Xceligent brings commercial listing service to Springfield

With Kansas City-based Xceligent Inc.'s summer entry into the Springfield area, commercial real estate agents have access to a listing service that functions similarly to the multilist service their residential counterparts have used for several years.

Xceligent, which essentially functions as a marketing tool for commercial agents, compiles and lists information on all commercial properties that are at least 5,000 square feet in 30 Midwest markets, including Springfield.

Already, Xceligent has researched 5,800 southwest Missouri properties. Of those, about 1,500 are listed on Xceligent, said David O'Rell, vice president of corporate development. About 830 of those are in Springfield, 170 are in Branson, and the balance is divided among Ozark, Nixa and Joplin.

About 30 Ozarks commercial agencies are participating in the exchange, he said. Xceligent's business model is built on the belief that each market must have a governing board of local exchange members, according to www.xceligent.com. The board is charged with making sure that the information exchange provides ongoing benefits to the local real estate community. The Springfield governing board comprises representatives of Sperry Van Ness/Rankin Co., CJR Commercial, Murney Commercial, Bill Beall Co., Wilhoit Properties, Davis Properties and McLoud & Co., O'Rell said.

When Xceligent enters new markets, the company also attempts to partner with a media outlet. In Springfield, feedback from management representatives of local commercial firms led Xceligent to select Springfield Business Journal as its preferred media partner.

Local property lineup

The company gathers information on commercial properties in a number of ways, O'Rell said, including culling records from county assessors' and recorders' files. A group of researchers is then physically deployed in an area of expansion, armed with laptops loaded with the data and aerial photos.

The driving teams then scour a territory street by street, observing as much as possible about a given location - the number of loading docks, parking spaces, "anything we can visually observe from outside," O'Rell said. The teams try to gather information on 42 separate data points to be fed into the Xceligent site.

"We can at least tell you the buyers and sellers for properties in the last three years, what's out there, what's sold ... sale price, lease price," O'Rell said. "You can get a historical look at how the building's performed in the market."

The company then follows up with property owners each quarter, checking to see if a property has sold or if its lease price has changed. "It's real-time marketing intelligence," O'Rell said.

The results are made available to commercial real estate professionals, who pay $125 per month to access the information.

Available properties

Trent Jackson, a broker associate at Murney & Associates Realtors, said he's used the service for about three months.

"If you get one lead on a million-dollar apartment complex, it more than pays for itself," Jackson said.

He's used Xceligent's Commercial Data Exchange e-mail blast service to tell other agents within the Xceligent network about commercial properties he has available, including a 52-unit apartment complex at 1400-1414 S. Campbell Ave., listed for $1.75 million.

Deb Scott, commercial real estate agent at Wilhoit Properties, also uses Xceligent to spread the word about her own listings, including the former Carson's Nurseries location at 3184 E. Sunshine St., which is listed for $1.6 million.

But Scott also has found Xceligent helpful in guiding clients with specific needs to properties she might otherwise not have known were available.

She cites a recent attempt to find space for Oklahoma-based Thomas Metals Group. Its needs were specific: 10,000 square feet to 20,000 square feet of warehouse space and up to five acres of outside storage. After searching Xceligent, she identified a property at 1012 N. FR 123 in northwest Springfield that would suit the company's needs. She said Xceligent was essential in helping her find the location, which was listed by Joe Roberts & Associates.

"They don't have a Web site for me to go to, nor would I have thought of them off the cuff," Scott said.

Scott said there is a limitation to the service, in that many of her clients are small-business owners who need smaller footprints. Because the cut-off point for market research by Xceligent is 5,000 square feet, many of the properties in which her clients might be interested are not included.

"We have to set the threshold somewhere or we'd continuously be driving the market," O'Rell said.

Eventually, smaller properties will be included in the database, but he said the difference is that agents will supply the information for the listings.

"I think when it gets to be fully operational, it should be great," Jackson said.

Xceligent's expansion into southwest Missouri is part of the company's initiative to cover the entire state. Xceligent already covers Kansas City and St. Louis.

Ultimately, the company - which also this year launched services in Tulsa, Okla., Little Rock, Memphis and Nashville, Tenn., and Dallas - hopes to blanket the nation.

"We want to have coverage in all the main metropolitan areas," O'Rell said.[[In-content Ad]]