Importance of Ongoing Market Research in Commercial Real Estate Appraising

Bell Ferris is a small firm, but we think big. Ongoing market research in commercial real estate appraising is an important step to the success of our approach much like we might approach the steps to paint a room. My father-in-law once told me that painting a room was 90% preparation. As a young man, I didn’t want to hear that. I wanted to start painting right away so I could get the job done as fast as possible. But, as you can probably tell from anecdotes like these, that I didn’t do a great job painting. But, when I took the time to scrape and sand the walls, then wash them, then tack cloth them, then spackle, then prime, then sand and tack again, then…..finally…..paint, the results were much better. And guess what, I spent about 10% of my time actually painting, which was the last step. 

We think the same way here about the importance of ongoing market research in commercial real estate appraising. Our staff works hard to research sales of industrial, office, and retail properties in Louisville and southern Indiana. We talk to buyers, sellers, developers, brokers, and investors so that we can know ‘the rest of the story’ behind the sale transaction. That way, when I have an appraisal on an industrial property in Bluegrass Industrial Park, I already have all my prep work completed. I can then spend my time on the appraisal. So, about 90% of our work is completed beforehand. But, by building a database and constantly researching and interviewing market participants, we are refining it every day. That way, I’m ready for whatever type of property I need to appraise.