PIKENET DISPATCH May 20, 2004, Vol. 9, No. 40 (763) "More than 9,000 subscribers" ... Subscriber: Todd Clarke * * * * * * * * * SPONSOR * * * * * * * * * . CCIM Institute ... www.ccim.com ... "Education and networking for real estate professionals." * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * THE DIGITAL OFFICE... Is paper disappearing? Many readers responded to the recent Dispatch, "Full Disclosure: I Like Paper" (May 6), about the value of paper in our digital world. You'll see the full range of opinions below (and next week). Todd Clarke tclarke@nmapartment.com at NM Apartments, Inc. in Albuquerque, NM, writes: "We've been paperless now for 6 or 7 years, and we've trained and gained acceptance from 99% of our clients. They prefer e-mail (it keeps things organized) and they love our web site/CD-ROM productions. ... In the last year of some $45 million in sales and managing dozens of transactions with a pool of 207 super qualified buyers (who have all made offers on at least one property), only 1 buyer/investor refused e-mail and requested print." Steve Doran dorans@firstweber.com with First Weber, Madison, WI, writes: "The industry needs to come up with a digital signature that can be used for offers, leases, letters of intent, etc. Faxing, mailing and/or hand delivering legal documents is time consuming, delays the real estate process, and (in the case of faxing) botches documents. If these documents could be delivered via e-mail, all of this could be avoided." Robert Gregory robert.gregory@craigdavisproperties.com with Craig Davis Properties, Cary, NC, writes: "Paperless technology is becoming commonplace. Our new Canon copiers are also networked printers and scanners. Any user can walk up to the machine, scan a paper document directly to PDF format, and save it to a shared folder or e-mail it to anyone. [But paper will not disappear] because people love paper and don't trust machines. Paper is forever." ... (More reader comments next week.) --Peter Pike / ppike@pikenet.com * * * SPONSOR * * * The CCIM Institute confers the Certified Commercial Investment Member (CCIM) designation through an extensive curriculum of 200 classroom hours in addition to professional experiential requirements. CCIMs are recognized experts in commercial real estate brokerage, leasing, asset management, valuation, and investment analysis, and form a business network encompassing 1,000 markets throughout North America, Europe, Asia and the Caribbean. There are currently more than 8,000 CCIM designees, with an additional 8,000 professionals pursuing the designation. Visit www.ccim.com for more information. * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *** ANNOUNCEMENT ... REALCOMM DISCOUNT *** Sign up today for Realcomm 2004 www.realcomm.com, "RE.Igniting Innovation: No More Business as Usual!", San Francisco, June 3- 4, 2004. Save $75 by registering with the PikeNet Promotional Code, RC04PIKE1 (that's zero-four). Go to Realcomm, click "Register Now," and then the "Promo" link in the right- hand column. * * * * * * * * * * * * * * To change your e-mail address, personalize the Dispatch with your name, or to switch to HTML, please edit your User Profile. Click ... www.pikenet.com/pike?func=emailRequest. To subscribe to the PikeNet Dispatch, go to www.pikenet.com, enter your address in the right-hand box and click the Subscribe button. To remove yourself from the Dispatch mailing list, go to ... www.pikenet.com/pike?func=remove. Your e-mail address is tclarke@nmcomreal.com. ------------------------------- Peter Pike / PikeNet, Box 1177, Ross, CA 94957 Tel: 415-485-6700 Mail: ppike@pikenet.com Fax: 415-485-1710 Web: http://www.pikenet.com