Advice Needed for Dormant, Unused Commercial Office Property
My parents own two office suites that were combined and haven’t been in use since they closed their business about 10 years ago.

My father is old school and not internet savvy and has tried to sell the units or lease them with no luck.

They’re not located in a particularly great location but are right off a main highway and are part of a multi-unit corporate park. I’d like to help him either sell them or find tenants via a property management company if recommended by reddit experts.

I imagine all of their office furniture needs to be disposed of as there are approximately 10 cubicles that look like they came from the early 90’s...unless a potential tenant would find them useful.

I really don’t know where to start with this but he’s been paying the annual dues on these properties and his only effort to find tenants has been to post his contact info on an actual bulletin board in the main lobby.

Any advice would be greatly appreciated.
[{"id": "fcllugu", "text": "If he doesn't plan to occupy them and doesn't want to sell he can lease them on even a short term lease. There are many options but don't let them sit vacant. Talk to a broker. This is what they do. I work for a national firm (in valuation/advisory not brokerage) but can link you to with someone if you want - pm me.", "replies": [], "depth": 1}, {"id": "fclmyis", "text": "Where is the property located? I may have an idea for you- pm me.", "replies": [], "depth": 1}, {"id": "fclq3wu", "text": "You should get a real estate broker (Not a property management company, although many brokerage companies do both) to lease the spaces. You need a commercial broker who specializes in landlord representation for office buildings. Actually contact tenant rep brokers as well, anyone who is office. Idk where you are located but talk to brokers at the firms in your area with this specialization. Let them know you\u2019d like to lease your building. List with one of them and they will find tenants. They only get paid if they fill the space and it comes out of the rent (which is better than having an empty office building). If you cannot lease it yourself this is the route to take.\n\n- 6 years as a commercial RE broker", "replies": [], "depth": 1}, {"id": "fcoz5sh", "text": "As you would do when listing a house, talk to at least three brokers.  Unless you are in a very small town, you will want to deal with brokers who are 100% commercial and active in the market of your parents' property; don't deal with a residential agent dabbling in commercial.  You also might want to talk to your local planning office about the current zoning of the property, what uses are allowed in any anticipated changes in zoning, new developments in th area etc.  \n\nIt could be that the property is worth significantly more than your parents think. However, there could be code issues that must be addressed before the buildings can be occupied again.  For example, you can no longer use Freon in air conditioners.", "replies": [{"id": "fcp1r1t", "text": "Is zoning necessary? These offices are located in a multi unit 3 story corporate office building. I imagine the types of acceptable tenants are stipulated by the corporate park\u2019s policies, no? I.e no tattoo parlors next to the law office and dentistry (or anywhere for that matter).\n\nI\u2019m just trying to be clear that this wasn\u2019t a stand-alone property.", "replies": [{"id": "fcs9jgf", "text": "Ah I see, it's probably a commercial condo.  It would be good to have a quick with the zoning folks anyway, have them identify the zoning and give you a copy of the portion of the zoning code that pertains to that zoning district.\n\nBut yes, the condo association and commercial subdivision (if there is one) will control the use. you need to get a copy of all of the documents for the condo association and commercial subdivision, and read through them thoroughly.   \n\nThere's probably a management company employed to manage the building and the condo association etc.  They can give you the documents I mentioned, plus you could ask them how much units have sold for in the building recently and what they know about recent rental rates.  If the management company has a brokerage group, I'd have them prepare a listing presentation for you, along with a couple of other brokers as I mentioned.\n\nThe very best thing to do is sell these units and get them out of your parent's hair.  In my area at least, commercial condos sell very cheap.  Even if the units aren't worth much tell your parents they are much better off selling. Especially if the building is old, a large special assessment could be made to replace the roof, fix the elevators etc.\n\nOne more thing, your local county property appraiser would have records on sales of units in that building. You could probably look this information up pretty easily on their website or worst case give them a call.\n\nOnce you have an idea of what the units are worth, you might want to ask the owners of the neighboring units (the county property appraiser's office could give you a list of all unit owners) if they are interested in buying (a 10 to 20% discount off market would be fair if selling with no commission and quickly) ; for that matter, I would contact all of the unit owners in the building, maybe make up a one-page flyer with photos, a floor plan etc.", "replies": [{"id": "fcsty6a", "text": "Great ideas, thank you. Yes I don\u2019t think they\u2019re worth very much, maybe $80k a piece. Part of me was interested in leasing them for the extra stream of income, but it may be easier to simply sell for a loss and park the money in an ETF.", "replies": [], "depth": 4}], "depth": 3}], "depth": 2}], "depth": 1}]