If you're a commercial/industrial agent who does any leasing the chances are very high that you've been experiencing a market that's very different than the one the residential agents have been experiencing. While interest rates constantly hover near all-time lows the economy has been consistently lagging for about two years now. This has hurt the leasing market as many companies have had little or no interest in leasing and expanding into larger facilities. But at the same time these low interest rates have fueled a strong demand for companies to purchase properties as they can do so while keeping their monthly loan payments unbelievably low--sometimes even lower than what they would pay in rent for a similar facility.

But overall many, many companies are hurting out there. They've been trying to get by for quite sometime now since the economy has been slow and oftentimes they've experienced a shortage of cash.

Enter the sale-leaseback opportunity.

For companies that own the facilities that they do business in there may be no better way for them to generate the cash they need than entering into a sale-leaseback arrangement with a qualified investor. A sale-leaseback arrangement, where a company sells their facility to an investor and concurrently signs a lease to remain in the facility for 5-10 years or more, can be a golden opportunity for the company, the investor, and you as the real estate agent.

Having recognized this opportunity for several months now I've been instructing the individual commercial/industrial agents that I coach to uncover and pursue these opportunities to the fullest extent possible in their territories. And the results have been flat-out incredible! One coaching client, after sending-out just one mailing to corporate presidents in his territory, has received phone calls from 29 company presidents who are interested in pursuing sale-leaseback negotiations!

Companies right now are trying to figure-out where they can get the cash they desperately need. Many of them have never even thought of the possibility of a sale-leaseback transaction for their facility and if they have thought about it they have no idea how to go about beginning the process of finding an interested investor. Many times the idea of putting a "For Sale" sign on their building and publicizing the sale-leaseback opportunity in the marketplace frightens them as they don't want others in the business community to know that they are hurting for cash. That's why a quiet, off the market deal with one of your investors could be exactly what they are looking for. No signs go up on the building, no advertising is done, no flyers are printed, and after the transaction closes the company remains in the facility. To everyone not involved in the transaction it just looks like business as usual for the company. And to top things off the company walks away at the closing with hundreds of thousands to millions of dollars in cash to utilize in whatever manner is best for them.

Some of the most successful, most recognizable names in Corporate America have successfully negotiated sale-leaseback transactions over the years to give them the cash they wanted at the time. I guarantee you there are quite a number of companies in your territory who would love to enter into this type of arrangement with an investor right now. You just have to pickup the phone, knock on the doors, send-out the letters, and find these people as soon as you possibly can.

Published: March 12, 2003

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Jim Gillespie, Ph.D., is America's Premier Real Estate Coach℠. He has over 20 years of experience in real estate sales and is a past president of three different real estate companies. His FREE real estate E-newsletter with tips and creative ideas to help agents make more money is now read by over 35,000 agents nationwide. You can subscribe to his FREE E-newsletter by visiting RealEstateSalesCoach.com or contact him at Jim@RealEstateSalesCoach.com.