When you work as a real estate agent in investment property sales and leasing you will frequently come across the need to inspect retail property and most particularly shopping centres. The inspection process is quite complex and special when compared to the more basic industrial or office property. There are simply more things to look at in the retail property. This checklist will help you with the inspection process.
We will say that these are some of the main things to look for and seek more detail about. Remember however that every property is different and may create other special issues and elements that should also be applied to the list.
The property inspection process is perhaps the most critical part of the interaction with the client when it comes to preparation for sales, leasing, or property management. As part of the inspection process and as a basic rule, take plenty of notes and records (written and photos) of what you see. When in doubt ask questions. When the client says something important, ask more questions and get some proof or supporting evidence on critical issues.
- Ownership detail for the property should be understood and checked
- Lease and tenancy detail from the tenancy schedule (check this for accuracy)
- Size of property and size of tenancies
- Plans for the property and the tenancies
- Net rent for the property, and tenancy splits
- Gross rent for the property, and tenancy splits
- Outgoings recovery for the property
- Services and amenities for the property
- Tenancy and common area plans
- Car park details including access points and flow patterns
- Anchor tenants and occupancy detail
- Specialty tenants occupancy detail and offering
- Vacant space detail, asking rents, and time on market
- Traffic counts from the doors
- Transport points on the property
- Turnover figures for the tenancies by type
- Regional demographics including changes to zoning and any road access
- Details of any customer surveys undertaken
- Examine the leases for any renovation or relocation or demolition provisions
- Signage policies and placement on the property
- Marketing funds that are applying to the promotion of the property
- Current budget of income and expenditure for the property together with the actual year to date performance
- Site topography and risk assessment
- Outstanding orders and notices that relate to the property
- Environmental assessment and impact
- Heritage assessment and impact
- Energy ratings and assessment
- Trading hours detail for all the tenants
- Proximity to competing property
- Tenancy mix and layout
In real terms all of these issues are matters that impact the retail property every day. How they allow the property to function and perform is what you really want to assess. From that you can go further with greater detail on matters of concern.
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