KEYZ Commercial Real Estate
Contact us
Buyer
Owner-users & first-time buyers
SBA 504 financing available

The listing agent works
for the seller. Who's
working for you?

Buyer representation for business owners and first-time buyers purchasing
commercial property in Southern California. Looking to acquire and don’t know where to start, or have one in mind and need a pitbull in your corner? We protect and negotiate for you. And it usually costs you nothing.

Start with a conversation
Browse available property
Transaction volume
$ 0 M
Clients served
0

Seller-paid

Our fee, in most cases
Founder's business experience
0 yrs
Who this is for

Buying a building for the first time, or the first time in a long time.

You’re paying rent on a space you’ve outgrown and the math on owning finally works. Or you’ve found a building you like and you’re about to call the number on the sign, which puts you on the phone with the person legally obligated to get the seller the highest price.

Buyer representation means someone in the room is on your side of the table. Not a tour guide. Someone who reads the leases, checks the zoning, argues about the deposit structure, and tells you when to walk.

  • Owner-users buying their own building
  • Tenants tired of paying someone else's mortgage
  • First-time commercial buyers
  • Business owners buying the property with the business
  • Anyone about to sign an LOI without representation
Buying for yield rather than occupancy? The investor and developer page covers acquisition strategy, 1031 and repositioning.
The part nobody explains

Why calling the sign is the most expensive phone call you'll make

01

Dual agency isn't representation

When the listing agent “helps” you too, nobody is fighting for your price. They have a signed agreement with the seller and a fiduciary duty that goes with it. You have a friendly voice.

02

You only see what's marketed

Portals show you what’s been shopped. We search the full CoStar universe, plus owners in your target area who haven’t listed but would sell at the right number.

03

Price is the smallest lever

Deposit structure, due diligence length, extension rights, seller credits, close timing, what happens if the appraisal comes in short. Those move more money than haggling over the sticker.

04

The financing gets figured out too late

SBA 504 can put an owner-user in a building for around 10% down. Most buyers learn that after they’ve already shaped the deal around a conventional loan.

05

Nobody checks the use

The building is zoned right and still can’t legally do what you need without a conditional use permit, a parking variance, or a tenant improvement the city hasn’t approved. Better to know in week one.

What you actually get

Representation, not a tour

01

Full market search

Everything listed on CoStar in your criteria, plus direct outreach to owners who never put it on the market.

02

Your own property portal

A running shortlist you can actually work from, with details, photos, comps and status in one place instead of forwarded emails.

03

Honest valuation

What comparable buildings actually closed at, not what sellers are asking.
Complimentary Broker Opinion of Value, certified appraisal coordinated when your lender needs one.

04

Offer and negotiation

LOI strategy, deposit and contingency
structure, seller credits, repair negotiation after inspection, and the awkward conversations so you don’t have to have them.

05

Due diligence management

Zoning verification, Phase I and property condition coordination, lease and estoppel review if the building has tenants, service contract review.

06

Financing through KEYZ Capital

Conventional, SBA 504 and 7(a), refinance and working capital through our in-house desk. One team, so the loan moves while the deal moves.

Before you sign

Nine things buyers don't
negotiate, and should

Deposit release schedule

When your money goes hard, and what you get in return for it going hard early.

Due diligence period

Long enough to actually inspect, and
with extension rights if the seller is slow producing documents.

Appraisal shortfall

What happens if the lender’s number
comes in under the contract price.
Silence here means you eat it.

Seller-provided documents

Rent roll, leases, estoppels, CAM reconciliations, service contracts, listed with a deadline attached.

Existing tenant risk

Month-to-month tenants, expiring terms, holdover, and who is responsible for delivering the space vacant.

Deferred maintenance credits

Roof, HVAC and parking lot findings from the property condition report are
negotiable, not informational.

Environmental

Who orders Phase I, who pays, and what happens if it recommends a Phase II.

Zoning and use contingency

Your right to cancel if the city won’t approve the use you’re buying the building for.

Close timing and extensions

Purchased extension days are cheap
insurance when a lender slips.
Fighting for them after the fact is not.

We're brokers, not attorneys. We'll flag every one of these and tell you when a real estate attorney needs to write the language.
The fee

In almost every case,
you don't pay us.

On listed property, the seller has already agreed to pay a commission that gets split with the broker who brings the buyer. If you walk in unrepresented, the listing agent typically keeps the whole thing. The money is being spent either way. The only question is whether any of it buys you an advocate.
On off-market deals where no commission exists, we agree the structure with you in writing before we start. You will never discover our fee at the closing table.

Unrepresented vs. represented

Unrepresented

One agent, one duty, and it’s to the seller. Commission unchanged. You negotiate against a professional, alone.

Represented by KEYZ

Same commission, split. You get market search, underwriting, negotiation, due diligence management and financing. Cost to you: typically zero.
Process

How this goes

01

Discovery call

What the business needs, what you can carry, what “done” looks like. No obligation and no documents required.

02

Get your financing straight

Before you shop. Knowing whether you’re a conventional buyer or an SBA 504 buyer changes which buildings are even worth touring.

