[J pold]

I’ll come at it from a somewhat different perspective – a commercial real estate agent.

In some ways we are extremely similar to residential agents in terms of showings space, prospecting clients, and being a full commission profession. The nice side of things is that as commercial agents we don’t work evenings or weekends and it’s a bit more of an advisory role then a pure sales role. The downside is that our market in terms of transactions is much more limited, people are always buying and selling homes, but there are only so many companies who are planning big moves or looking for space. The result is that our market is extremely competitive, since there are only a handful of large deals done every year each brokerage fights tooth and nail in order to represent those big clients.

Not surprisingly I do believe that a good commercial agent can provide a ton of value. Generally most people have a good idea of what their real estate (home, condo, etc) is worth from a sale and rental perceptive, but how many people know what the rent is per month on their office? In terms of finding space there is no central data pool where a group could easily search listings (à la MLS for residential) so if you go to the market without an agent you are exposing yourself to a very limited market, and will almost always be paying too much for space if you negotiate direct with your landlord, which is why every major tenant in Calgary is represented by a agent. We also handle all the paper work for our clients, and when dealing with commercial lease documents there can be a ton.

Like most of have said in this thread a good agent, res or commercial, can be a huge asset to any real estate transaction.