How to Find Commercial Property Owners and Streamline Your Outreach

In the commercial real estate (CRE) industry, identifying and connecting with decision-makers is one of the first steps in successful deal-making — but, in such a highly competitive market, that can bring its own set of challenges.  

While several research alternatives are available to find commercial property owners, piercing the corporate veil of a limited liability company (LLC) is not always an effortless task. Even so, there are various tools available that provide extra information, as well as easier access. 

Uncover Commercial Real Estate Owners by Property Address 

Conducting a property search with a specific address in mind is a straightforward method that’s usually free of charge and available on most public platforms. Among these are the website of the county tax assessor, treasurer or register of deeds. In fact, the Public Records Online Directory provides an extensive list of online public records filtered by state, although not every county, parish and municipality offers comprehensive online/ digitized data. 

Typically, these sources allow you to search by property address or parcel number to see records that include the owner’s registered LLC, building characteristics and sales history, among other information. The drawback of this approach is that you will still need to look beyond the LLC and find the real owners. 

As a next step, you can try running a business search among the records of the secretary of state. This could uncover more information about a legal entity (LLC), including the date of registration and agent for service of process.  

However, that extra information doesn’t always point toward true ownership, as the registered agent is often an attorney or legal representative who created the LLC on behalf of the property owner. Consequently, this research process usually won’t provide precise contact information such as phone numbers or email addresses, but  CRE data providers are increasingly offering this type of service.   

PropertyShark, drawing on more than two decades of commercial data research by real estate tech innovator Yardi, provides the option to search for a property by address. It then pulls up an in-depth property overview that reveals the registered owner (LLC), as well as a commercial asset’s real owner. Moreover, the PropertyShark database incorporates valuable data about the property owner, such as the contact person, phone numbers and the company’s corporate headquarters.  

Find Owners of Commercial Properties in Your Target Area by Specific Property Characteristics  

Researching commercial properties in a clearly defined area with a focus on specific asset types is an essential part of prospecting. Then, once you have a list of properties you are interested in exploring further, you can research each asset separately to find ownership data. While this way of uncovering the true owner of an individual commercial property is possible, it is a time-consuming process for a list of properties.  

Easily accessible canvassing methods include exploring commercial real estate listing sites, reading up on companies’ new deals on CRE news sites, or reviewing subscription-based commercial real estate data sources, among other strategies.  

However, real estate professionals stand to gain from CRE data providers that offer property lists accompanied by ownership information. In fact, certain data providers even allow property list exports that can potentially include contact details.  

Notably, with PropertyShark, users can run focused searches with explicit attributes that can also be combined, ensuring a more refined result feed. The platform displays every asset that fits those very specific criteria, enabling you to connect directly with the asset’s real owner straight from the property report. Options include the ability to search by:  

• property type  

• building square footage  

• real owners 

For example, you can build a list with every Class A industrial property in New York City with a minimum of 10,000 square feet for lease, with real owners data behind the LLCs. You will get verified insights into their contact details, including addresses and phone numbers. PropertyShark then allows you to export the results into a curated property list as a PDF, Excel or CSV file.  

How to Find an Owner’s Complete Portfolio of Commercial Properties  

Once the true owner of a commercial property is established, industry professionals might also want to identify the company’s complete portfolio. Many county tax assessors feature an owner name search option — as long as you know the name of the registered LLC.  Although the results will display commercial properties that the specific LLC owns locally, they often do so without the option to filter those results by asset type, location, asset class or other similar sorting preferences.   

What’s more, an added challenge with this approach is that an owner will often create separate LLCs for each building, thereby making it difficult to get an overall view of their complete portfolio, even on a local level.  

Another method is a simple Google search for the company’s website, which may or may not feature an overview of their entire portfolio. Again, while this approach is free, it is not only time-consuming but can also deliver uncertain results.  

However, PropertyShark provides a straightforward approach with easy-to-use tools that enable you to perform a search by owner name. This method helps identify a company’s entire portfolio in a specific market or even submarket. Additionally, a simple click on the owner’s name in the property report takes you to the portfolio search option, which provides a complete rundown of the owner’s assets in the selected market. 

The owner portfolio search page consists of:  

• contact names and details  

• total property count  

• currently and previously owned properties 

• any assets where the researched owner appears in another role 

PropertyShark’s portfolio search option allows for a wide-ranging ownership search in a particular market: The feature can pull up any real estate owner in the selected market and displays an overview of their properties. 

Search filters may be applied here, as well, including but not limited to:  

• location  

• role in relationship to the building 

• types of documents searched 

Accurate ownership information is paramount to building business and closing deals. And, while finding the real owner of a commercial property is possible with hands-on research, real estate resources provided by PropertyShark ensure a swift process — saving precious time and allowing real estate professionals to focus on the next steps of the transaction.   

To find out how PropertyShark can help streamline your operation, create an account and explore a comprehensive database of valuable real estate information, including the real owners and their portfolios.   

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Disclaimer

Information provided on this page is purely informational and is not, and should not be regarded as, investment advice. 

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About PropertyShark

PropertyShark is an online real estate database and property research tool that provides building details, ownership information, comparable sales, and foreclosure data. Founded in 2003, PropertyShark serves real estate professionals and consumers in New York and other major U.S. markets.