03

Representation agreement

A short form that makes us your broker so we can act for you. Takes under five minutes.

04

Search and shortlist

Listed and off-market, delivered to your portal. We tour the ones worth touring.

05

Offer and negotiation

LOI, purchase agreement, deposit structure, contingencies. We push, you decide.

06

Due diligence and close

Inspections, zoning, leases, lender coordination, re-trade where the findings justify it.

07

Keys

And an introduction to property management or leasing if you’re taking on tenants.

Already decided to work with us? Step two and three live on our onboarding page: the representation form and the document checklist. Go to buyer onboarding →

Questions we get asked

Straight answers

Does buyer representation cost me anything?

On listed property, almost never. The seller has already agreed to a commission that is split with the buyer’s broker. If you buy unrepresented, that money usually just stays with the listing agent. On off-market deals we agree any fee with you in writing up front.

Then the first question isn’t whether to switch, it’s whether the current arrangement is working. Ask for two numbers: how many enquiries the space has had in the last ninety days, and how many of those were toured. If nobody can produce them, the space isn’t being marketed, it’s being listed.

If you’re under an exclusive listing agreement we won’t approach you about that building until it expires, and we’ll tell you the date. If you’re not, or if it’s close, we’ll show you what we’d do differently and you can decide. No obligation and no pressure.

Yes, and at the start rather than after nine months of silence. An agent who agrees with whatever number you say is an agent planning to be unemployed in six months.

You’ll get a written rent opinion with the reasoning behind it: what comparable space nearby actually leased for, not what it was asked for, and what the concessions and TI packages in those deals looked like. If your number is optimistic you’ll hear it, with the evidence. If it’s low, you’ll hear that too, because five years of below-market income also damages the value of the building. No obligation and no listing agreement required.

Same machine, different outcome. Full media, an offering memorandum, outreach to our database and the investment brokerage community, and a stated offer deadline so buyers bid against each other rather than against you.

Start with a Broker Opinion of Value: our number and the reasoning that produced it, weighing recent sales, the income the property throws off, replacement cost and what buyers are currently paying in your submarket. Free and no obligation.

One thing we’ll raise before you commit: if you’re selling to free up cash rather than to exit, a refinance or cash-out may get you there while you keep the asset and the income. We’ll show you both sets of numbers. Losing a listing to a refinance is a good outcome if it was the right one for you.

Before a lease is signed, not after. We ask for the entity and who’s actually behind it, two to three years of tax returns and recent bank statements, a credit report on the entity and the guarantor, trade and prior-landlord references, and the business plan for the space.

Then we look at the things that don’t show up on a credit report: whether the use is permitted and what the permitting timeline looks like, whether the rent is a sane percentage of what the business realistically does, whether the guaranty is personal or corporate and worth anything if it’s corporate, and how much of your capital the build-out asks you to put at risk.

You see the file and the recommendation, including our reservations. You sign the lease, so you make the call.

Then it’s a financing problem being mistaken for a leasing problem. The TI allowance is often what decides which building a tenant picks, and losing a deal over it is expensive twice: you lose the tenant, and the space goes back on the market stale.

KEYZ Capital, our capital division, arranges construction, bridge and refinance debt, so that conversation happens here rather than being handed off. We’ll also model whether the improvement is worth funding at all — some build-outs raise what the building is worth to the next tenant, and some are a write-off the day that tenant leaves. Those are different decisions and should be priced differently in the deal.

You’ll know why long before it becomes a surprise. You get the enquiry and tour numbers whether they’re good or not, and where an offer sits against comparable deals nearby, so a slow month gets diagnosed instead of explained away.

There are only a few reasons space sits: nobody knows it’s available, the price is wrong, the capital isn’t there for the build-out, or the market has genuinely moved. Each of those has a different fix, and we’ll tell you which one you have. If the answer is the price, we’ll say so and recommend the reset. If it’s the market and there’s nothing to be done, we’ll say that too — and we’ll show you what the sale or refinance numbers look like instead.

You’ll know why long before it becomes a surprise. You get the enquiry and tour numbers whether they’re good or not, and where an offer sits against comparable deals nearby, so a slow month gets diagnosed instead of explained away.

There are only a few reasons space sits: nobody knows it’s available, the price is wrong, the capital isn’t there for the build-out, or the market has genuinely moved. Each of those has a different fix, and we’ll tell you which one you have. If the answer is the price, we’ll say so and recommend the reset. If it’s the market and there’s nothing to be done, we’ll say that too — and we’ll show you what the sale or refinance numbers look like instead.

Lorem

Proof

A first-time buyer, in his own words

5 out of 5 star rating

Need to buy a Business without stress and anxiety? […] Jason not only assisted me in finding a great Yogurt/Dessert Shop, but he’s also supportive to me in every way that he can. Any Vendors I needed for my new shop, he’s there for me, anything I need from the landlord, he’s there. Being a start up, Jason’s assistance helps me in every way you can imagine to reduce any anxiety a new owner can easily encountered.

Tom I. · Yelp, 5 stars · 24 September 2014

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1-888-KEYZ-101

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