How to Find Office Buildings for Purchase (Step-by-Step with LoopNet)
Finding the right property is half the battle in commercial real estate. In this session, Doc Haller walks you through LoopNet.com — the #1 online marketplace for commercial listings — and shows exactly how to identify an office building worth considering.
Step-by-Step: Finding an Office Building on LoopNet
- Start with the property type.
Doc chooses “Office” and begins by searching across all of California to illustrate how broad the listings can be. - Apply price filters.
Instead of chasing $10 million buildings, he narrows the search to $300,000–$650,000 — a realistic range for many investors starting out. - Sort by cap rate.
High cap rates can be attractive for buyers, but beware if they look too high. (As Doc says: caveat emptor — buyer beware.) - Review real examples.
Doc pulls up a Fresno office building with a 9.3% cap rate. At $360,000 and with multiple tenants, it shows the math in action. With an NOI of $33,480, a negotiated purchase price could push the cap rate over 10%. - Check the property details.
- Class C building (built in 1964, converted in the 1970s)
- Multi-tenant with high occupancy
- Tenants pay their own utilities, though leases may not be full triple net
- Broker contact provided (Steve Fenton)
- Analyze with the calculator.
By plugging in the NOI and purchase price into Doc’s software, you can instantly test scenarios: what if you negotiate down the price? What if you assume different cap rates?
Want to try the analysis yourself? Join the Program to get Doc’s calculator and see exactly how these numbers play out.
