How to Canvas for CRE?
Hi Everyone,

Admittedly, this is going to sound like a very daft question with a very obvious answer, but how do you all go about canvasing for real estate and getting to know markets at the street/pedestrian level?

Is there a method to the madness? A particular strategy or systematic and organized way of getting to know local markets really well?   Just driving around a city in a haphazard fashion doesn't seem like it would be very useful for recognizing the truly good sites. I am not limited by asset class but there are a couple very large major met markets that I want to understand intimately, and I don't really know how to go about it.  I have a car and time.

Any insight would be appreciated, acknowledged and paid forward in the capacity I am able to do so.

Thank you and Happy 4th of July.

Best

Nate

**EDIT: THANK YOU ALL FOR THE GORGEOUS AND GENEROUS RESPONSES!**
[{"id": "d4zviy1", "text": "Well if you really want to intimately get to know a market, you'll have to do more than just drive it. I would focus on one submarket at a time, first driving it to map out the buildings you want to canvas (let's assume you're going with office, that was my focus). I then walked every single building, making note of every tenant. If there's security, try to snap a picture of the directory. Go back and do your research on every decision maker at each company. Then go back again and walk into each company, try to get to the decision maker. The goal is to get as much information as you can. How many SF they occupy, their rent psf, their lease expiration, any concessions they had, are they growing/contracting, etc. Do they to every building in every submarket and you'll be an expert. (Applies to retail and industrial as well). Good luck. \n\nEDIT: this is assuming you're a new broker? Not sure why else you'd want to know a market on a street level. ", "replies": [{"id": "d502gc9", "text": "I would second this method.  The one thing I would add, is that with google maps and other mapping software you can print out several aerial photos of the area that you are planning on canvasing.  \n\nThe last time we canvased a market we divided it up into several maps and highlighted buildings as we went through each smaller map one by one starting in the south of the area and working north.  The maps helped us track where we had been and where we needed to go.\n\nWe tried to collect a business card from every tenant we could (industrial not office here) and then entered that data into an excel sheet to import into our contact management software.\n\nI really like this for new brokers as you get to know the tenants and  the neighborhood and buildings. As an fyi for a new agent to collect about 500 buildings, it takes about 3 months of straight door to door in our area.\n\nBest of luck!", "replies": [], "depth": 2}], "depth": 1}, {"id": "d506r5g", "text": "I would also suggest getting a tool like LandVision or any other property record mapping tool that allows you to rope off your submarket and pull all ownership records. Put these in your CRM/Deal Management system and start analyzing them for high level metrics and trends. Get to know the top owners, the averages building size, the top buildings, the sales volume and absorption rates, etc. You can also use this data to get a good understanding the investor make-up (private, professional, institutional) and the size of their local portfolios (or national if using the right tool). Then build out strategic lists from the data and start hammering the phones. This by no means takes the place of actual boots on the ground research, but it certainly helps. The key is that you are preparing yourself for highly fruitful field time by knowing before your go.\n\nAlso make an effort to track all the market's on-market listings. This goes a long way in keeping your finger on the pulse of what's in the market and moreover what's poised to move.\n\nI'd also suggest building up a mapping database so you can visualize the unseen market forces like general plan, zoning, economic development zones, future developments and land going through entitlement and anything else that drives real estate decisions and knowledge.\n\nLastly, and this one is admittedly circumstantial and more difficult, but if you commute is bikeable, ride a bike to work. It's amazing what you can see as you slow down and ride the streets of your market on a daily basis. You experience the streets as those who use them, which can be invaluable in crafting a story to owners and tenants. Plus you get a great workout.\n\nNot all these things are covered, but here's a good source of best practices in CRE: http://www.apto.com/best-practices/win-new-business\n\nCheers!", "replies": [{"id": "d512nep", "text": "This post is filled with great advice. The only thing I'd add on top of it: if your resources are limited, getting a job at a research company that gathers all of this information as part of its business model is a great shortcut. It's a paying position, you can learn the methods, and have access to the property database they use as long as you work there. ", "replies": [], "depth": 2}], "depth": 1}, {"id": "d519d4c", "text": "I can share my experience. I came into a large firm as a research analyst the same time they hired a young tenant rep broker. I was somewhat partnered with him to canvas the entire market and help him build up our dying tenant rep business.\n\nWe first identified a submarket to canvas. Then identified all class \"A\" and \"B\" buildings in those submarkets. Before we drove out we put together some market information specific to that submarket, and tried to identify a \"story\" about that submarket (new large corporate tenant moving in, new retail development up the highway, etc.).\n\nThen we simply walked in to each building, while he talked to the desk person I snapped a pic of the tenant directories. If a building did not have security, we would knock on doors and drop off the marketing material and usually have a 5-10 minute \"hallway conversation\" with the president/CEO/partner/manager whoever it may be in the office. We did not pitch our services at all! Simply shared our market report and what was going on in market, exchanged business cards and moved on.\n\nWhile we drove to the next building I punched in all the notes in my laptop. 2 weeks after we would call the people we met with to follow up and lead into our services.", "replies": [], "depth": 1}]