Though Ken Stark professes to hate computers, it's a database that is fundamental to his way of doing business.
Stark, president of the newly formed Stark & Associates commercial real estate brokerage based in Reno, points to the database as his edge in the highly competitive Reno commercial real estate market.
It's part of his plan to position his new firm for partnership with a national name.
"We're being courted by two (national real estate firms) so far," he says."And over the next 12 months,most likely will sign a contract with one."
He and his two co-founding members, Jon Cordova, and Bradley Elgin, all recently were brokers at NAI Hale Day Gallagher Company.
When that firm was transformed by retirements, says Stark, he dissolved his partnership and formed his new corporation.
A third senior associate with Stark, Charles Loper, left Voit Commercial Brokerage to join Stark.
All of the associates are big believers in the database system , says Stark.At least, they all use it.
It's not rocket science, either, he says.
Here's how it works.
Take one basic, overthe counter transaction management software common in the real estate market - ACT.Add to it, another common software,ARES (Advanced Real Estate System for ACT), which has property database and contact management capabilities.
And you have, says Stark, a commercial property database and system that is similar to the residential multiple listing service.
There's no secret to the system, he says, and it's available to anyone with a checkbook.
The secret lies in the upkeep of the database.
It's labor-intensive.He finances about 16 hours of part-time labor per month to input changes.
The information is the edge, he says, that he hopes will put him on a solid footing for future business.All prospecting and strategizing comes from the reports pulled from the database.
Stark represents office and industrial real estate clients.
One major project on the books currently is a 20,000-square-foot space in South Meadows.
