Pricing Commercial Real Estate in Abilene: Sometimes the Best Advice Is the Hardest to Hear

There is a line in the REALTOR® Code of Ethics that I think deserves more attention, especially when we’re talking about commercial real estate.

Standard of Practice 1-3 says:

“REALTORS®, in attempting to secure a listing, shall not deliberately mislead the owner as to market value.”

That’s pretty straightforward.

Our job isn’t to tell a property owner the number most likely to get us hired. Our job is to give them our best professional opinion of what the market will actually support, even when that isn’t the number they were hoping to hear.

That doesn’t mean every broker is going to agree on value. Commercial real estate is rarely that simple. Two experienced brokers can look at the same property, make different assumptions and come to different conclusions.

But there is a big difference between a legitimate difference of opinion and telling someone what they want to hear just to get a sign in front of the building.

And I think that distinction matters.

A Listing Price Still Has to Make Financial Sense

I’ve talked about this before, but it bears repeating:

A listing price only matters if there’s a buyer willing and able to make the numbers work.

For an investment property, that buyer is going to look at rents, expenses, vacancy, repairs, financing, NOI and the return they can reasonably expect.

For an owner-user, the calculation is different, but the basic principle is the same.

A local business owner can’t substantially overpay for a building, spend hundreds of thousands of dollars renovating it, finance the project, buy equipment, hire employees, open the doors and somehow make the economics work just because the seller or listing broker says it’s a “great opportunity.”

It just doesn’t happen, y’all.

There are certainly exceptional properties and locations that can command exceptional prices. But that’s what makes them exceptional. Most properties aren’t. Most commercial properties are competing with other available options, and ultimately the market is going to decide what they’re worth.

Time Isn’t Always on the Seller’s Side

One of the things I hear in commercial real estate is that there isn’t much downside to starting high.

“We can always reduce it later.”

Technically, that’s true.

But the building doesn’t stop aging while we wait.

Roofs age. HVAC systems fail. Plumbing develops problems. Parking lots deteriorate. Water finds places to get in. Vacant spaces aren’t always maintained, heated and cooled the same way occupied spaces are.

Small maintenance issues can become much larger ones.

Empty buildings don’t get better with time.

Meanwhile, the owner is still paying taxes, insurance, utilities, maintenance and whatever other carrying costs come with owning the property.

So yes, you can reduce the price later. But that doesn’t mean waiting was free.

Get Current Numbers

This is one of the biggest things I would encourage commercial property owners to think about right now.

If you haven’t gotten a repair bid recently, don’t assume you know what something costs.

If your building has an older elevator and you haven’t priced elevator work in years, get a current estimate.

If you have an aging fire suppression system, understand its condition and what repairing or updating it could involve.

The same goes for electrical systems, roofs and even something as common as commercial HVAC.

Construction costs have increased substantially over the years, and costs continued moving higher in 2026. ENR’s Building Cost Index was up another 4.3% year over year in March.

But I’m less concerned with any national construction index than I am with what the work is actually going to cost on your building, in Abilene, today.

That’s why the answer is pretty simple:

Get a bid.

Don’t base a decision involving hundreds of thousands or millions of dollars in real estate on what you remember a repair costing 10 or 15 years ago.

And certainly don’t base it on what something cost 20 years ago.

A buyer isn’t going to.

They’re going to look at what it costs today.

Buyers Are Pricing the Property They’re Buying Today

This is where conversations about value can sometimes get uncomfortable.

An owner knows what they paid for a property. They remember what they spent improving it. They may know what a neighboring property is listed for. And they certainly know what they’d like to walk away with.

All of those things are understandable.

But that’s not necessarily what the buyer is evaluating.

The buyer is looking at today’s interest rates, today’s construction costs, today’s insurance, today’s taxes, today’s rents and today’s cost to repair or modernize the property.

If an older commercial building needs substantial work to function for the buyer’s intended use, that doesn’t necessarily mean you subtract those costs dollar-for-dollar from the value.

Real estate doesn’t work that neatly.

But those costs absolutely matter.

And ignoring them doesn’t make them disappear.

Overpricing Can Cost More Than the Eventual Price Reduction

This is the part that sometimes gets lost when a seller decides to “try” an aggressive price.

Suppose the market doesn’t respond.

Six months becomes a year. A year becomes two.

The property remains vacant or underutilized. Taxes and insurance continue. Maintenance continues. Maybe another HVAC unit goes down. Maybe a roof problem develops. Maybe something that could have been repaired relatively easily becomes a much bigger problem.

Eventually, the price gets reduced anyway.

Except now the seller has absorbed the carrying costs, potentially taken on additional repairs and lost a year or two in the process.

That’s why I don’t think good commercial real estate advice is simply about getting a seller to agree to list a property.

A sign in front of the building isn’t the goal. A successful closing is.

Sometimes the Right Number Isn’t the Number You Want to Hear

I understand why these conversations can be difficult.

Commercial properties can represent decades of someone’s work. Owners may have a significant financial and even emotional investment in a building. Expectations can also be influenced by what other properties are listed for, even if those properties haven’t sold.

And if one broker gives an owner a realistic number while another is willing to list it substantially higher, it’s pretty easy to understand which answer sounds better.

But that brings me right back to where we started.

The REALTOR® Code of Ethics says that when we’re trying to secure a listing, we cannot deliberately mislead an owner about market value. Article 1 also says that when representing a client, our obligation is to protect and promote that client’s interests.

Sometimes protecting someone’s interests means telling them something they don’t particularly want to hear.

It may mean recommending a lower asking price.

It may mean telling them we need some current repair bids before we really know where the property stands.

It may mean explaining that an elevator, roof, HVAC system, electrical system or fire suppression issue is going to factor into what a buyer is willing to pay.

And sometimes it may mean telling an owner that I’m simply not the right person to list the property at the price they want.

That’s okay.

I’d rather have an uncomfortable conversation at the beginning than spend the next two years telling someone what they want to hear while their property sits on the market.

The goal isn’t the highest price we can put on a listing. It’s the highest price the market can realistically support.

I think property owners deserve that kind of honesty from the person they’re trusting to advise them.