New Business Concepts Coming...
But Don't Hold Your Breath.

Readers Comment on the Wired Future... My "New Business Concepts" Dispatch on September 11 generated some fun reader feedback. Here are portions of three e-mails from some very wired folks. First, Brian Gleason with JonesLangLaSalle in Oakland, CA: "... sophisticated clients are not going to turn their real estate decision-making process over to the Internet -- any more than they're going to allow the Internet to represent them in a lawsuit. What they will do is have market research, lease administration, property management, project management, etc. administered over web-based software programs at remote off-site locations. They will outsource all this to one provider, concentrate on their core business and leave those Internet questions up to us, the real estate service providers."

Second, Steven Hufendick with ReliaStar in Minneapolis, MN: "I'm a tech hound (for a commercial real estate guy). But when I'm done with a digital tour and the automated database, what do I do? I blast out an e-mail or pick up the phone, because I need a person to take this data, turn it into information and ACT on it. ... Let's get down to specifics: The great breakthroughs in our business near and mid term are e-mail (with file transfer), market data online, almost-user-friendly database programs like MS Access, slick but low level presentation applications like MS PowerPoint, and personal contact databases. Shaving a week or more off a lease negotiation, quickly benchmarking markets (ugh, now I'm even using this high-end business babble), making or e-mailing a presentation and keeping better track of contacts and one's calendar are very valuable components of our business. But all of these tasks are the same ones we were doing 15 years ago -- just manually. Has technology helped me in these areas? Sure, it's helped me so much I have to do almost twice as much of it to keep up!"

Third, John Scott at Johnson Controls: "The structure and nature of the real estate business and the product being exchanged is rooted in several hundred years of case law and significant reliance on county records and permitting. At each step along the way the 50-60 people you quote as being involved in a transaction are either reviewing a tangible asset or paper records. Until a significant portion of this government information and process is database driven and Internet accessible, people aren't being removed from the process. ... So far the Internet seems to have made progress in advertising property (better photos), connecting sales people to buyers, and managing geographically diverse portfolios. But to date, I would venture to say that adding the Internet into the real estate transaction has, in net, added 5-10 technology and content people to the 50-60 people who used be involved." ... However, Scott does predict that a new model will emerge. Good thoughts from all.

PikeNet Expo... Register online or call 1-888-238-0170. The Hilton room block is sold out. So we've added a room block in the Park Central Hotel, which is nearby. Here are links to the Expo Schedule and Exhibitors:

--Peter Pike