System and method for collection, distribution, and use of information in connection with commercial real estate

• US 7,254,559 B2
• Filed: 06/06/2003
• Issued: 08/07/2007
• Est. Priority Date: 02/25/2000
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: Costar Realty Information Incorporated (CoStar Group Inc.)
• Original Assignee: CoStar Group Inc.
• Inventors: Choi, John, Glick, Michael, Florance, Andrew, Violagis, Constantine, Newmister, Mark, Foster, Bruce, Schaffel, David, Stroman, Robert, Hamlin, Harlan, Bulkin, Vladimir
• Primary Examiner(s): Fischer; Andrew J.
• Assistant Examiner(s): WINTER, JOHN M
• Application Number:
  US10/455,498
• Publication Number:
  US 20040030616A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,523 Days
• Field of Search: 705/1, 705/51, 704/275, 704/246, 902/41
• US Class Current: 705/51
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/06 Buying, selling or leasing transactions
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 50/16 Real estate

Abstract

A system and method for creating a unified commercial real estate data model through collection, distribution and use of information in connection with commercial real estate and for creating a web-based marketplace that facilitates the efficient and secure buying and selling of commercial properties. The invention provides a digital marketplace in which the members of the commercial real estate and related business community can continuously interact and facilitate transactions by efficiently exchanging accurate and standardized information. The present invention also facilitates mortgage lending and provides enough information to allow lenders to underwrite a property. The present invention also provides a mobile data gathering and dissemination vehicle as well as a system tracking and dispatch of mobile vehicles. The present invention further provides correlation of data stored in a remote location to vehicle position in real time.

Claims

1. A system for collecting, distributing, and using real estate data comprising:

(a) data sources that gather and generate the real estate data;

(b) data mining applications in communication with the data sources, wherein the data mining applications receive and organize the real estate data into separate interrelated modules, and wherein the data mining applications evaluate the real estate data and reconcile the real estate data among the interrelated modules;

(c) a contact management system in communication with the data sources and the data mining applications, wherein the contact management system directs data mining applications to conduct continuous pollings of the data sources to update the real estate data;

(d) a core data warehouse in communication with the data mining applications, wherein the core data warehouse receives and stores the reconciled and updated real estate data from the data mining applications;

(e) database processes in communication with the core data warehouse, wherein the database processes access the reconciled and updated real estate data from the core data warehouse and create database sets; and

(f) network integration applications in communication with the database processes, wherein the network integration applications manipulate the database sets in response to commands from a user and present results of the manipulation to the user,

wherein the interrelated modules comprise a property information database, a tenant information database, an assessment information database, a comparable property information database, and a market analytics information database, and

wherein when the data mining applications receive a first change to the tenant information database, the data mining applications enter a second change corresponding to the first change in the property information database.

2. The system of claim 1, wherein the network integration applications comprise at least one of a look up property application, a search database application, and an add listing application.

3. The system of claim 2, wherein the search database application accepts property search queries from the user, runs the property search queries, and returns property search results to the user.

4. The system of claim 3, wherein the search database application adds properties to the property search results as directed by the user without running another search query, removes properties from the property search results as directed by the user without running another search query, and runs negative search queries as directed by the user to remove properties from the property search results.

5. The system of claim 1, wherein the data sources include at least one of property managers, proprietary databases, Internet sources, site inspections, building owners, brokerage firms, real estate investment trust filings, tenant canvassing, public records, and comparable property databases.

6. The system of claim 1, further comprising a mobile information collection device that provides functions of the data sources and the network integration applications, the mobile information collection device comprising:

(a) a global positioning system that determines a location of the mobile information collection device;

(b) an output device in communication with the database processes and the global positioning system, wherein the output device reads the location provided by the global positioning system, and retrieves and displays the database sets corresponding to the location; and

(c) a data input device that receives changes to the database sets corresponding to the location and transmits the changes to the data mining applications.

7. The system of claim 1, wherein the first change comprises a tenant moving out of a property, and the second change comprises the property being vacant.

8. A system for collecting, distributing, and using real estate data comprising:

(a) data sources that gather and generate the real estate data;

(b) data mining applications in communication with the data sources, wherein the data mining applications receive and organize the real estate data into separate interrelated modules, and wherein the data mining applications evaluate the real estate data and reconcile the real estate data among the interrelated modules;

(c) a contact management system in communication with the data sources and the data mining applications, wherein the contact management system directs data mining applications to conduct continuous pollings of the data sources to update the real estate data;

(d) a core data warehouse in communication with the data mining applications, wherein the core data warehouse receives and stores the reconciled and updated real estate data from the data mining applications;

(e) database processes in communication with the core data warehouse, wherein the database processes access the reconciled and updated real estate data from the core data warehouse and create database sets;

(f) network integration applications in communication with the database processes, wherein the network integration applications manipulate the database sets in response to commands from a user and present results of the manipulation to the user; and

(g) a mobile information collection device that provides functions of the data sources and the network integration applications, the mobile information collection device comprising

a global positioning system that determines a location of the mobile information collection device;

an output device in communication with the database processes and the global positioning system, wherein the output device reads the location provided by the global positioning system, and retrieves and displays the database sets corresponding to the location; and

a data input device that receives changes to the database sets corresponding to the location and transmits the changes to the data mining applications.

9. The system of claim 8, wherein the network integration applications comprise at least one of a look up property application, a search database application, and an add listing application.

10. The system of claim 9, wherein the search database application accepts property search queries from the user, runs the property search queries, and returns property search results to the user.

11. The system of claim 10, wherein the search database application adds properties to the property search results as directed by the user without running another search query, removes properties from the property search results as directed by the user without running another search query, and runs negative search queries as directed by the user to remove properties from the property search results.

12. The system of claim 8, wherein the data sources include at least one of property managers, proprietary databases, Internet sources, site inspections, building owners, brokerage firms, real estate investment trust filings, tenant canvassing, public records, and comparable property databases.

13. The system of claim 8, wherein the interrelated modules comprise a property information database, a tenant information database, an assessment information database, a comparable property information database, and a market analytics information database.

14. A system for collecting, distributing, and using real estate data comprising:

(a) data mining applications adapted to receive real estate data, organize the real estate data into separate interrelated modules, and reconcile the real estate data among the interrelated modules;

(b) a contact management system in communication the data mining applications, wherein the contact management system is adapted to direct the data mining applications to poll the data sources and update the real estate data;

(c) a core data warehouse in communication with the data mining applications, wherein the core data warehouse is adapted to store the reconciled and updated real estate data;

(d) database processes in communication with the core data warehouse, wherein the database processes are adapted to access the reconciled and updated real estate data from the core data warehouse and create database sets;

(e) network integration applications in communication with the database processes, wherein the network integration applications are adapted to present portions of the database sets to a user; and

(f) a mobile information collection device, the mobile information collection device comprising

a global positioning system that determines a location of the mobile information collection device;

an output device in communication with the database processes and the global positioning system, wherein the output device reads the location provided by the global positioning system, and retrieves and displays the database sets corresponding to the location; and

a data input device that receives changes to the database sets corresponding to the location and transmits the changes to the data mining applications.

15. The system of claim 14, wherein the interrelated modules comprise a property information database, a tenant information database, an assessment information database, a comparable property information database, and a market analytics information database.