Due Diligence
Commercial Property Due Diligence Checklist
Due diligence is the period when a buyer checks the claims. Split the work into money, the building, and the legal rights, and do not ask a sales agent to certify the technical pieces.
Quick answer
Confirm the income and expenses, inspect the building with the right specialists, and have an attorney and the relevant consultants review title, survey, zoning, and environmental risk. The checklist below is a starting agenda, not a legal opinion.
Key takeaways
- Financial, physical, and legal questions are different workstreams.
- Bryan coordinates the commercial conversation. Inspectors, surveyors, and attorneys handle their own parts of the file.
- Omaha and Lincoln zoning are not interchangeable.
- A clean checklist still depends on the property in front of you.
Financial checklist
- Leases, amendments, and estoppels if the deal requires them
- Rent roll versus actual deposits
- Trailing expenses, taxes, and insurance
- CAM or tax reconciliations, if tenants are billed
- Security deposits and who holds them
- Pending free rent, commissions, or tenant-improvement obligations
- NOI rebuilt with the NOI method
If the numbers change, the price or the cap rate conversation should change with them. Do that inside the contingency period, not after it expires.
Physical checklist
- Roof, structure, and envelope
- HVAC, electrical, and plumbing
- Parking, drainage, and pavement
- Loading, doors, and truck access for industrial property
- Life safety and accessibility
- A list of immediate repairs versus later capital work
Hire inspectors and engineers for the opinions. Bryan’s property and construction experience helps him read what those reports mean for the deal. It does not make the report his. Specialty buildings should add the items on the medical page. Warehouses should add clear height and floor load from the industrial page.
Title, use, and environmental checklist
- Title commitment and the exceptions
- Survey and any encroachments or missing easements
- Zoning and the permitted use in that city
- Covenants or private restrictions
- Flood context
- Environmental records that fit the site’s history
- Utility capacity if you plan to intensify the use
Local checks
Confirm zoning with the jurisdiction that actually governs the parcel. A Douglas County address, a Sarpy County address, and a Lincoln address can look similar in a sentence and follow different rules. Flood, access, and utilities are site-specific. Nothing in a national checklist overrides the city.
Use the time you negotiated. The negotiation section treats the due diligence period as a real term, not boilerplate. Sellers who prepared the sale file make this list shorter.
Questions people ask
How long should due diligence last?
Long enough to get the reports the property requires, and short enough that the seller is not granting an open option. The period is negotiated. There is no statutory number on this page.
What if a report is bad?
You may renegotiate, repair, or walk away if the contract gives you that right. The right has to be in the agreement. Your attorney should confirm it.
Does a clear checklist mean the building is safe?
No. It means you asked a structured set of questions. Unknowns can remain. Price and risk should reflect what you could not verify.
Written by Bryan Robinson, a Professional Sales Agent with NHS Commercial, licensed in nebraska.
Want help evaluating a commercial property?
Call or text Bryan at 402-521-3000 to talk through a specific property.
Bryan Robinson
NHS Commercial
Professional Sales Agent | Licensed in Nebraska