Major Upgrade:
Commercial / Industrial Development, Version 6

Our big news this month is about a major upgrade to one of our top products. Since 1983 "CID" has been one of our most popular applications, providing income-property developers with project cost analyses and budget pro formas for build-and-hold as well as build-and-sell scenarios.

If you are developing an apartment building, shopping center or other commercial property from the ground up -- or if you're renovating or expanding an existing property -- then the new CID can be an essential tool as you plan your project, evaluate its feasibility, solicit partners, and seek financing.

New Version 6 is really more than an upgrade. Users have been asking if we could provide a month-by-month development pro forma for income property, much as we do in our On Schedule program for subdivisions, land and condos. And so we have added a complete new mode of analysis to CID. You can still utilize the "classic" analysis -- the style that has been popular for so many years -- but now you can also choose a new month-by-month mode, where you can take advantage of these unique features:

• Switch between modes with a single click
• Enter development costs by category by month
• Allow lease-up of some units to proceed in parallel with development of other units
• Draw upon the development loan monthly, as needed, with repayments based on revenue
• Generate partnership reports for individual partners
• Break down construction into as many as 8 unit types. Each unit type has 28 construction cost categories. Easily configure the length of time to build units.
• Break down monthly costs into 33 soft cost categories and 48 hard cost categories
• Easily configure income, vacancy and operating expenses for all units on a monthly basis
• Print 15 Pro Forma Reports
• Use new Version 6 for residential, retail, commercial and industrial

If you are a registered user of Version 5, look for an upgrade notice in your email (and please do check for it inside your spam filter). If you purchased the program since January 1, 2009, your upgrade is free. If you purchased earlier, it's available for a small upgrade charge -- but that price is good only until July 17.

If you've never used CID, this is a great opportunity to add extraordinary power to your development analysis capabilities -- month-by-month projections, partnership analysis and more. Commercial / Industrial Development, Version 6 is available for immediate download for $395.

More Networking for Developers and Building Professionals

Last month's Dispatch included an article about social networking. I spoke then about blogging and about social networks like LinkedIn, and even more about the biggest phenomenon du jour, Twitter.

Since our lead story today is about 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. We'll let the UPworld folks describe the site in their own words:

"UPworld is an easy-to-use networking platform for real estate and building professionals, such as architects, designers, planners, contractors, and developers. UPWORLD helps professionals find projects to work on and helps project owners build effective work teams with the right professionals."

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.

Book Reviews

I mentioned recently that Commercial Investment Real Estate, the magazine of the CCIM Institute, had featured my latest book, Mastering Real Estate Investment, in their May/June 2009 issue Buyers Guide.

A few weeks later, Tara-Nicholle Nelson of Inman News reviewed my original magnum opus, What Every Real Estate Investor Needs To Know About Cash Flow...And 36 Other Key Financial Measures (2nd Edition). In her article, "Making the purchase pencil out," she was kind enough to describe it as an "...almost classic book... ." You can read the whole review if you subscribe to Inman News; otherwise, an excerpt is available to non-subscribers.

RealData Bookstore

While we're on the subject of books, we would like to tell you about a new addition to realdata.com, The RealData Bookstore. It's a cozy little place, with a selection of what we think are some of the best titles for investors, developers and agents -- but sorry, you can't get a latte there.

Please understand that this is not an automated list of best-sellers, but rather a collection of titles that we have hand-picked. (Don't mean to sound snobby, but there are a few real estate "best-sellers" out there that I wouldn't use to prop up the short leg of a coffee table. Maybe more than a few.)

We've included some classics that real estate investors have relied on for years, and also suggested some newer titles that we feel merit your attention. Of course my own books are listed first -- objectivity has its limits.

I hope you'll take a look -- and I also really hope you'll send us your recommendations for new titles to add to our list.

Heavyweight Counting Down

Last month my friend Dan Auito released a compendium of real estate articles called Be a Real Estate Heavyweight. Fortunately it's on CD, because the 95 authors who contributed to this encyclopedic project generated about 1,400 pages on topics ranging from marketing strategies to creative finance to short sales.

Dan tells me that the price for the download version — currently $79 -- will be going up to $147 on Friday, June 19. You can download two sample chapters from the link above. If Be a Real Estate Heavyweight is on your wish list, keep an eye on the calendar to get the best price.

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