Finding the right commercial property can be challenging. Having the right tools in place, however, will ensure you acquire the perfect space for your next investment opportunity or business venture. LoopNet.com is advertised as one of the leading platforms for commercial properties and hosts an astonishing 500,000 listings at any one time. Not sure where to start your commercial real estate search? Here’s everything you need to know about LoopNet.com and how it compares to other commercial real estate tools on the market today.
What is LoopNet.com?
On the surface, LoopNet.com is simply a search engine for commercial properties, listing those for sale, for lease, and also businesses for sale in your area.
Dig a little deeper, however, and you’ll see that LoopNet.com is a bit more. With blogs about trendy commercial spaces across the country, the website is more like a designer’s paradise, offering ideas on trends in commercial real estate restoration and design. It goes beyond that, of course, with posts about buying and selling properties, but the swanky business space redesign ideas are front and center, inspiring your next commercial investment.
LoopNet.com is a search engine at heart and one that is connected to a suite of other real estate websites. As part of the CoStar Group, Inc., LoopNet forms one of three commercial search engines, joining CityFeet and Showcase. What makes LoopNet.com unique from its sister platforms? It is the largest of the three real estate marketplace websites, with the most advertise properties and $425 billion worth of properties for sale.
The Pros and Cons of LoopNet.com
Like other real estate marketplace options, LoopNet.com has its benefits, along with its disadvantages. While it may be a great tool for tenants, perhaps it isn’t the best tool for investors or brokers. Let’s find out more.
Pros
For brokers advertising new listings, LoopNet.com is a great place to start. Advertising on LoopNet.com includes placement on CoStar’s other two commercial property search engines. The suite of websites offers a stunning 12.6 million monthly views, which helps ensure property listings are being seen. LoopNet.com also offers a unique solution for those who want to list once and be done. The LoopNet dashboard allows you to post your listing to the marketplace, while simultaneously creating a maintenance-free listing display on your own website.
The listing plans for LoopNet.com range according to your needs. Starting with individual plans, a broker or owner can advertise up to 20 listings. For larger brokerages or teams wishing to utilize the same tool, the team or company listing plan allows 100+ listings and premium exposure across the CoStar network. This premium option makes it easier for teams to share the platform without losing time or traction with their listings.
The Signature advertising plan provides three additional options: diamond, platinum, and gold exposure. Each level comes with its own set of premium advertising tools and advanced ad placement across the internet. For those wishing to maximize the promotion of their commercial property, the diamond package is the ultimate advertising tool: professional photoshoot, drone videography, flyer creation tools, and top ad placement on LoopNet and CoStar, among other things.
For those wanting to improve the exposure of their commercial property listing, LoopNet is a great place to start. As part of the CoStar network, the opportunities for advertising are seemingly endless.
Cons
While LoopNet makes a great tool for the listing brokerage and a great place to begin your search as an investor, there are some disadvantages to the marketplace.
LoopNet advertises 500,000 property listings, which is a great start to your search for commercial real estate. However, with more than 50 million commercial properties in the U.S. to date, investors looking for a hidden gem are not likely to find it on LoopNet.
When it comes to gathering more information about future investments, LoopNet’s solution doesn’t reside on its platform. Rather, to access the larger network of commercial property listings, owners, comps, and contacts, investors and brokers alike must look to CoStar. The parent company offers an appealing suite of data-driven tools, but each comes with its price tag. This leaves brokers and investors wondering which is the better investment, the data, and network of CoStar, or the advertising power of LoopNet.com. While neither platform openly advertises their pricing, G2.com indicates that LoopNet’s pricing is 44% more expensive than the average multiple listing service.
LoopNet.com Reviews
For many, LoopNet.com serves as the tool that gave investors and potential investors access to information about commercial real estate. Much like Zillow opened up the residential real estate world to the average homebuyer, LoopNet gave those unfamiliar with commercial real estate a view into the potential of commercial property investment.
