Content
1. New and Notable
2. Government Data
3. Web Success
4. PikeNet Ratings
5. Site of the Week
6. PikeNet Changes
7. Subscribing/Canceling

1. New and Notable... InfoSpectrum, which provides property and business information to subscribers only for Connecticut, is a very impressive site. Currently it includes a searchable index of all real property, but will include marketing lists, town maps, town manuals, deed transfers, a title searcher, a mortgage searcher, comparative market analyses and community profiles. This is a venture of the Times Mirror company to create a one-stop, pay-per-search access point for all records in Connecticut--a significant undertaking.

Fuller and Company, which offers corporate real estate services in Denver, Colorado, posts listings online. The Danter Company provides multi-family research and feasibility studies nationwide from offices in Columbus, Ohio. Brown Investment Properties provides development, management and brokerage services in Greensboro, North Carolina. The Samet Corporation is focused on two core businesses, general contractor services and real property development, also in Greensboro.

Baca Landata is a subscription service for Houston real estate information that does provide free access to ownership information on 2.4 million parcels in the area. ADD Inc., a Cambridge-based architectural firm has launched a graphics intensive site with 3-D images and video clips of projects. Equity Office has announced that its site is under construction and will include information on its portfolio of "nearly 100 properties in 48 urban and suburban markets," as well as information on "local, regional and national trends in commercial real estate."

2. Government Data... For an extraordinary glimpse of how local government can make available public information over the web, go to the Hillsborough County Property Appraiser's site (Tampa Bay, Florida). There you'll find free access to Owner, Legal, Sales and Value Summary information. If you are aware of other assessors' offices online, please let me know and I'll post them at PikeNet.

3. Web Success... Jack Peckham of the Peckham Boston Advisory Company posted a listing on a $2.6 million net leased investment at the CCIM site. Within three hours he had interest from eight prospective buyers, one of whom was from Florida. Three days later the buyer flew up, viewed the property and later closed the sale. Naturally, Jack is the founder of the Real Estate Cyberspace Society.

4. PikeNet Ratings... When evaluating real estate web sites, I review five areas A strong showing in all five yields a 5-star rating.

• DESIGN: clear focus, easy navigation, small graphic files
• BROCHURE: description of services, case studies, client list
• ACCESS: e-mail and office addresses, pictures, resumes
• RESEARCH: current, authoritative, Adobe Acrobat format
• PROPERTY INFO: comprehensive, pictures, maps, searchable

5. Site of the Week... The Price REIT site provides sizzle both to the real estate professional and the stock market investor.

6. PikeNet Changes... To improve navigation around PikeNet, I posted a new logo image map on the home page which enables quick access to Markets, Toolkits, Dispatches and Top 10 Lists--just click the words at the top of the page. Canadian markets are now available off the U.S. markets page, just like U.S. states.

6. Subscribing/Canceling... If you do not want to receive this Dispatch, please reply with "cancel" in the Message field to remove your name. Please include your name and company. If you know a person who would like to be added to this list, please send me an e-mail with the word "subscribe."

--Peter Pike /