From the January issue: The long-standing divide-and-conquer mentality that has been the norm in
the New York City investment sales world is beginning to loosen —
well, at least a little.
With the recent uptick in building trades, commercial brokers say they’ve seen a rise, albeit slight, in co-brokering.
The practice — in which agents partner on deals — has long been
avoided and was a nonissue for much of the downturn because there were
so few transactions. But with the recent thaw in activity, coupled with
the fact that it’s still far harder to get deals done than it was during
the boom, brokers say the practice has become more appealing. [more]

From left: Grubb & Ellis’ Vincent Carrega and Capin & Associates’ Timour Shafran

From the December issue: When Timour Shafran negotiated the sale of a Midtown building in August, the landlord threw out an interesting, if not entirely new, carrot. If Shafran, a vice president of investment sales at Capin & Associates, and his team secured a certain price, their commission would be bumped up almost two full percentage points — potentially tens of thousands of dollars. “Unfortunately, I got the lower number,” Shafran said. “But I killed myself trying to make it to the bigger fee.” Welcome to “incentive-based fees,” an increasingly common practice that is dividing the brokerage community in New York. The process is as simple as it is time-tested: Contracts, whether oral or written, are negotiated to include commission increases that are triggered when the broker achieves a certain price for the seller. [more]

From the September issue: The term “vulnerable” is not typically associated with the alpha dogs
of New York City’s high-powered commercial real estate world. But that
is precisely how a number of top commercial firms are feeling these
days, and to compensate, they are taking extra measures to ensure that
landlords can’t stiff them.
An increasing number of brokers are having legal language inserted
into their contracts stating that if their commission is not paid by a
certain date, it will come from the tenant they worked with, instead of
the landlord. The “rent in lieu of commission” clause, as it is
unofficially known, is structured so the payment won’t cost the tenant
a dime; rather, it will simply be deducted from the rent they would
otherwise pay to the landlord. Last month one of the city’s top brokerage firms issued a 10-point
memo to its commission-based employees explaining ways that they can
best protect their spoils. [more]

From the June issue: Canvassing commercial buildings — the
old-school practice of going office to office to see if tenants need
more or less space — seems to be making a comeback. While commercial
brokers can blast out mass e-mails or pick up their cell phones
whenever they want to check if tenants need more space, some are tired
of waiting around for responses. As a result, they are wearing out
their shoe leather drumming up business the old-fashioned way: face to
face. “Since the economy is in a slump, business has slowed down
drastically, and I’ve been canvassing,” said Sasha Majerovsky, vice
president of Citywide Properties. “Advertising isn’t as effective as it
used to be, and you can’t sit by the phone.” [more]