Maybe that's why one senior real estate executive commented to me about outsourcing that he was "blown away by the incredible speed, low cost and high quality. [This] is a competitive advantage. You want an opportunity? Go build buildings in India." Below are more thoughts on overseas outsourcing generated by two recent Dispatches on this topic (Oct 16 and Oct 23).

Joseph Beggins, CEO of GEMSA Loan Services, a mortgage loan servicing venture between GE Real Estate and L.J. Melody & Company, writes, "GEMSA does all of its property inspections digitally and is at the forefront of digitizing the backroom process of analyzing and 'spreading' property operating statements through the use of highly-trained labor in Mexico and India. GEMSA's Mexico platform images loan documents and ongoing property operating statements. Financial analysts in India pick up the financial statements from GEMSA's systems and analyze and 'spread' the statements on GEMSA's computer system in Georgia for review by Houston-based portfolio managers for eventual delivery in report form to the thousands of investors that own the loans GEMSA services."

John Unger at Link Systems writes, "We have worked with a company in New York called Access Systems that has helped us convert paper floor plans into CAD format by using their Indian labor force. ... Access has been able to turn around plans in days where a New York architectural firm takes weeks/months. Their rate is roughly $100/plan where a New York architectural firm might charge between 500-$1,000." ... And the beat goes on.

Spread the Word... Many thanks to Randy Miller and CoreBriX for sponsoring the PikeNet Dispatch this week. If you would like to promote your company to commercial real estate professionals around the world, please send e-mail or call me at 415-485-6700.

--Peter Pike