It was standing-room-only for another continuing education course on “How To Do More Commercial Business”, taught last week by Louisiana Commercial Realty broker Robert Hand to group of investors and residential agents at Realty One Immobilia in Metairie.
The class detailed vital information that real estate agents and investors need to know about commercial real estate, and was designed to help agents who work mostly in residential but dabble in commercial real estate to better serve the needs of their commercial property clients.
The class drilled down into the nitty gritty of the six sectors of commercial property: office, warehouse, retail, shopping centers, hotels and apartments, and presented an analysis of pricing for each sector. Also covered was information on zoning, contract language to avoid, and how the latest artificial intelligence data can be utilized to help retailers find the perfect location. The class also taught agents how to value commercial property based on income, which is one method utilized in all commercial appraisals.
The 2 hour class was presented by Louisiana Commercial Realty broker Robert Hand who explains, “When I started 20 years ago working as a commercial agent for Latter & Blum and then RE/MAX Commercial, I was surprised that neither firm trained agents in how to work in the commercial property sector, despite the fact that these were the two largest commercial real estate companies in the area. So I created a course teaching agents who mostly make a living in residential property but dabble in commercial property how to do business in the commercial arena. The course was approved last year by the Louisiana Real Estate Commission for 2 hours of continuing education credit for agents.”
The in-person class includes research on over 7,000 office space listings throughout Louisiana and concluded only 194 were closed on average each month, which is only 3%. Metairie closed 21 of the 194 leases which were the highest office prices at $21.27 per square foot. Among the major cities in Louisiana, some reported leases at much higher prices than average, such as Slidell, but that was because only one lease was transacted. Baton Rouge closed the highest number of office leases.
The class also presented information on lease prices of warehouse space in Louisiana’s major cities. Of the 101 warehouse leases listed, Lafayette closed 7 leases at an average price of $8.10 per square foot which was a 20% discount to the $10.03 per square foot list price. New Orleans and Lake Charles only closed 3 warehouse leases, but the lease price for each was above average.
The continuing education course was adapted to include commercial real estate in Mississippi, and recently was approved by the Mississippi Real Estate Commission for continuing education credit. Broker Hand says, “All the other continuing education courses offered are written either by title companies or vendors who never actually worked in commercial estate. The course I created is the only class in Louisiana or Mississippi that was written by a commercial agent who is actually in the field with 'hands on' experience in how commercial real estate gets done.”
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