THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Friday, February 17, 1995 TAG: 9502170508
SECTION: BUSINESS PAGE: D1 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY MYLENE MANGALINDAN, STAFF WRITER
LENGTH: Short : 48 lines
Commercial real estate professionals got their first in-depth look Thursday at the impending technological landscape: commercial properties on-line.
Hampton Roads belongs to an elite group of only 14 regions nationally to list commercial properties via computer on-line systems, said Jeff Batchelor, who represents National Commercial Network, the Seattle firm that designed the region's system.
About 120 people in commercial real estate and other related industries, like mortgage banking and title insurance, attended two morning sessions demonstrating an on-line listings system scheduled to start March 1.
Instead of pulling out a bulky publication listing all the available properties in Hampton Roads for sale or lease, brokers and others can view or update commercial property records by computer immediately. December 1994 marked the last publication of commercial properties in a book form.
``It'll make our job work smoother,'' said Bill Garman, managing broker of Garman & Chandler Commercial Real Estate in Chesapeake. ``You can provide a quicker response to your client and it makes you more aware of everything in the market.''
Brokers and their firms must now sign up for the on-line system as their sole source of listing information. One-time setup costs are $50, and monthly fees range from $40 for Tidewater Association of Realtors members to $80 for nonmembers. Additional subscribers on office accounts must pay from $15 to $30.
System subscribers can update and personalize their property records, as well as show graphical images of the property. The database includes properties spanning as far as Dare and Currituck counties in North Carolina to Gloucester, Mathews and Middlesex.
When more communities go on-line, the system will provide access to a national market, Batchelor said.
The commercial on-line system's debut marks the culmination of a two-year process sponsored by the Tidewater Association of Realtors and its commercial division, the Commercial Real Estate Council, formerly the Hampton Roads Commercial Industrial Real Estate Council.
``Our commercial industry is behind in computers and technology,'' said Al Carmichael, the 1995 Commercial Real Estate Council president. ``This will get us up to speed.'' by CNB