finding a commercial space for sale

[permanent hearing damage]

so after finding out a bit too late about a place that was surprisingly affordable and not so far from my house, i am starting to consider looking for a commercial building for sale. something like an old auto garage with offices above it that i could use to live in.

the thing is, aside from riding around town every couple weeks, how the hell does one go about finding something? searching residential real estate listings on the internet seems pretty easy to do, but everything i've found for commercial seems to require some kind of registration and just doesn't look very straight forward.

[klangtone]

hey phd,

I've got similar dreams, man.
I found this website www.loopnet.com that you can search commercial realty on. You do have to register to see the full listings, but you don't have to pay anything or give a credit card or something. Unless, of course, you want access to some "premier" listings. Then you have to pay. But I was able to find some interesting stuff on there.

Hope that helps,

Roy

[roscoenyc]

As bad as the economy has been it is a buyers market.
A lot of people take things off the market periodically so
they can 're-list' them.

You might consider talking to a real estate broker.
Might save you a lot of time zeroing in on exactly what
you are looking for or something you hadn't thought of.
Someone who knows the area and the market.

[ott0bot]

As bad as the economy has been it is a buyers market.
A lot of people take things off the market periodically so
they can 're-list' them.

You might consider talking to a real estate broker.
Might save you a lot of time zeroing in on exactly what
you are looking for or something you hadn't thought of.
Someone who knows the area and the market.

Good advice! Plus the seller usually pays the realors commission, so no cost to you. A good realtor can usually negotiate a lower price, get the seller to cover closing costs, get code violations fixed as part of the deal, etc. Totally worth it to have a realtor do all the leg work for you, and focus on finding the right place and planning the build.

[Waltz Mastering]

Craigslist has a commercial/industrial real estate section.

[Meriphew]

I'd work with a broker, as roscoenyc said. I'd also make sure that it is absolutely positively zoned where it is legal for you to live/work there, otherwise you could be in for a world of suckage.

[Marc Alan Goodman]

Yip. Craigslist is alright, but mostly it's just a good place to find brokers. However here in NYC and maybe in philly commercial listings, unlike residential, are rarely exclusive. So you can go ahead and talk to every commercial broker you can find. Odds are you'll keep running in to the same properties.

The internet only seems to reach the tip of the iceberg as far as commercial real estate brokers go. Most have tiny offices in shady neighborhoods with just a phone number posted out front. But it's worth talking to them all, you really need to get a feel for what things are going for and what the issues are with any given type of property before you get in to buy.

Philly seems like it's full of awesome, amazing, reasonably priced spaces. Good luck with the search man!

Oh, and don't forget to get in touch with other smaller studio owners (try brian mctear, jeff zeigler or bill moriarty if you can reach them) to see if they know of anybody who has a place and is closing up shop. That could save you some serious build out costs.

[thethingwiththestuff]

i know jeff and bill both rent, not sure about brian's place. it might be worth talking to jeff carpineta at solo realty. he sold a lot of artists their fishtown houses years ago, and has his finger on the pulse of indie rock and real estate around philly.

[Marc Alan Goodman]

whatever dude I'll arc your round