Old school with new skool CRE
Update: this article was written in 2010, so some sites may or may not still be functioning.
I know at times I have been somewhat “critical” of the commercial real estate online environment. Anyone can stand back and throw rocks. Diverse, social, educational, informative, worldwide, visual, tech edge, interactive, here are 32 of the best sites in Commercial Real Estate (CRE) with my own commentary.
For anyone in CRE or considering getting into CRE, you should become familiar with the following sites:
ROFO– putting business and available space together. This site was honored with a Webby Award. This IS the future of commercial real estate online.
Arcestra– is a revolutionary 3D visualization and marketing online service that helps lease commercial real estate quickly. Did I say THIS is the future of commercial real estate?
Creopoint.com– they say 1) rapid access to businesses and experts 2) improved digital branding 3) wants/haves and corresponding invitations to network 4) member viewpoints and forums 5) CRE news aggregated from around the globe 6) industry-focused search to avoid clutter. I say #1 worldwide commercial real estate network?
Mos Atlanta– the best personal commercial real estate agent blog out today. Period.
Argussoftware– the best software in commercial real estate for property management, asset valuation, portfolio management, budgeting, forecasting, reporting and lease management.
Loopnet– iPhone search app. One of the first.
Zstrata– commercial real estate CRM.
Space for lease– well… space for lease.
OSCRE– commercial real estate data standards. But, is it working?
Intelligent buildings– look in the library section. Great white paper intelligence.
Realcretv– commercial real estate TV. Yes ,yes, yes but, will anyone watch?
Green building law blog– just cool content.
Transaction data and analytics– if you are big time, this is a must have.
Real estate investing news watch– real estate investment blog and news aggregator. Great info.
Realcomm– commercial real estate corp., commercial real estate tech and automation. A must attend event.
Core Net Global– big time corp. global association.
Green exam prep– LEED training classes. Green is gold. I can’t believe I still use that line.
CPExecutive– commercial real estate executive news. Here are the hitters and this is what they read.
Crew Crew Crew– commercial real estate women… love the ladies.
Real Estate Forum Magazine– hardcore corporate, but a must read.
Realcorner– I still think I’m banned or blocked or something.
Visual Lease– leasing software. Just stunning.
Google Sketch Up– 3D buildings. Still fun and cool to play with, but also practical.
Chain Links– retail leasing group.
Property Week– from the UK. Commercial real estate, best site over all.
Multi-family Insiders– the name says it all.
Investor Loft– investor database.
REIS– commercial real estate property stats and data.
Biggerpockets.com– 50,000 members and growing.
CCIM– the best Commercial Real Estate education, period.
Urban Land Institute– best overall commercial real estate organization.
Retail Traffic– design, development, retail, finance. Kick ass blog too.
Interesting group you must admit. That’s my 32. There have to be 50 more that can be added to the list. Disagree? Suggestions? Thoughts?
Rocky Mackintosh
April 25, 2010 at 3:28 pm
Great list, Duke. Of course, one does not want to forget about CoStar. Great site, expensive to join, unless you are with a large organization. But great analytics.
Scott Meyer COSTAR
April 25, 2010 at 9:08 pm
It blows my mind how you continue to leave off CoStar Group, The NATIONS PROVEN #1 PROVIDER OF COMMERCIAL REAL ESTATE INFORMATION, from the majority of your blogs unless you are questioning their credibility or putting out a negative thought about their platform based SOLEY on what you perceive to be a high cost. You, as a non subscriber with no access to the platform, have no idea what kinds of information you are missing and therefore can not provide an accurate list of TOP CRE sites.
The facts speak volumes about CoStar’s relevance in our market place. CoStar has more viewers, subscribers, and firms feeding CoStar data than any other CRE site. It combines a full inventory and more verified listings than any of the sites listed. Not to mention, it combines what about 15 of your sites mentioned do, all under one platform.
Halley
May 14, 2015 at 3:45 pm
Yeah…CoStar isn't all that. They frequently have the wrong information. We give our researcher info, and it's FREQUENTLY wrong. In fact, they recently didn't even put one of our listings on there. It's got a LOT to be desired, even now, 5 years after your post.
Ryan Martin
April 26, 2010 at 11:59 am
Nice list Duke. I’m pretty familiar with most of these. Some of these websites I even check in on a daily basis. Loopnet and CPExecutive are a couple of my favorites. I also like reading https://agentgenius.com/commercial/ 🙂
Duke Long
April 26, 2010 at 2:06 pm
Ryan,
Blatant ass kissing will indeed get you in my favor. However, your opinions and points of view are also appreciated especially if I disagree. Thanks for commenting.
Jonathan Price
April 26, 2010 at 6:05 pm
This is a good list but you need to include something from the business center/executive suite space, as that is growing a lot faster than conventional office space. I suggest Officing Today from ABCN or Officebroker.com which has fabulous research.
Duke Long
April 26, 2010 at 9:28 pm
Jonathan,
Thanks for the heads up and suggestion. I will take a look.
