The Official Apartment/Commercial Professional Newsletter

TECH RECOMMENDATIONS

People always ask what technology I recommend. Whether it's a laptop computer, a helpful website or a digital camera, I've probably went through the mind numbing research of figuring out what the best is. So, now I'm going to tell the world. Each month, this section will include what I think are the most useful and best technology products for the Commercial Real Estate Professional.

None of these recommendations are paid, they're just what I like. Please let me know if you try them and like them too.

* Most Useful Web Sites

1. http://www.springstreet.com/ - THE resource for the apartment renter
2. http://www.infods.com/ - Demographics for us all
3. http://www.businesscreditusa.com/ - Know your contacts before your call on them
4. http://www.niteowl.net/ - Free assessor's information - nationwide
5. http://www.pikenet.com/ - A great directory of the industry
6. http://www.vandema.com/ - Another great directory of the industry
7. http://www.egrabber.com/addressgrabber.htm - An excellent tool ­ save lots of time
8. http://tiger.census.gov/instruct.html - Powerful, free mapping site
9. http://www.interact.com/ - New service from Sales Logix, the owners of Act!
10. http://www.rebuzz.com/ ­ Helpful news source ­ updated often

* Top Products

Digital Camera: Sony Mavica FD 73 ­
http://www.pcconnection.com/scripts/productdetail.asp?product_id=93257

This is the best digital camera available. Its secret is the floppy disk. Disks are cheap. You can head out into the field, take pictures of hundreds of properties - each on its own floppy, and come back to the office without ever getting buildings mixed up. No fuss - no cables.

Computer Store: PC Connection ­ http://www.pcconnection.com
Great prices! They ship fast - get everything the next day. Much quicker than a trip to Fry's.

Photo Viewer: ACDSEE 32 ­
http://www.acdsystems.com/products/acdsee/acdsee300.htm
Amazing! Regardless of the photos or drawings you are viewing, it does it all.

NEWS

* New Apartment/Commercial Professional 1.564 release available -
http://www.commercialprofessional.com or select Help->Upgrade from your Commercial Professional main menu. This is a significant upgrade.

* A revised manual has been posted to the www.commercialprofessional.com website. Just click on the 'Quick Start Guide' to the right.

* An Adobe Acrobat file containing copies of all of Commercial Professional's reports has been posted to the
www.commercialprofessional.com website. Just click on the 'Quick Start Guide' to the right.

* Congratulations to Cynthia Nottage of Data Quick. She was the winner of our Sony Mavica Digital Camera Giveaway at Realcomm.

* We moved! Our phone number has changed to 949-309-2810.

* We have purchased a new phone system. It will turn out to be terrific but we are still working through some bugs. Please be patient if it does not behave the way it should. We'll fill you in on all the war stories when we're fully up and running.

UPCOMING EVENTS

* CB Richard Ellis - World Conference - September 5th - 7th

* Annual Apartment Outlook - October 2. To learn more...
http://www.realestateoutlook.com/

NEW PROGRAM FEATURES

Here's what's new in this version...

* Modified the 'Define Users' screen - made it easier and quicker to use
* Fixed renaming trouble with setting default photo
* Added 'Set owner to new buyer' button on the 'New Sale' screen
* Added 'Act! Synchronize by Date Option' to the 'Act! Synchronize Screen'
* Dramatically increased the speed of 'Import All Owners to Act!' and
*' Transfer Selected Owners to Act!' functions
* Added 'Network Version' check box to the 'Administration Screen'
* Fixed misc. bugs in the custom import
* Modified the 'Deal Finder' screen to show only the filtered properties
* Modified the 'Upgrade' screen to prevent it from stopping before the download is complete
* Modified the 'Import Photos' function to automatically remove illegal characters from the property address
* Modified the 'Search Geographically' function to automatically remove illegal characters from the property address
* Modified the 'Go Mobile' function to copy only the currently selected properties to the laptop
* Modified the 'Go Mobile' function to copy all photos of currently selected properties to the laptop
* Modified the 'Parking' field to include one decimal place
* Fixed spelling errors in the search criteria
* Added 'Square Feet' to the search criteria
* Modified the 'Sales Comparable Analysis' to include only properties with enough information to calculate a given statistic
* Modified the location of the CUSTOM.MDB file on network installs from the client machine to the network directory
* Rearranged the Apartment description section on the profile screen and report
* Added 'Search by Street Name' to the 'Quick Search' screen
* Modified the zip code format
* Modified the 'Print' function to print the 'Photo Profile' if you are looking at the 'Photo Profile'
* Modified and improved the 'Act Notes' report
* Added an 'Exclude Current Rents' check box to the 'Report Options' screen
* Modified the 'Commercial Profile' Screen to include default lease information

* New Report: 'Description' report ­ apartments
* New Report: 'Ownership with Notes'

* New Apartment Fields: Meter Type, Property Contact, Property Country
* New Commercial Fields: Property Country, Minimum Divisible Square Feet, Maximum Contiguous Square Feet, Average Lease Rate, Asking Lease Rate, Default Lease Rate Type, Default Lease Escalations, Building Status

COMMERCIAL PROFESSIONAL QUICK TIP

The 'Property Status' field is very handy for entering whether a property is for sale or not. You can then search on the 'Status' for all listed properties and print a variety of reports which include the 'Status'. If you double-click on the 'Status' field, an offering information screen will open where you can input the sale price, listing brokerage, etc.

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