Finding the right commercial property can be challenging. Having the right tools in place, however, will ensure you acquire the perfect space for your next investment opportunity or business venture. LoopNet.com is advertised as one of the leading platforms for commercial properties and hosts an astonishing 500,000 listings at any one time. Not sure where to start your commercial real estate search? Here's everything you need to know about LoopNet.com and how it compares to other commercial real estate tools on the market today.

What is LoopNet.com?

On the surface, LoopNet.com is simply a search engine for commercial properties, listing those for sale, for lease, and also businesses for sale in your area.

Dig a little deeper, however, and you’ll see that LoopNet.com is a bit more. With blogs about trendy commercial spaces across the country, the website is more like a designer’s paradise, offering ideas on trends in commercial real estate restoration and design. It goes beyond that, of course, with posts about buying and selling properties, but the swanky business space redesign ideas are front and center, inspiring your next commercial investment.

LoopNet.com is a search engine at heart and one that is connected to a suite of other real estate websites. As part of the CoStar Group, Inc., LoopNet forms one of three commercial search engines, joining CityFeet and Showcase. What makes LoopNet.com unique from its sister platforms? It is the largest of the three real estate marketplace websites, with the most advertise properties and $425 billion worth of properties for sale.

The Pros and Cons of LoopNet.com

Like other real estate marketplace options, LoopNet.com has its benefits, along with its disadvantages. While it may be a great tool for tenants, perhaps it isn’t the best tool for investors or brokers. Let’s find out more.

Pros

For brokers advertising new listings, LoopNet.com is a great place to start. Advertising on LoopNet.com includes placement on CoStar’s other two commercial property search engines. The suite of websites offers a stunning 12.6 million monthly views, which helps ensure property listings are being seen. LoopNet.com also offers a unique solution for those who want to list once and be done. The LoopNet dashboard allows you to post your listing to the marketplace, while simultaneously creating a maintenance-free listing display on your own website.  

The listing plans for LoopNet.com range according to your needs. Starting with individual plans, a broker or owner can advertise up to 20 listings. For larger brokerages or teams wishing to utilize the same tool, the team or company listing plan allows 100+ listings and premium exposure across the CoStar network. This premium option makes it easier for teams to share the platform without losing time or traction with their listings.

The Signature advertising plan provides three additional options: diamond, platinum, and gold exposure. Each level comes with its own set of premium advertising tools and advanced ad placement across the internet. For those wishing to maximize the promotion of their commercial property, the diamond package is the ultimate advertising tool: professional photoshoot, drone videography, flyer creation tools, and top ad placement on LoopNet and CoStar, among other things.

For those wanting to improve the exposure of their commercial property listing, LoopNet is a great place to start. As part of the CoStar network, the opportunities for advertising are seemingly endless.

Cons

While LoopNet makes a great tool for the listing brokerage and a great place to begin your search as an investor, there are some disadvantages to the marketplace.

LoopNet advertises 500,000 property listings, which is a great start to your search for commercial real estate. However, with more than 50 million commercial properties in the U.S. to date, investors looking for a hidden gem are not likely to find it on LoopNet.

When it comes to gathering more information about future investments, LoopNet’s solution doesn’t reside on its platform. Rather, to access the larger network of commercial property listings, owners, comps, and contacts, investors and brokers alike must look to CoStar. The parent company offers an appealing suite of data-driven tools, but each comes with its price tag. This leaves brokers and investors wondering which is the better investment, the data, and network of CoStar, or the advertising power of LoopNet.com. While neither platform openly advertises their pricing, G2.com indicates that LoopNet’s pricing is 44% more expensive than the average multiple listing service.

LoopNet.com Reviews

For many, LoopNet.com serves as the tool that gave investors and potential investors access to information about commercial real estate. Much like Zillow opened up the residential real estate world to the average homebuyer, LoopNet gave those unfamiliar with commercial real estate a view into the potential of commercial property investment.

What are others saying about the commercial real estate tool? On G2.com, LoopNet has 3.5 out of 5 stars, with reviews from brokers, investors, and tenants. One user describes LoopNet as “Very useful if you are Premium,” going on to say that “I love that you can easily search through the map or addresses and find what you are looking for. Some of the information is hard to find, specifically land options or addresses with two names.”

Another reviewer calls LoopNet a “Very good site, but not perfect.” This reviewer, who uses LoopNet to both list his properties and search for opportunities for his client, explains that while the site is constantly improving, “many of its listings are either out of date or inaccurate.”

Overall, reviewers love LoopNet’s ease of use and access that it gives for anyone to search the CRE market. One point of contention among reviewers, however, is the price—which has seen significant increases over the years—and the need to not only join LoopNet’s network but CoStar’s as well.

Prospect by Buildout: An Alternative?

As a broker, tenant, or investor, LoopNet.com is a great place to start your commercial real estate search. For access to 500,000 advertised listings, it creates a baseline understanding of the commercial real estate market.

For alternative options to expand your CRE business to include off market opportunities, however, Prospect is a great choice. As a commercial real estate marketplace, it offers an incredible database of properties, owners, contact information, and even proprietary analytics to help you identify properties that are most likely to sell.

‍

Prospect by Buildout Features

• Detailed information for over 40 million commercial real estate properties and more than 100 million residential properties, including an LLC database and owner contact information.
• Predictive analytics allows you to identify off-market properties that are most likely to sell. Our database includes over 23 million likely sellers and over 92 thousand distressed properties.
• Digital marketing and direct mail tools that allow for more targeted outreach campaigns. Templates included.

One of the primary advantages of using Prospect is its predictive algorithm, which reviews data on all property types and uses this comprehensive data to forecast potential listings or refinances.

Prospect by Buildout Pricing

• You can start using Prospect for free with a 7-day trial that gives you access to the “Likely Seller” algorithm, national company and tenant data, and property searches in one county. You also get 15 credits to get owner phone, email, or export records.
• The no-contract Residential paid tier is the most basic plan, at $149 per month.
• Team access is available under the custom-priced Commercial plan, which provides additional credits, nationwide search capabilities, and an account manager.

Try Prospect by Buildout

Decide for yourself which real estate prospecting tool is best for you. Click here to sign up for a free trial of Prospect risk-free, and get started on the tool that can find both commercial and residential leads.

‍