Makes sense, right? But the proposed regulations set off a fire storm of protest from title insurers, mortgage brokers and real-estate agents, who felt threatened. And my guess is that some in commercial real estate might feel similarly apprehensive. Which is why I posed this question in an earlier Dispatch, What's Your Competitive Advantage? (July 15). Several readers responded, including Rob Aldrich with BVT in Atlanta, who described many of the ways that his company has changed business processes to become more efficient.

"Auto-pay utilities: Why have Property Management review the utility invoice when Accounting can process and red flag any issues? We reduced late payments. ... Auto-pay contracts: If we have a contract with a vendor, just send a check every month or pay once a quarter. We saved time. ... Collection of certificates of insurance: Our accounting system sends notices automatically when dates are deficient. ... Collection of sales info: We are mostly retail but again our accounting system automatically generates a letter to the tenant requesting sales... This has taken our Property Managers from managing 10 properties each to 15-17 properties each (grocery anchored retail)."

--Peter Pike