Brokers' Insights Can Make A Difference

Although technology can generate data that helps executives with site selection, there is still no substitute for the "windshield analysis" provided by local real estate brokers.

The brokers can help a retailer or restaurant evaluate a targeted site by explaining its history and nearby infrastructure including roads, and they may provide entree to local business relationships, says Monty Warren, vice president of Stirling Properties Inc., a Covington, La,-based real estate services firm.

Technology has transformed the way brokers, too, conduct business, Warren says.  But increasingly, in-house real estate executives are dictating the actions of retail brokers, he adds.

The executives still must validate the reams of computer-driven data by conducting what Tom Smith, a retail development consultant in Marietta, Ca. calls old-fashioned windshield analysis.  but the data helps narrow the field of choices.

"If you truly believe it's a home run site, the software keeps your wheels within the curbs.  It may cause you to take second looks," Smith says.  "Instead of driving all over the field, you're between the curbs."

That time-saving approach helped Marco's Pizza executives identify new markets for their expansion.

And the technology is becoming highly sophisticated.  Libby Duane-Adams, executive vice president and founding partner of privately held SRC LLC, a site-selection technology firm based in Orange, Calif, says its clients can collect country-specific information.

With the computer-provided data, by the time executives fork over thousands of dollars to visit a likely retail market, they are well-educated about its offerings, she says.  SRC counts more than 190,000 technology users worldwide.

While retail brokers are hired for their insightful tours and market knowledge, Warren points out that the brokers often wield their own high-tech weapons in the site-selection game.

Through sources such as the CCIM Institute, an education and networking group for commercial real estate brokers, Warren and his colleagues can gather maps, demographics, consumer-spending figures and other data for site searches.

(Article written by John Egan-NREI May 2007)

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