“We have capital available.”

“Maybe we should buy something.”

Or, from the other side:

“Maybe we should sell that building.”

I hear these sentences more often than you might think.

Because behind a major real estate transaction, there doesn’t necessarily have to be an investor who has spent months searching the market and knows exactly what they want to buy. 

Just as a sale doesn’t necessarily begin with an owner waking up one morning having definitively decided to sell their property.

Often, it starts with nothing more than a thought.

We have capital available. What should we do with it?

An investor may have capital available without yet having a specific investment strategy.

The first question, therefore, shouldn’t be what is currently for sale, but what that capital is expected to do.

What return do we expect? What level of risk are we prepared to accept? Are we looking for stable cash flow or a value-add opportunity with potential for capital appreciation? What quality and duration of lease agreements do we require? What CAPEX will the asset require over the coming years?

Only then does it make sense to discuss a specific property.

It could be an occupied commercial complex, an office building, a retail property, an accommodation facility, or another income-producing asset.

Instead of building a new business from scratch, an investor can acquire an asset that is already operating and generating cash flow.

But in such an investment, they are not simply buying a building.

Above all, they are buying future cash flow and the risk associated with it.

That is why the purchase price or stated yield alone is not enough. What matters is the quality of the tenants, the terms of the leases, operating costs, the technical condition of the property, future capital expenditure and, ultimately, the price at which that cash flow can be acquired.

“Maybe we should buy something.”

At first, this may sound very vague. But that doesn’t necessarily matter.

Many good transactions don’t begin with a perfectly prepared investment brief. They begin with a conversation.

Only afterwards does “maybe we should buy something” become a specific mandate:

We know how much capital is available.
We know what return we expect.
We know what level of risk we are prepared to accept.
We know whether we are looking for stable income or capital appreciation.
And we know at what numbers we are prepared to act.

At that point, we are no longer looking for a property.

We are looking for the right transaction.

And that is an important distinction.

That is why, when representing a buyer, I don’t see my role as simply sending listings. Sourcing is only one part of the process.

First, I need to understand the client’s investment rationale and decision-making criteria. Only then does it make sense to explore both the public and off-market sectors, evaluate individual opportunities and present those that genuinely meet those criteria.

On the buyer’s side, I therefore work on a paid mandate and represent the client’s interests throughout the entire acquisition process.

Not because the outcome must be a purchase at any cost.

Quite the opposite.

Sometimes the most valuable thing I can say is:

I wouldn’t buy this.

And then there is the opposite question.

“Maybe we should sell that building.”

The owner may have held it for ten or twenty years. The asset is operating, occupied and generating regular income. Selling it may never even have been part of the plan.

And then a question arises:

What would someone realistically pay for it today?

That doesn’t necessarily mean it should be sold.

It means it is time to look at the asset through an investor’s eyes.

What normalized income does the property actually generate? What is the quality of the tenants and the remaining lease term? What investment will the property require over the coming years? What risks will a buyer price into the transaction? And at what yield will the market be prepared to value that cash flow?

Only then can an informed decision be made as to whether now is the right time to sell, whether the property should first be prepared for sale, or whether it should continue to be held.

Sometimes the analysis will lead to a sale.

At other times, the decision will be:

We’re not selling today.

That, too, can be the right investment decision.

Because the purpose of good advisory should not be to complete a transaction at any cost.

It should be to make the right decision about capital and assets.

A major transaction, therefore, doesn’t have to begin with a property listing.

Perhaps you are not buying anything yet. And perhaps you are not selling anything either.

There is simply a thought that has been on your mind lately:

“We have capital available.”

“Maybe we should buy something.”

“Maybe we should sell that building.”

Sometimes, that is exactly how a multi-million-euro transaction begins.

With a single sentence.

And from that point on, who you choose to say it to may make all the difference.