Employing technology to bring success

By: Jennifer Sharpe//The Journal Record//November 9, 2017

CBRE’s Alaina McGlothin and Stuart Graham. (Photo by Brent Fuchs )

In commercial real estate, evolving technology has enabled a level of speed and efficiency that has revolutionized the industry.

“The offerings made via technology have absolutely transformed the commercial real estate business and the role of real estate brokers,” said Stuart Graham, first vice president with CBRE Retail Services. “Verifiable data is the basis for making decisions about the value of property, and subsequently about buying, selling, or leasing property.”

Because of technology, Graham explained, access to the data is now easy and efficient, and has thus “leveled the playing field” for brokers.

“‘Deals are harder to uncover because, frankly, the information is so readily available to everyone,” Graham said; therefore, “the brokers’ ability to leverage mobile apps, web-based data sources, software programs and social media is paramount to their success.”

The industry is saturated with many options for software. Alaina McGlothlin, a retail broker at CBRE, said she regularly receives marketing emails from companies trying to sell the latest program.

Within her company, McGlothlin said internal programs are developed and continuously evolving to meet brokers’ needs.

“CBRE has a database that they manage internally that we are constantly changing and updating,” she said.

The downside to new technology is that time spent learning new software means less time spent on a client or deal.

“We’re always talking about some new program or there’s a company trying to make our lives easier, but we don’t always want to jump into it because there’s a learning curve with any new technology,” McGlothlin explained.

Industry-specific programs such as APTO, Xceligent, Loopnet, and CoStar are all popular with commercial real estate brokers. Why so many software choices? Unlike residential real estate, which has the Multiple Listing Service, known as MLS for short, commercial real estate does not have one go-to listing site.

“There is not one central repository for all the real estate listings in commercial,” explained J. David Chapman, assistant professor at the University of Central Oklahoma and owner of Realty1 LLC.

According to Chapman, this huge market opportunity for “big data” in commercial real estate is what has sparked and fueled the ongoing feud between Xceligent and CoStar.

“What drives our business in CRE is knowing what is available to our customer,” he explained.

In addition to needing access to each database, a broker must also be prepared to field frequent, often weekly, calls from Xceligent and CoStar as they make every effort to maintain their databases with the most up-to-date information. As Chapman noted, CoStar will do flyovers with aircraft and drones to take pictures.

Even with the influx of sophisticated programs, there is still a place for basic technology in commercial real estate.

“Excel spreadsheets have been reliable and stood the test of time,” McGlothlin said. She also regularly uses Dropbox and Google, but laments that not all clients use them.

As with any industry, email has dramatically changed the way clients are contacted. In commercial real estate, particularly with the facets of the industry working on and around deals, a major advantage that technology has brought is increased efficiency.

Julie Whitman, zoning manager for Bock & Clark Corp., remembers earlier days when information was requested by phone and by mail, which then led to waiting days or even weeks to receive materials.

“These days, we have the luxury of faster communication via email, the majority of codes and maps can be found online, and gathering information is generally a much easier process,” Whitman said. “We’ve also been able to drastically reduce the amount of paper waste. When a city’s municipal codebook or a 10-page property survey can be emailed and then reviewed electronically, it means that we’ve wasted less paper, saved postage, required less storage and workspace, and even saved labor.”

What about social media in commercial real estate?

“The adoption of social media has been slower than I might have expected in commercial real estate,” Graham said. “We will see an increase in the use of social media as the early adopters of social media move into their prime buying years. Today’s buying decisions are made by those who aren’t inclined to seek data through social media.”

McGlothlin said she does not use social media because her clients are not using it. Perhaps social media will be more of a factor as the client demographic switches more toward younger generations, as Graham suggests.

Even with all the benefits that technology has brought to CRE, there is not a program or app that has taken the place of human interaction.

“With technology, it is there and we use it, but it is not what we rely on the most,” McGlothlin said. “I always find out the most information when I pick up the phone and make a call.” The broker-to-broker calls, she said, are when she finds out the details on a property and ultimately builds relationships within the field.

Commercial real estate is an industry that finds success in relationships.

“The more experience you have, the less calls that you need to make, because you know what property would be the best fit for a company or client,” said McGlothlin.

Graham summarizes the link between technology and the commercial real estate broker, “The brokers’ role is to find and transfer critical information. The use of today’s technology is the most efficient means of accomplishing this task.”