Most commercial real estate brokers imagine off-market deal sourcing as a phone marathon: pull a list of owners in a zip code and start dialing. But according to Dan Mosher, co-founder and CEO of DealGround, an AI-powered commercial real estate intelligence platform, that approach rarely works and is not how the best brokers source deals off-market.
Mosher points to the sheer scale of off-market inventory as the primary reason. "Off-market is any building that's not currently being listed. You have about 160 million properties in the United States right now, and the number of properties that are currently being listed is a small, small subset of that. So almost every property is technically off-market," he said. With 160 million property owners, having a meaningful conversation with each is impossible. Attempting to brute-force the process usually backfires.
Mosher has seen brokers try to force volume into off-market sourcing, and he does not believe it holds up. "We think that carpet bombing approach is not the right approach. I think that's the biggest mistake, you go too broad and too generic, and that becomes off-putting to an owner, that it creates a low probability of success," he said. Instead, he advocates for a narrower, more informed method. "We really believe in more of a sniper-like approach, whereby you're targeting a specific set of properties because you have a buyer, you have a situation that you can help, and you are targeting owners with great information you have about them. We think that's a much better approach that yields better outcomes," Mosher said.
The alternative to cold outreach begins before the phone is picked up. Effective off-market sourcing involves building a specific set of filters around a buyer's actual criteria, not a broad list of everyone in a given area. "Off-market sourcing is creating a set of filters and search parameters that fit your specific needs as either a principal or a broker who's looking to find a deal for a buyer," Mosher explained.
Once that filtered list exists, the conversation with an owner changes completely. A broker calling with specific knowledge about a property and a real buyer behind them is not making a cold call at all. "When you reach out to that owner, you have a story that is compelling. You know the details about the owner's property. You have a buyer, or you are a buyer, that's got a certain philosophy and a buy box, and that property fits within that philosophy. That is not cold outreach. That's more of a warm lead," Mosher said.
This is the practical shift DealGround is trying to help brokers make. Rather than treating every owner in a territory as a potential lead, the platform helps brokers narrow in on the properties and owners most likely to actually be receptive, based on real data rather than a guess. Brokers who want to see how this kind of targeted sourcing works in practice can review the process on DealGround's how it works page.
For brokers still relying on volume calling, the takeaway is straightforward. More calls do not necessarily mean more deals. A smaller, better-informed list usually beats a longer, generic one. This shift matters because it could fundamentally change how brokers allocate their time and resources, moving away from inefficient cold calling toward data-driven strategies that yield higher success rates and stronger client relationships.
