- 608-445-2370
- anne@bulldogcommercialrealestate.com
- 1609 Landmark DrCottage Grove, WI 53527
Valuation and disposition across Dane County — starting with a straight number, including the times that number says hold.
Both are commercial purchases. Almost nothing else about them is the same. We represent buyers on both sides across Madison, Cottage Grove, Sun Prairie, Middleton, Verona, Fitchburg and the rest of Dane County — and the first conversation is always about which one you are.
We'll answer both, and we'll answer the second one honestly even when the answer costs us the listing. If your lease has eighteen months left on a below-market rent, you are selling someone else's upside. That's worth knowing before you list, not after you've accepted an offer.
Bulldog Commercial Real Estate represents sellers across Madison, Cottage Grove, Sun Prairie, Middleton, Verona, Fitchburg and the rest of Dane County — owner-users exiting a building they’ve operated from, investors repositioning a portfolio, and families selling property they’ve held for thirty years and never thought about until now.
Call (608) 445-2370 for a confidential conversation, or read on for how this actually works.
This is the single biggest misunderstanding we run into.
Find three similar houses that sold nearby, adjust for differences, land on a number. Intuitive, and almost everyone's mental model of how property gets priced.
Most commercial property isn't priced against the building next door. It's priced against the income it produces, capitalized at a rate the market accepts for that product type and submarket.
A building throwing off $120,000 of NOI at a 7.5% cap rate is worth roughly $1.6 million — regardless of what the building next door sold for. NOI is rent collected minus operating expenses, before debt service.
Owner-occupied buildings with no lease in place, land, and some small single-tenant properties trade closer to a comparison basis — there's no income stream to capitalize.
Special-purpose property — a church, a school, a purpose-built manufacturing plant — where neither income nor comps tell you much.
What this means for you: if your building is leased, the fastest way to change what it’s worth is to change what it earns. Sometimes that argues for fixing the rent roll before selling. Sometimes it argues for selling now and letting the buyer take that project on. We’ll tell you which.
The Variables
01
The foundation. Real NOI, not the pro forma — buyers underwrite what the property actually collected, and they'll ask for three years of it.
02
Weighted average lease term separates a stabilized asset from a repositioning play, and the pricing gap is large. A tenant with six years left is worth substantially more than the same tenant with eight months.
03
A national franchise on a corporate guarantee prices differently than a local operator on a personal guarantee — even at identical rent.
04
Triple net, modified gross and full service produce very different net numbers from the same headline rent. Buyers price the net.
05
Roof, HVAC, parking lot, building envelope. Buyers find these in diligence and price them in — usually higher than it would have cost you to fix them.
06
Sometimes the most valuable thing about a property isn't the building on it. Tired retail on a corridor rezoned for mixed-use may be worth more as a redevelopment site.
The Decision
A real decision, and one that residential sellers never face.
Option A
The property goes on the South Central Wisconsin MLS commercial side and the national platforms, with signage and full exposure. Widest buyer pool, strongest competitive tension, best chance of a premium number.
Option B
A targeted approach to a shortlist of qualified buyers. No sign, no public listing. Slower and usually a narrower pool — but if you're operating a business out of the building, a For Sale sign tells your staff, your customers and your competitors something you may not be ready to tell them.
Most owner-users we work with start confidential and go open if it doesn’t produce. Most investors go open from day one. We’ll walk you through which fits your situation before anything goes anywhere.
The Process
We review your financials, leases, rent roll, tax bill and property condition, then give you a supported opinion of value and a recommendation on timing. No obligation, and no pressure to list.
Lease abstracts, estoppel certificates, three years of operating statements, current survey, environmental history, service contracts and capital expenditure records. Assembling this before you go to market is the single biggest lever on how smoothly the deal runs.
Where your property sits against current market comps, what buyer pool it appeals to, and what asking strategy fits the goal — speed, price, or certainty of close. You rarely get all three.
Professional photography, a proper offering memorandum with the financials laid out, MLS and platform syndication, direct outreach to the buyer pool we've identified, and our own network of active Dane County buyers.
Price is one variable. Contingency structure, financing type, earnest money, diligence period and closing certainty all determine whether an offer is actually better than a lower one that closes clean. We'll model the difference for you.
Buyer inspections, environmental, appraisal, lender conditions, estoppel collection and title. Deals get repriced during diligence — our job is making sure it's for real findings and not for leverage.
A roof you'd replace for $60,000 becomes a $90,000 credit request. Consider fixing the obvious items first.
Every seller has a spreadsheet showing what the building could earn at market rents with full occupancy. Buyers pay for actual, not potential — and they discount potential heavily.
When tenants confirm their lease terms in writing, side agreements and verbal accommodations surface. If you've been letting a tenant slide on CAM for three years, that's coming out during diligence.
If you're deferring gain by exchanging into a replacement property, the identification and closing windows are strict and they start at your closing — not when you feel ready. Line up your qualified intermediary and start identifying replacements before you close. We're brokers, not tax advisors; this advice needs to come from your CPA.
Days on market is visible to every broker in the county. A property listed for a year at the wrong number gets offers below what it would have brought in month two.
Honest Advice
Situations where we’ve told owners to wait:
We’d rather have the relationship than the commission. If you’re two years from the right moment, we’ll say so and check in.
Why Bulldog
A supported opinion of value based on actual comparable sales, current cap rates for your property type and submarket, and your real financials. Not an inflated figure to win the listing.
We know who's actively acquiring in Dane County and what they're looking for. On the right property, that means going directly to the buyer pool rather than waiting for it to find you.
Lease abstracts, estoppels, operating statements, environmental history. We do the assembly work so diligence doesn't stall.
No regional office setting our priorities or steering the listing. The person you meet is the person who works the deal through to close.
Frequently Asked Questions
Usually on income — net operating income divided by a market capitalization rate for your property type and submarket. Owner-occupied buildings and land trade closer to a sales-comparison basis. We’ll tell you which applies and show you the math.
Timelines vary with property type, condition, pricing and market conditions. Well-priced commercial property in high-demand areas of Dane County may sell in 60 to 120 days; specialized or larger assets take longer. We build the strategy around your timeline.
Yes. Confidential marketing goes to a targeted shortlist of qualified buyers with no sign and no public listing. It typically reaches fewer buyers, so it’s a trade-off we’ll walk through with you.
Depends on your capital needs, tax position, appetite for being a landlord and what the property would earn leased. We’ll model both and give you a straight recommendation — including when the answer is hold.
Yes, and raw and entitled land both trade actively in Dane County. Value turns heavily on zoning, utility access, and whether entitlements are in place. Land with approvals is worth materially more than land without them.
Three years of operating statements, current leases with any amendments, rent roll, tax bills, survey, environmental history and service contracts. We’ll tell you what’s missing and help you assemble it.
Send us the address, the lease situation and roughly what you're thinking, and we'll come back with a supported number and an honest read on timing. Confidential, and no obligation.
