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Visit our new RealData
Bookstore, a hand-picked selection of books and other
tools for real estate investors, developers, and agents.
BiggerPockets
has evolved into a seriously useful site for real estate
investors. It has grown to more than 33,000 members and
accurately bills itself as dedicated to Knowledge, Networking,
Dealmaking and Marketing. The forum section of the site
is very active, very helpful, and covers a wide range of
topics. The forums are also well-moderated, so you don't
have to sift through spam. In addition, you can now create
your own blog, and take advantage of a library of user-contributed
articles. We think BiggerPockets
is an excellent resource for both beginners and seasoned
real estate pros.
With the release of Version
6 of Commercial / Industrial Development, this is a
good time to tell you about a networking site designed specifically
for developers and for those in the building professions:
UPworld.
You can network with other professionals in the field;
you can also post job and development opportunities, as
well as requests for proposals and for professional services.
Membership is by invitation or a simple online application.
Check it out at UPworld.com.
You'll find an extraordinary collection of lectures from
some of the top professors in the U.S. at academicearth.org.
We found one in particular that provided an very insightful,
lucid, and entertaining explanation of how we got into the
current mess. In fact, it's called "Origins of the
Financial Mess" by Alan Blinder, Professor of Economics
and Public Affairs at the Woodrow Wilson School and co-director
of Princeton's Center for Economic Policy Studies.
Citation: Blinder,
Alan "Origins of the Financial Mess." Academic
Earth. 15 Jan 2009
Many users of our software work in real estate development or construction, so we were pleased to take note of RSMeans CostWorks. They offer a subscription-based service for construction cost estimating. Among the main features they describe are access to 85,000 unit costs, 25,000 assemblies and 42,000 facilities costs covering new building construction, repair, remodeling, change order, facilities maintenance and heavy construction. They say the cost data is updated on an ongoing basis and that they provide localized materials and labor data to 900 locations in the U.S. and Canada.
Their site has video previews of many of service's features, and a free trial.
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