Commercial Property Buyers
Commercial land, property, or Industrial property can take time to sell and this is why you need to be ‘Sales Smart’. You will have to understand that if there are many properties on sale then it can take some time for your property to sell. Sometimes, you might have to wait for months before your property sells, and as a result of Covid, solicitors are ‘still’ piled up with conveyancing and a massive backlog exists.
You should make sure that your property is priced so that it attracts buyers. You must remember that buyers always look out for investment properties and tend to want to spend as little as possible on purchasing them. The typical route ‘and the reason that you may have come here to sell your property is a business transfer agent or a commercial valuer. They all use more or less the sameportals – Rightmove.co.uk, EGI Group, etc. These are going to time as the demand for commercial buildings is less than that of residential property for sale.
The property has to be first listed, existing clients are informed, and then left on the portals for a buyer to come along. This can take months if not years. When a buyer does come along, invariably they have to go to a lender to borrow money and we all know what entails.
The lender will want to know what the property is worth and will send out a surveyor to value it. The surveyor will look at the building and compare it with similar properties in the area, taking into account its condition, age, size and location. They will then give their opinion of value, at times these vary widely and lenders are led by the valuer.
If you have had your property valued by an estate agent or a mortgage broker, they are likely to have used an automated valuation model (AVM). These are computer models that use data from the Land Registry and are purely for ‘guestimations’ – so do not rely on these!
They are not always accurate but can be useful as a guide. However, buyers should always get a professional valuation done by a qualified surveyor. This is because AVMs do not take into account all of the factors that affect value such as location, condition or recent improvements made to the buildings.
Once you have had your property valued by a professional surveyor, you can start marketing it at that price or even slightly below it if you want to attract buyers quickly. If you are selling through an estate agent they may suggest marketing your home at a higher price than the valuation in order to try and get more money
Selling Commercial Property
On occasions, we have come across hotels, pubs, shops, and other commercial buildings where the business has just simply not worked out. The reasons for this can vary, but often it is because the business model was not viable or because the management was poor. Whatever the reason, it is always disappointing to see a business fail, especially when it has been in operation for a long time.
A business whose supplier folded leaving you in the proverbial, financial hiccup – where you run into lending issues with your lenders. You may even have lenders wanting you to sell the property to pay off your loans. We see these problems when it comes to buying a property and have a number of solutions that we can discuss with you, such as sell and lease back.
What do we buy?
| Leisure | Hotels, Public Houses, Restaurants, Cafes, Sports facilities |
| Retail | Retail stores and empty shops |
| Office | Office buildings, serviced offices |
| Industrial | Industrial premises, office/warehouses, garages, distribution centers |
| Healthcare | Medical centres, hospitals, nursing homes, care homes |
| Apartments as | Residential developments |