August 15, 2019

The Commercial Real Estate Transaction: A Play in Three Acts

Interesting characters, conflict, surprises both happy and discouraging, unexpected endings—commercial real estate transactions have all the elements that make for great stagecraft. Each “play” is different, and the Thomas Duke Company manages the drama of them all.

Opening Act One, a Duke Company broker meets an owner who has a property to sell. With information from the owner and our own investigation, we identify the property’s challenges and its potential. By the end of the act, we’ve polished a diamond-in-the-rough for an entrance that makes buyers sit up and take notice.

The stage is now set for Act Two: prospective purchasers approach. The dialogue begins quietly but then intensifies when buyers who want the property hide their desire, lest their enthusiasm be perceived as willingness to “over pay.” The drama builds to a crescendo when the top bidder loudly insists, “I won’t pay one dollar more!”

Act Three seems to open smoothly. With a buyer and a purchase price agreed upon, we begin the inspection. Soon unforeseen conflict arises: we uncover a pollution problem left by a former owner, a neighbor who encroaches, a zoning limitation. Tension ensues. Will the problem sink the sale? Enlivened by the challenge, we marshal all our professional resources and experience. We craft strategies that allow the new owner to profitably manage the property’s challenges and the old owner to walk into the sunset with the sale proceeds they had imagined. The curtain comes down on a satisfying resolution for all. 

No matter what characters, setting, or conflicts your property brings to the stage of a commercial real estate transaction, Duke Company brokers can direct it to a satisfying resolution. We welcome any sales challenge. Because our business is our play.

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