Author: Pete Rose
It used to be that trusted Commercial Real Estate agents would be your window into the wider market.
As is the trend in Real Estate, the relationships you cultivate with your peers can make or break your strategy. A great agent knows almost everything about everyone in their given area of specialty.
However, as we saw during the pandemic, when funding is abundant and yields compress, time is not on your side.
The ability to get your foot on a deal and a conditional offer accepted means you’re spending your days bouncing between deals at a crazy pace.
This demanding environment saw greater expectations placed on agents. A deal with some simple metrics was elusive. In order to filter through hundreds of deals, an agent that could do half of the heavy lifting for their clients was valued and rewarded.
Some stand-out agents were able to supercharge clients with a head-start on their due diligence. In times gone-by, getting simple information from an agent then spending hours running the numbers and getting a picture of your business plan just to move on was acceptable. Now, agents that can offer reliable insights, opportunities and potential up-side can add value to their clients, filter and match opportunities with precision and speed up the entire transaction process.
For example, Forbury modelling software allows secure sharing of pre-populated, excel based models. This allows agents to perform initial assessments that take less than five minutes to model. Providing a foundation for prospective buyers to layer on further detail and complexity to the model, test and manage different scenarios and sensitivities and forecast the impact of funding options easily. Forbury also offers the ability to collaborate on potential deals with internal and external parties seamlessly.
Highlighting the downside of a potential deal sounds like a terrible idea for someone trying to facilitate a deal. However, there is an argument to be made that these scenarios are going to be assessed anyway. If agents can provide their clients with a starting point ahead of their competitors, they can not only secure their deals faster, but ensure clients come back repeatedly.
Those that take advantage of available technology and become early adopters, are likely to become the industry leaders of tomorrow. The right software can often add huge value, differentiating you from other agents and providing the opportunity to stay ahead of the curve.
Keen to learn more about Forbury? Contact our UK Sales Manager, Ed O’hanrahan at ed.ohanrahan@forbury.com
