As Distance Learning Gains Luster

As businesses take a closer look at the value of distance learning to control costs and hone the skills of their professionals, the Society of Industrial and Office Realtors® (SIOR), the international society of leading commercial real estate brokers, launched its new series of distance learning programs for commercial real estate professionals recently when it presented the SIOR Energy Star course via the Internet.

A diverse group of nearly 100 commercial real estate professionals — commercial real estate brokers, property owners and managers, institutional rng program,” said SIOR president Stephen F. Blau, SIOR. He added that the Society plans to roll out eight online educational offerings during the next year. These include courses on structuring sale-leaseback transactions, developing opportunities with overseas investors and marketing properties via the Web.

Each year, the Society and its 39 chapters present more than 150 educational programs for commercial real estate professionals, including courses such as, Real Estate and Investment Finance, Tenant & Landlord Representation, Ethics & Professional Standards and Build-to-Suit Development. (See a complete listing of SIOR educational programs at http://www.sior.com/governance/cospon.pdf).

“We are now adapting our master-level course offerings for Internet delivery,” said Mr. Blau, who is Senior Vice President & Director-Corporate & Institutional Advisory Services, Colliers Lanard & Axilbund, of Philadelphia. “Commercial real estate professionals around the world will be able to take advantage of SIOR’s online educational programs at times that are more convenient and more cost effective — indeed, there are no travel costs. On a macro level, the result of greater access to education will be to bring up standards of practice everywhere, which will enhance the quality of the service provided to landlords, tenants and investors around the world.”

The new online learning series is SIOR’s latest technology-related endeavor developed to serve SIOR designees and the entire commercial real estate industry. Others include:

• Realcomm, the commercial real estate industry’s conference on technology and business solutions, which was co-founded by SIOR. This past June, more than 2,500 members of the technology and commercial real estate communities attended the third annual Realcomm conference in Dallas. Seventeen other commercial real estate associations participated in Realcomm 2001 as association partners.

• Comparative Statistics of Office and Industrial Real Estate Markets, which provides statistical reports at the Society’s Web site http://www.sior.com on 145 industrial property markets and 118 office property markets.

The Society of Industrial and Office Realtors is a Washington, DC-based international organization of 2,700 commercial real estate professionals, 2,000 of whom have earned the coveted SIOR designation, which stands for “Specialist, Industrial and Office Real Estate.”

Last year, SIOR designees closed more than 68,000 buying, selling or leasing transactions involving 2.4 billion square feet of commercial real estate. These transactions totaled $51.7 billion, or an average of $25.7 million per member.

SIOR designees are “the professional’s professionals” in commercial real estate. The Society enforces a strict code of ethics and requires designees to meet educational requirements and recertify every three years. Recertification assures those who need the services of a commercial real estate professional that the SIOR has achieved continued excellence in the field. Individuals who hold the SIOR designation, working throughout the United States, Canada, Mexico and overseas, are top producers representing more than 800 offices in 450 cities.

To learn more about the Society, contact http://www.sior.com.