What are others saying about the commercial real estate tool? On G2.com, LoopNet has 3.5 out of 5 stars, with reviews from brokers, investors, and tenants. One user describes LoopNet as “Very useful if you are Premium,” going on to say that “I love that you can easily search through the map or addresses and find what you are looking for. Some of the information is hard to find, specifically land options or addresses with two names.”
Another reviewer calls LoopNet a “Very good site, but not perfect.” This reviewer, who uses LoopNet to both list his properties and search for opportunities for his client, explains that while the site is constantly improving, “many of its listings are either out of date or inaccurate.”
Overall, reviewers love LoopNet’s ease of use and access that it gives for anyone to search the CRE market. One point of contention among reviewers, however, is the price—which has seen significant increases over the years—and the need to not only join LoopNet’s network but CoStar’s as well.
ProspectNow: An Alternative to LoopNet.com?
As a broker, tenant, or investor, LoopNet.com is a great place to start your commercial real estate search. For access to 500,000 advertised listings, it creates a baseline understanding of the commercial real estate market.
For alternative options to expand your CRE business to include off market opportunities, however, ProspectNow is a great choice. As a commercial real estate marketplace, it offers an incredible database of properties, owners, contact information, and even proprietary analytics to help you identify properties that are most likely to sell.
The Pros and Cons of ProspectNow
Like any great tool, ProspectNow also has its pros and cons depending on how it is used. Its audience goes beyond that of LoopNet.com to include residential realtors, lenders, insurance agents, and even roofers. But does that mean it is the right tool for you?
Pros
One of the biggest advantages to ProspectNow is its incredibly vast database. With nearly 40 million commercial properties (not to mention 102 million residential properties), it is the largest database of property, building, and owner information available.
Included in this large database is also ProspectNow’s predictive analytics tool, which helps identify properties that are likely to sell. Currently, over 23 million properties fall into this category, giving brokers and investors an extra advantage in their real estate endeavors.
Beyond the numbers, ProspectNow offers a suite of other tools to help business leaders across multiple industries find their next opportunity. Digital marketing tools such as advanced IP targeting, easy direct mail advertisements, sales comps, and integration with your current systems, so all of your information is in one place. The platform’s pricing is also clearly laid out, defining different subscription levels—starting with a free trial and then $119/month after that.
Cons
For brokers simply looking to advertise their listed commercial properties, ProspectNow is probably not the right tool. LoopNet.com is designed for brokers wishing to promote their latest listings, whereas ProspectNow serves as a complete database of both listed and unlisted commercial properties.
Searching for properties on ProspectNow also requires a subscription (once the free trial has ended). Other commercial real estate search engines offer unlimited search when you sign up for a free account. This makes it easier for investors or tenants who are interested in finding a new commercial space, to preview properties that are currently on the market at no additional cost.
Reviews of ProspectNow
What are other professionals saying about ProspectNow’s commercial real estate tools? On G2.com, ProspectNow has a 4.3 out of a 5-star rating scale. Consumers rate aspects of the platform such as ease of use, quality of support, and overall user experience.
One reviewer claims ProspectNow is a “Great product for investment sales.” He goes on to describe his experience with the platform, saying “I like that in less than a minute I can get an entire database of owners in an area I’m targeting…Some people have said ProspectNow is a good “Pre CRM,” but I disagree.”
On FeaturedCustomers.com, ProspectNow is also highly rated, earning 4.8 stars out of 5. Another reviewer describes ProspectNow as a “Great solution for finding neighborhood analytics,” and goes on to say that, “For the price, you can not beat the analytics you get with Prospect Now…That saves thousands on our marketing budget.”
Explore the Largest Commercial Property Database
ProspectNow offers above and beyond other CRE marketplaces, giving professionals from every sector the information they need to prospect new leads, clients, and those perfect commercial properties. With the leading number of commercial properties, complete owner data, and customizable analytics to determine the best investment opportunities, ProspectNow is the right tool for your business. Sign up for a free trial today.