Longtime lurker looking for advice on investment sales and getting listings
Hey everyone,

I work for a large CRE firm and they are asking me incorporate investment sales as a product line.  They think Im ready to take on more activity. (currently a tenant and agency rep for office and retail in a small market).

I know I have to cold call building owners.  Research has sent me addresses and owner names of every building above 8,000 SF in my market but no phone numbers or contact names.  

So a couple questions:

How do I dig up phone numbers for these owners, especially the ones that are simply legal entities? ex: 123 Main Street, LLC.

Also, 

I want to research each building and owner before I call so I can have an intelligent chat instead of "Hey, are you looking to sell?" I want to be able to tell them what I think their building is worth and how I can get them that number if they list with me.

How can I obtain this info?  What else am I missing?

Thanks!!


From a longtime lurker of the CRE sub under a different username

[{"id": "cvbso7l", "text": "County recorder of deeds and CMBS databases can give you loan maturity dates - they are usually an indication that the owner will have to pay off the balloon payment, refinance, or sell.\n\nOn a side note, a seasoned broker told me a story after meeting with a private owner who was in his mid 80s.The owner did not see a reason to sell, as his property was stabilized and cap rates were still decreasing in our market, and he did not need any capital freed up for any investments at his age. The broker told him \"well, you can have the excitement of selling your building or die!\"...somehow that convinced him", "replies": [{"id": "cvbuqof", "text": "thanks Rock", "replies": [{"id": "cvchmiz", "text": "As far as getting the owner contact info, I am not sure what reporting regulations are for your state. In my state, there is a business entity search where you would search for \"123 main street LLC\", then you can find a reported \"officer\" for the company. This is usually the name of an individual OR the name of the actual company that owns the asset.\n\nBesides that, there are CRE databases like CoStar that sometimes have \"true owner\" info.\n\nMy last suggestion would be to ask a tenant. Ask them how they like the landlord, if they know him/her, etc.\n\n_____________________________________\n\n&gt; I want to research each building and owner before I call so I can have an intelligent chat instead of \"Hey, are you looking to sell?\" I want to be able to tell them what I think their building is worth and how I can get them that number if they list with me.\n\nUse sales comps and some financial modeling to give them a ballpark number of what their building is worth. Is the asset stable? Is it distressed? Either extreme could be a good reason to sell.", "replies": [{"id": "cvdbpcq", "text": "The LLC was registered by someone... either a principal with the company (lucky) or their registered agent (even more lucky possibly) Registered agents are often attorneys, and if they're doing that registration chances are they're doing more. Look the attorney up, explain you're new to the biz and offer lunch. Develop and share market trends with them, become the go-to market resource for them...", "replies": [{"id": "cvid6x9", "text": "Thanks man.  Much appreciated.", "replies": [], "depth": 5}], "depth": 4}], "depth": 3}], "depth": 2}], "depth": 1}]