Don't let arachnophobia keep you off the Web

Real Estate Issues, Dec 1995 by Dupre, Patty

The World Wide Web, known as the Web for its web-like organization, is a global information system within the Internet which enables users to view almost instantly text, images, video and audio clips from around the world. What makes it so popular is the easy point-andclick access, the visual display and the ability to link to other data anywhere. One moment you can access information from a computer in Seattle, then from a computer in Australia reading population trends for Atlanta, Georgia.

What is required to explore the Web? You need a modem (the faster the better) for your PC, an Internet connection and a Web browser. Your Internet connection can be with a direct access provider, which typically offers Internet access and little else, or with a commercial on-line provider like CompuServe, America On-line, Genie, etc. Many of the commercial providers have Web browsers included in the software, or they can be purchased separately. Some browsers can be transferred, or downloaded, from the Internet directly to your PC. You can take it out for a test drive, and if you decide it's the one for you, pay a license fee within 30 days. For example, Netscape's Navigator, a popular browser, can be downloaded by going to http:// home.netscape.com/

An important aspect of the Web is hypertext, or data linked to other information on the same computer or on another computer anywhere in the world. Hypertext data is usually a word or picture that is underlined or highlighted in a Web document. Just click on the hypertext, and you are immediately linked to another document.

To view a document on the Web, you first need to know its unique name or URL (Uniform Resource Locator). URLs consist of an address that must be typed exactly as shown; this address will typically begin with "http://" Above are some real-estate related sites on the Web.

There is not a central index or catalog for the millions of sites on the Web. So how can you find the information you need? One way is to use a "search engine," or a computer which will search the Internet for the information you need. Simply call up one of the engines (by typing the URL), and type in the information you want searched in the box provided. Within seconds of my request for population statistics, 481 references were found along with a listing of the first 25 sites. The following are three good search engines to try: Webcrawler http://webcrawler.com/

Yahoo http://www.yahoo.com/

Lycos http://www.lycos.com/

The Web is a useful tool and growing resource for real estate counselors and all real estate practitioners who require important data quickly. Instead of using snail-mail to receive government statistics for an analysis you are working on, hop on the Web, enter the URL and download the data you need directly into your Excel, Lotus or other spreadsheet program.

Patty Dupre, CRE, is a principal of Dupre Scott Apartment Advisors in Seattle, Washington. She serves on the High Technology Task Force Committee for The Counselors of Real Estate, and she is the representative to the Commercial Advisory Group of the Realtor's Information Network (RIN). Her e-mail address is apts@dsaa.com.