The work is always easier with the proper tools. That's what we were always told. Sometimes we get in a groove, a rut, a routine...whatever you want to call it. We "have always done it this way". That phrase makes me nuts. I also recall that Albert Einstein described the definition of insanity as "doingthe same thing over and over again and expecting different results".
There are many new and exciting tools and methodology in Commercial Real Estate yet to be explored by many. I thought I'd share a list of helpful links to boost your Commercial Real Estate business and expand your horizons:
- SellPoint: Blast your properties to all the best websites within minutes! Ease of use is an added bonus.
- Crepig: The Commercial Real Estate Professional Network is a fantastic resource for education and information, as well as an effective venue to post your property opportunities and share needs and wants with other CRE professionals and investors.
- CREDAA: The Commercial Real Estate Distressed Assets Association is another great multi-benefit website filled with educational tools, forums, blogs and links to other essential investment resources.
- Property Management Software Reviews: Is your brokerage delving into the Development/Property Management world? Need software to manage it all from project development to keeping the books to managing your tenants? Get the reviews in a side-by-side comparison and most have free demos to try before you buy.
- Tweetlister: A Twitter-Feed just for REALTORS! Enter your properties and schedule the tweets and set repeat schedules. Awesome!
- Location Based Google Ads: Great for budget-based small to medium businesses
- PingFM: One application updates all of your social networks at once
- An External Harddrive: Is your PC in the office running slow due to all those property photos you have cataloged? Move all those graphic-intensive items to your new external hard-drive and keep your PC and YOU very happy and efficient.
- Ebates: Purchasing online? Of course - well, get paid back with no special credit card, no fees, no hype. Ebates is a free signup and sends you rebates by check to your door when you purchase via their site to your favorite stores like Staples, Dell, Apple, HP, Adobe and so many more!
- Vistaprint: No-nonsense on-line printing service for all of your print advertising needs. Upload your own design or chose from the design gallery. Very economical and easy to use.
- Google Docs: A secure shared document hub for you and your colleagues to file share. Set parameters and security settings and off you go.
- Google Calendar: Keep a shared calendar between you and your colleagues and update it instantly to their smart phones.
- 3-D Real Estate: Have a "Build-To-Suit" option that you need to market or is construction "in-progress" and the photos just don't do the concept justice? Check out Architecture 3D (free demo), InteriCAD Lite (free trial) or CD Art Shop Lite (free trial).
- Google Wave: Collaborate and communicate in ways you never thought possible.
- Corporation Lookup: The link I've provided is for PA, but I know other states offer similar services online.
- ArcGIS Explorer: Add content, measure and map, creating multi-layer mapping masterpieces.
More to follow in another post, but these will get you started if you haven't already chartered these waters before. Commercial Real Estate is an exciting, fast-moving business with so many opportunities and room for growth. We have to make sure that we are flexible and teachable so that we can experience professional growth which in turn makes us better Commercial Real Estate Professionals and more fulfilled people as a whole.
