The Advantages of Working with a Commercial Real Estate Street Broker

When you need the services of a commercial real estate broker, you have a choice between two types of brokers to work with, a corporate broker or a street broker. The variations between the two, including how they approach and service your requirements, can be entirely different. The results can be equally different.

Commercial brokerage houses specialize in approaching tenants individually. Large national firms cultivate relationships that lead to tenant representation for those who have multiple requirements in a number of cities. They utilize a control process that removes the inconvenience of managing multiple requirements.

The street broker is found in small local commercial real estate firms. Typically, they work with local businesses. Often, they are part of a national network that helps them handle business outside of their marketplace by referring it to other affiliates.

Today, with the number of services available to a commercial real estate broker, differences between these two types of brokers are not as apparent. With services such as CoStar and Loopnet, brokers can gather information on a prospective marketplace with a simple click of the button. Information on available listings, vacancy reports, demographics, maps and services are easily available to both corporate and street brokers. The true distinction between these two approaches rests in day-to-day business conduct.

Corporate brokers spend a majority of their time developing and servicing corporate clients. They rely on research departments to provide them with the necessary tools for this purpose. Street brokers spend their time working the street, looking for prospective tenants and then servicing them. By working the street, the broker is much more in tune with his marketplace. Herein lies the client’s advantage.

A street broker understands the pulse of a market in a way that a corporate broker could never understand. Everyday street brokers talk to landlords and tenants in their prospective local markets. They pick up trends and the ups and downs in a market because of their direct approach to this marketplace.

Another advantage can be seen in the culture of a street commercial real estate company. Typically, street brokerage houses promote an open architecture within their sales offices. Brokers work in an open environment that allows them to connect with other brokers more easily. Market intelligence is shared between brokers, allowing for faster responses to change. Brokers work together to handle a client’s needs more fully. In a corporate brokerage environment, brokers usually work in private offices, taking away the free flow of information. Clients with difficult requirements have added benefits from using a street broker. By communicating with other brokers in the office, they can provide immediate support to solve the client’s needs.

Richard Bowers, President of Richard Bowers Commercial Real Estate, a TCN Worldwide affiliate in Atlanta, is the ultimate street broker. Every week, Richard cold calls in person, just to keep the pulse of his marketplace. This acquired knowledge cannot come from a research department or the click of a button. This type of knowledge can only be obtained from working the street.

Starboard and TCN Worldwide are examples of the best street brokerage firms available to clients today. They have the size and capability to handle any transaction anywhere in the world by providing valuable street knowledge that a corporate brokerage firm cannot match.