Many Okanagan business owners hold commercial property at the coast: the old shop, a parent's storefront, a strata bay bought as an investment. When it comes vacant, the instinct is sensible. Post it yourself, save the commission, take the calls.
Then the calls do not come. David Siccia Properties, a Vancouver firm that leases commercial space for private owners, monitors every live commercial listing in Metro Vancouver. In September 2026 that was 1,216 spaces, 461 of them posted directly by owners. After reading thousands of them, the firm finds the listings that sit share the same five faults.
1. The space is not where tenants are looking
This is the one an owner cannot fix alone. The MLS and realtor.ca are open only to members of a real estate board. Tenant representatives search there first, and so do most established businesses. A Craigslist ad never reaches them. Most property managers cannot list on the MLS either and refer leasing to a brokerage.
David Siccia has his own MLS access. An owner who has been listing alone can have the space on the MLS and realtor.ca right away, and keep one accountable person for the showings, screening and negotiation. Details are on his commercial leasing services page.
2. The price is a guess
The median asking rate across Metro Vancouver is $28 per square foot per year, but the spread is wide: industrial $21, office $35, retail $39. A unit priced above the 75th percentile for its type and city gets looked at and skipped. Check yours against live comparables with the free lease rate estimator.
3. The listing leaves out what tenants need
Measured area, base rent and additional rent, zoning and permitted use, ceiling height, power, loading, parking, available date. A tenant comparing ten listings drops the ones that make them phone to ask.
4. The photos undersell it
Three dark phone photos lose to ten bright ones with a floor plan. A short walkthrough video does more than any paragraph of description.
5. Nobody answers
A tenant who inquires about five spaces tours the two that reply the same day. An owner three hundred kilometres away, running a business, is rarely one of those two.
Score your own listing
The firm's free commercial listing audit runs twenty yes-or-no checks across price, information, presentation, reach and response, and ranks the fixes by impact. No sign-up. Its guide on how to find a tenant for your commercial property covers the full method if you want to keep doing it yourself.
What handing it over costs
David's leasing fee is typically the first and last months' rent on the lease. The market norm is 4 to 6 percent of total lease value, which on a five-year term is about 2.4 to 3.6 months of rent. Self-listed space commonly takes 90 to 180 days to lease, and every empty month costs a month's rent. If the MLS shortens the vacancy by two months, the fee is covered. David and John Moody bring 37 years of combined commercial experience.
David Siccia Properties, Vancouver. 236-998-5841. david@davidsicciaproperties.ca
*Disclosure: the publisher of this directory also works with David Siccia Properties.*