Duke Long
April 27, 2010 at 10:58 am
I did look and thanks great site !!!
Patrick Braswell
April 26, 2010 at 9:05 pm
Duke,
Great list. Couldn’t agree with you more on a couple of them, and thank you for introducing me to a few new ones. I would like to comment on Costar. Costar is a great tool, but not everyone can use all of its functions. I know that Showcase.com is making a push, but it still isn’t free to list the properties. Costar is expensive, and they seem to want to control the information. In my opinion, Costar’s control over the information will lead to them losing market share to websites like Realup.com and others like it. However, I use Costar everyday in my business and couldn’t get along without it.
Patrick
Oast
April 28, 2010 at 9:05 pm
Patrick great comment. Started by saying “CoStar is expensive” and finished with “I use CoStar everyday in my business and couldn’t get along without it.” I think that speaks volumes.
To everyone who is a CoStar holdout due to perceived cost …it is not expensive. No matter how large or small your market / business….. your competitors who subscribe to CoStar have a significant edge on you. Not subscribing is costing you money, not the other way around.
Duke, I love the topic but leaving CoStar Group off infinitely devalues your posts. You gotta tighten your game.
Maine Broker
April 27, 2010 at 12:50 pm
I for one am glad that you left CoStar of your list. The CRE Market here in Maine is very diferent than the rest of the US and they are unable to accomodate our needs. I can understand the need for standards but when you have an unhappy property owner on the phone looking at their property on Costar and you (the broker) have no control over the information- what do you do? You can ask CoStar to change the information but its up to them if they do or not. If it doesnt fit their standards- they do not. And I can speak from experience. Very frustrating!
Duke Long
April 27, 2010 at 5:01 pm
Thanks for your opinions and point of view!
Duke Long
April 29, 2010 at 11:59 am
Has anyone noticed that I did not include Loopnet.com or Catylist. …and not a word. Sometimes, it’s what you don’t say!!!
Aaron Kempf
April 29, 2010 at 12:51 pm
You didn’t include CommercialSource.com – which is owned by NAR!
free to join, free to post (licensed real estate agents only).
CommercialSource.com is the source for Commercial Listings at commercial.realtor.com and additionally they are currently integrating listings from CCIM Redex.
They’re winning and building new _LARGE_ CIEs throughout the country: CommercialMLS.com Commgate.com, etc
Rlst8
April 29, 2010 at 8:30 pm
Duke,
Your relevance with the “picture on your biz card set” is unmatched. No real commercial agent really uses these sites with frequency. Catylist, loop net and costar have earned their standing on any list, and these other sites are merely the next biz model to fail.
Either you write this stuff to be edgy, or you really believe it. Not sure which is worse.
Benn Rosales
April 29, 2010 at 9:28 pm
Who specifically on this list are you saying has a failed business model?
Benn/AG
ScottB
April 30, 2010 at 12:37 am
Just skimmed the list and comments, but didn’t see two that you might consider – although maybe they’re too old school?
– Globe Street: globest.com
– National Real Estate Investor: nreionline.com
I think I’d categorize them as “industry rags”, so you won’t get much other than the party line, but still useful news and occasionally insightful and educational articles in them.
Agnes Czajkowski
May 1, 2010 at 11:23 pm
Duke,
I just learned about a few new websites from your list. My favorite is Real Capital Analytics.
One suggestion that I have is realtyboost.com. I saw a couple of their solutions and found it very impressive, easy to use and time saving.
Christopher Werely
June 1, 2010 at 9:47 am
Duke Great list. Thanks for including us!
Chris Werely
Visual Lease
Duke Long
June 1, 2010 at 9:56 am
Chris, :):):)
Andrew Mooers
September 12, 2010 at 8:45 pm
CoStar has put a lot of time into getting the commercial property listings loaded in right, and was wondering about the not being on the list.
Adirondack Rentals
September 27, 2010 at 1:02 am
I have visited your links they are very good. Thanks! For informative list of Best 32 CRE sites
creative consulting group
August 13, 2011 at 7:21 am
The sites listed requires an update because some sites are currently not operating.
Chris
October 28, 2013 at 3:08 am
You forgot to mention BuildingSearch.com as well. Its a FREE national commercial real estate listings search engine and commercial real estate community that caters to tenants, brokers, owners, and vendors servicing the industry. Have a look.
Vijay Raundal
July 21, 2015 at 4:11 am
Nice blog… thanks for share this commercial real estate sites lists………
Tyrone
November 7, 2015 at 1:52 pm
Thanks for the list and everyone’s replies/comments.
Mike Toste, Realtor®
May 18, 2016 at 4:53 pm
Talk about a blast to the past! 2010 ! Still a good list and the ones that are still alive and kicking are the ones that are awesome, bigger pockets for example had 50K subscribers at the time of this post publish date, but now has over 500K!! 10x bigger!
It really is amazing how the commercial real estate industry has taken off in the technology realm.