Location, location, location: Site Selection provides deep commercial placement insights

It's a truism that finding the best location for your business is one of the biggest keys to success. But how exactly is a city councilmember supposed to know which might be the best businesses to try to attract to their specific district? And where would be the best spot to put the farmer's market that the township is hoping to launch next year?

Real estate agents can become the go-to source for answers to these questions when they use Site Selection, an RPR (Realtors Property Resource) tool that's included as part of your arsenal as a REALTOR. It's perfect for commercial agents, business-owners, investors, and anyone else who's interested in building an economically thriving and diverse area. Read on for more details.

RPR's (Realtors Property Resource®) Site Selection is an essential part of a commercial practitioner's toolkit. It's an advanced, data-driven tool that simplifies site selection by analyzing comprehensive demographics, economic factors and behavioral patterns.

Site Selection helps commercial real estate practitioners and business owners and investors answer the question: "Where are the right people for a business?"

Finding Business Locations with RPR

A commercial Site Selection analysis starts with a large geography such as a city or county, and from there can be drilled down to identify where optimal conditions exist in smaller geographies, such as ZIP codes or neighborhoods. From there, even further refinement by applying specific attributes from a broad data of categories such as economic, demographic, spending and more. This process helps ensure that the core drivers of a client's business reside in the area, and have the spending power to sustain it.

Traditionally, REALTORS® have utilized the RPR Site Selection tool to access extensive information about population characteristics, household incomes and consumer behavior. With this tool, practitioners can identify optimum real estate locations matched to specific client needs. Market trends and prospective investment opportunities can be discerned easily thanks to this valuable tool. Its unique capabilities make it an essential resource for commercial pros seeking instant access to critical information.

However, local community leaders are now working with REALTORS® to use it to help build their communities and drive local economic development.

Reshaping Local Economic Development With Site Selection

Data from RPR's Site Selection isn't just about helping businesses find the ideal location. It's also great for local leaders such as mayors or city council members. The information it gathers helps these leaders make better economic development decisions about how they can improve their towns and what kinds of businesses would be best to attract.

Think about it: What if we could find the perfect spot for a farmers' market where locals get the healthiest, freshest options and farmers have the opportunity to sell the fruits of their labor? Or predict what kind of shop would succeed on Main Street and, at the same time, fill a need for the community? RPR's Site Selection and Trade Area data can help with that, shining light on areas such as jobs, income levels, interests and spending habits in any given area.

This data and insight could go even further and be applied from a different angle to help solve tricky planning problems, such as where to break ground on new buildings or how public transportation might affect development.

REALTORS® share data and insight to help their communities

REALTORS® play a crucial role because they're the ones with access to critical market metrics and data points. Local government officials and community leaders are encouraged to work with a REALTOR® to gain access to findings from RPR's Site Selection tool to help in their planning, proposals and roundtable discussions concerning community economic development.

Combining this tool with the knowledge and experience of REALTORS® makes a powerful team in city planning efforts. When REALTORS® share insights with city officials, it means better strategies for growth that really fit what each community needs the most.

To view the original article, visit the RPR blog.