COCIE Tips & Tricks

by Catherine Erney
Xceligent
May/June 2006 In Contract

The Central Ohio Commercial real Estate Exchange has continued to experience phenomenal growth. At this writing, we have grown to 432 registered agent users and we have offered our first Advanced Users Class - COCIE 102.

Based on the calls coming into our local office, calls and e-mails to the Xceligent support center and our recent COCIE Advanced class, these are the Top 10 problems that users encounter while working on the CDX:

10) "My sign-on ID and password don't work." If you have verified with us that you are using the correct ID and password, the next step is to make sure that you are signing on to the appropriate database. The Central Ohio Commercial Information Exchange - COCIE - is hosted by Xceligent. You can either sign on through a link on the CBR web page or at www.xceligent.com.

9) "I forgot my sign-on ID." This is the easiest of problems. Nine times out of ten, your sign-on ID is your email address. If that doesn't work, call us - we can remind you.

8) "I forgot my password." With so many passwords floating around nowadays, that's an all too common problem. There are several simple solutions to this one. Go to the sign-on box on the logon page. Put in your ID - now look to the right. There's a "send me my password" line. Again, you can always call us - we're happy to help or reset your password for you.

7) "I can't change the square footage of my building." No, you can't - but we can. In general, we keep building square footage consistent to make our vacancy and absorption statistics dependable. On the other hand, we all want the most accurate information possible on our database. A building square footage source of "aerial estimation" or "auditor" will be trumped by "listing agent" or "building owner" any day. Call or email us and we'll take the appropriate action.

6) "I can't change the property type of my listing." Again, that's a field that we reserve for database administrators. Property type is a function of both building use and zoning. Generally, the best solution is to leave the property type as it is and add additional property uses. Confusing? Here's an example: Suppose you list one of the former Central Hardware buildings. It's a retail property as defined by its former use and Commercial (C-4) zoning. However, it could be used as a warehouse as it has dock high doors. It would also make a great call center since it is on the bus line and has lots of parking for the workers. How to handle that? Leave the building type as "Retail" but add additional types of "Office" and "Industrial." The beauty of this solution is that you don't have to create multiple available listings - anyone searching the database for ANY of those property types would find your listing in his or her result set.

5) "I added a photo, but it's not showing up on the database." First, you need to make sure that you added a .jpg image in the property record. Then, you need to make sure you checked "Default photo for property" when you added the photo. Please don't delete our old photos; when we look at them we fondly remember the freak April snowstorm that hit as we did the first property drive in the Columbus market.

4) "I forgot how to add a picture." (This one more often sounds like, "You have to help me before I throw my computer out the window!") From View my Listings click the blue "Property" link in the column headed by Update. This opens the property record. See the tabs across the top? Select Attachments. From here, it's simple. Click Add Attachment. (You'll have to agree to the disclaimer to continue.) Then press Browse and use simple Windows browsing to find the photo on your computer. After you find it, select Open and you're nearly done. Be sure to name the photo (We recommend naming it with the property name or address.) Tell the database what type of attachment you're adding. It's a pull-down menu - select Aerial or Site plan; whatever's appropriate. If you're replacing an old building photo, be sure to check Default photo for property. Finally, press Save. Remember as you work that all of the action steps are big orange buttons.

3) "I'm getting an 80% vacancy rate for Class A suburban properties. What's wrong with your data?" The Search defaults to "For lease" properties. If you're running statistics, be sure to select All Properties before you put in your other criteria. You'll also want to deselect planned and under construction properties, which will skew your statistics. Finally, to select the competitive, multi-tenant building set, choose Tracked set = yes. This will remove government, owner-occupied and other inappropriate buildings from your statistical set. If you have any questions, call us. We'll be happy to talk you through the process.

2) "I've deleted this listing four times. It keeps showing up on my home page." Choosing Remove Selected on your View My Listings page only removes it from your screen temporarily. This tool is useful for running reports for owners or prospects. However, the appropriate way to remove a listing is to go into the record and change the status from Active to Sold, Leased, Off the Market, Active-No Availability or Expired.

1) "My building is brand new and commands premium rents. How dare you classify it as Class B?" The quick answer - because it's single story or under 50,000 SF. COCIE's office building classifications were established by a committee of commercial agents several years ago. According to our standards, to be a Class A office building, a property must be 50,000 SF or larger; multi-story; fully handicapped accessible; have newer HVAC systems; be fully sprinklered and built or renovated within the past 10 years. Class B buildings might be smaller or slightly older or lack one or more of the aforementioned crucial features. Class C buildings are single- story older properties, perhaps office/warehouse flex. Rest assured, Class B carries no negative connotation - everybody working in our marketplace realizes it's most usually a size thing.

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