuable for their personal consumption, the answer on a macro level is content about current things in the news. I can tell you that the vast majority of our content that gets picked up by other sites relates to major, significant news in the industry like bankruptcies of major firms, new government policies that affect our industry and so on. If you can put an interesting spin on a story that is being reported on everywhere, that different insight becomes more valuable.

3. Yes, but not on the internet it won’t.

4. Whoever has a well-informed intelligent point of view.

5. We walk in wet concrete in this industry. Our actions and inactions follow us throughout our careers, so it is important to treat everyone diligently and with respect.

6. Check out out site, and take a look at our blogroll. There are a lot of good ideas, and good opinions out there.

7. Yes. Not to toot our on horn, but we regularly have readers complement our work.

8. Of course we have a voice! The main thing that sets blogs apart from mainstream media is that we are allowed to have opinions on the news we are discussing, and frankly, if we do not have a strong opinion, it probably isn’t engaging enough to be worth the reader’s time.

9. This is a great question. In my humble opinion, i think the reason stems from the fundamental difference between residential and commercial real estate. Residential real estate is, generally speaking, an emotional decision for the buyer, whereas commercial real estate is solely an investment decision. The numbers are what the numbers are, and therefore, it matters less what people’s opinions about the real estate are. In residential real estate, a broker’s value is the life and energy they give their listings. You can only do this with words. Therefore it makes perfect sense that every residential broker seems to have a blog these days. No investor is going to care about the opinion of their commercial broker (Trust me, I was one for many years). A residential broker’s income depends on their ability to accentuate details that will be receptive to their audience, which is EXACTLY what a blog can do. Residential broker’s audiences have the time and inclination to invest in researching expert opinions. Commercial brokers audiences don’t have time for that, and if they do, it usually manifests itself in a magazine subscription to “Institutional Investor” or the like.

Thanks for the kudos guys!

We’re just trying to take the traditional “stuffy suits” stigma of commercial real estate brokers and spin it to more of a “real” and thus more approachable to the general public. We incorporate information, education as well as humor to engage our audience because frankly, who will really responds to “For Lease or For Sale” posts anyway??

Steven Ladin
Chief Executive Officer
Ladin Ventures, LLC-
Commercial Real Estate Advisors

hey Duke, Goldmine of information on RealEstate several unanswered queries. I agree with almost everything you have commented on the real estate scenario, i wish i could emulate the same here in the RealEstate Market in Calgary via the Calgary MLS listings. Way to go Duke, thanks for the eye opener. RealEstate in Calgary has metamorphosed into a juxtaposed market under the aegis of Calgary MLS listings.