Commercial Real Estate and the MLS
Commercial Properties are sometimes sold on the MLS, although it is obviously geared much more for residential properties than LoopNet or CoStar and forces you to answer a lot of irrelevant residential related questions to post a listing. What are your experiences with it? Do you avoid it entirely or chalk it up as a necessary evil?
[{"id": "c9dywxw", "text": "Really,  the only commercial listings on my MLS are rural properties still covered by the MLS in my MSA.  That and unsophisticated buyers and sellers use it for mostly ramshackle properties.  ", "replies": [], "depth": 1}, {"id": "c9e5tfy", "text": "Nothing tells prospective buyers you are not a serious seller like putting your commercial property on the MLS. What is the asset class? ", "replies": [{"id": "c9e6wll", "text": "In Chicago you see it with mixed use/retail properties, esp. under $2M. It's not instead of the traditional means, but in addition to.", "replies": [{"id": "c9ed2bh", "text": "Yes I'm in Chicago, and yes it happens, I just cannot justify telling someone that marketing their 0-2M investment property on the MLS is a sound marketing method", "replies": [{"id": "c9f526u", "text": "Genuine question: Is there any reason not to? If a property is already on loopnet and costar and it's being promoted via personal/broker relationships, online/email marketing, etc. doesn't MLS provide some non-zero chance of capturing additional potential buyers?\n\nI'm not saying buy any stretch of the imagination that it's the best way to market it, maybe not even in the top 5 or 10 ways to market it, but why not use all available channels if the cost of listing it on MLS is basically a few minutes of your time? Are you arguing that it isn't even worth that amount of your time or that there is some negative side-effect of listing it there that I am not considering?\n\nedit: I actually hate the MLS. Just playing devil's advocate here...", "replies": [{"id": "c9f9bm3", "text": "No you're right, it's an arrow worth having in your marketing quiver. The trick is to not put them up until you're 6-8 weeks into the marketing process. I talking about loopnet, costar, and the MLS.\n\nThe reason you do that is because it gives you more control over the marketing process, and it also keeps the listing from going stale more quickly ", "replies": [], "depth": 5}, {"id": "c9g0vnf", "text": "I would argue that there are economic reasons not to.  The cost and red tape in order to belong to a local Realtor association would outweigh the benefits of actually landing a deal.  I find those who belong to an MLS (In Chicago) tend to be more residential.  Those who are commercial brokers who have the MLS usually belong to companies that blend residential and commercial (i.e. coldwell banker, remax, etc.)  \n\nI have worked with those who have access to the MLS (residential brokers) on occasion and majority know that there is a low percentage of properties listed on the MLS.  They lean on Loopnet due to the lower cost and literally drive properties for signs.", "replies": [], "depth": 5}, {"id": "c9s9j3p", "text": "I worked with a company that chose to add all of their commercial listings to MLS. They felt that they received enough leads to continue the practice despite: MLS requires the account holder to be the listing agent (the company only had one account - it was held under the designated broker's name); PAY CLOSE ATTENTION to MLS's default splits (you'll want to edit the default to match your listing agreement); listing on MLS attracts residential agents who dabble in commercial (be prepared for some troublesome agents who can muddy the waters); and adhering to MLS policies can be tricky (but can be done).", "replies": [], "depth": 5}], "depth": 4}], "depth": 3}], "depth": 2}], "depth": 1}, {"id": "c9e85hb", "text": "I would only use the MLS for residential development land because lots of those developers ran around with residential brokers who had never heard of Loopnet. ", "replies": [], "depth": 1}, {"id": "c9eczak", "text": "In Brooklyn,  loopnet-costar is the choice service for firms.  But in reality only a fraction of what's actually is available is on the Internet.  Personal relationships with owners and brokers is still key to know what is available.  ", "replies": [{"id": "c9gd6zd", "text": "Same here in Fairfield County. Most really good commercial spaces never hit the MLS because the demand is just so high, my broker has buyers lined up for days with some uses.", "replies": [], "depth": 2}], "depth": 1}, {"id": "caj49zz", "text": "Depending on your location you can also have listings added to the Xceligent property database. This is a competitor of CoStar/Loopnet and they are a cheaper alternative to which you can subscribe if you are a broker/agent.\n\nIn Southern California specifically, you can get your listings added into the AIR Commercial Real Estate Association's commercial database, which is run on Xceligent's technology called CDX (Commercial Data eXchange).\n\nXceligent www.xceligent.com\nAIR Commercial Real Estate Association www.airea.com\n", "replies": [], "depth": 1}]