At Graham + Sibbald, we’ve been buying and selling commercial property in Scotland for over 50 years. We are recognised as one of the leaders in the highly competitive Hotel and Leisure sector and are retained by many of Scotland’s leading hospitality and leisure groups.
We offer a level of specialist experience and expertise that most other property agents lack. Our advice is well-researched and realistic, and we are skilled at working with all of the key players in the sector, including tenants, landlords, solicitors and relevant public sector bodies.
In everything we do, we aim to add value by, for example, providing advice that reduces costs or increases profits or by negotiating and working on our clients’ behalf to get the best possible sale and leasing results.
Approach
Graham + Sibbald carried out an initial inspection of the property and a review of the business accounts, giving our client advice based on our experience as bank valuers and agents. We carried out a marketing campaign following initial advice, including the preparation of sale particulars, online marketing, press advertising, distribution via email to our database of purchasers.
We encouraged viewings when appropriate and followed up with due diligence information presented in a suitable format to allow easy analysis by purchasers during the appointment.
We introduced the eventual purchaser to finance brokers whom we knew could find the funds. We are pleased to say that one of these introductions was fundamental to getting the finance for the purchaser.
Key Challenges
The whole marketing campaign was carried out during the uncertainty of COVID-19.
At the outset of the instruction, there was a great deal of uncertainty in the market due to Coronavirus. Therefore, the pricing strategy was difficult to predict. Local lockdowns and changing restrictions and circumstances led to further challenges in arranging property viewings. We, therefore, recommended that pricing be set on pre-Covid-19 strategies to see what the market’s reaction would be.
In the latter part of the deal, and to properly ensure that the purchaser’s funding was successful, we handled two bank valuations from different banks.
Results
We were delighted with the results of our marketing, which produced several strong and seriously interested parties within a short period of marketing.
We negotiated interest with several parties to allow a closing date to be set. From there, we presented all formal offers received to the relevant solicitors and managed missives until successful completion of the sale.
We were able to conclude a sale at the higher end of our expected range and outcome, with the only deduction, during COVID 19 lockdowns, being an allowance for repairs to a flat roof.
Key Message
Diligent response rate and follow-up of all enquiries, in addition to timeously produced information for prospective purchasers was of vital importance in ensuring successful project delivery.
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