Most commercial real estate brokers picture off-market sourcing as a phone marathon: pull a list of owners in a zip code and start dialing. But that approach rarely works, and it is not how the best brokers source deals off-market. With approximately 160 million properties in the United States and only a tiny fraction actively listed, nearly every property is technically off-market. That staggering scale makes the traditional "carpet bomb" approach not just inefficient but counterproductive, according to Dan Mosher, co-founder and CEO of DealGround, an AI-powered commercial real estate intelligence platform.
"Off-market is any building that's not currently being listed," Mosher said. "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." Attempting to have a meaningful conversation with every owner is impossible, and brute-forcing the process often backfires. Mosher has seen brokers try to force volume into off-market sourcing, and he does not think 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, Mosher advocates for a narrower, more informed strategy. "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. This shift matters because it fundamentally changes the economics of prospecting. More calls do not necessarily mean more deals; a smaller, better-informed list usually beats a longer, generic one. For brokers, that translates to less wasted time, higher response rates, and a greater likelihood of closing deals.
The alternative to cold outreach starts before the phone ever gets picked up. Off-market sourcing, done well, means 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 said. 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. The implications for the industry are significant. As commercial real estate becomes more data-driven, brokers who master targeted, intelligence-led prospecting will have a distinct advantage over those still relying on volume calling. The platform transforms fragmented property, tenant, ownership, and market data into structured, actionable deal intelligence, helping brokers convert insights into opportunity. DealGround serves the top 15 CRE brokerage firms nationwide. For more information, visit www.dealground.com.
