New York SBDC Research Network

Several new real estate web sites have emerged. I found Zillow particularly of interest. In a Newsday article , columnist Meghan Daum succinctly describes what the site will do for you: "When the address of almost any home in the United States is typed into the system, Zillow provides an estimate of the market value of the property, the most recent sale price of that property, the approximate square footage, the values of the neighboring homes and a satellite photo of the whole street. " Zillow isn't quite perfect yet as it is still technically in the beta phase. My own testing showed that my parents' house was estimated at $100,000 more than recent sale prices of other homes in the neighborhood, but the site is adding more data every day. Sites like Zillow and others could affect the real estate agent profession. In New Scotland, New York, the assessor's office has recently reassessed every home in the town. That data - including a photo of the home, squ

Every once in awhile I come across a site that is so helpful I don't even want to pull anything down for a request, I just want the business owner to go there directly. This is one of them. While I have used it to pull off a piece of information, I think it is a resource food entrepreneurs should be familiar with. The Northeast Center for Food Entrepreneurship at the New York State Food Venture Center is a wonderful resource for food product manufacturers. It is a concise site but with very practical information. For instance, the listing of Small Co-packers and Commercial Kitchens is a good place to start for those looking to get started and includes packers of Kosher and gluten-free products. They offer a page on developing a business plan for the specialty food marketer as well as a brief guide to getting a product to market; a list of trade group links and agencies; a flowchart of sorts describing the process of product development and information on required product analyses

By Alan Sharpe If the most important part of any business-to-business direct mail package is the list, how can you be sure that you have a good list before you drop your money (and your reputation) in the mailbox? Answer: Ask the right questions before you rent that list. 1. Who is on the list, exactly? Knowing makes all the difference. So make sure you can select names by job title or function. 2. What is the source of the list? Is the list a compiled list, where names and addresses are compiled into a list from directories, newspapers, trade show registrations and other public sources? Or is the list an opt-in list (such as subscribers to a particular trade publication, or buyers from an online store)? Lists of names that are compiled from phone books and directories usually age more quickly than names from opt-in lists and usually produce more undeliverable mail. 3. Are the names on the list known buyers? The best B2B lists contain names of business people who have bought your produ

Last week, I did research for a client who was interested in demographic & economic performance for a city outside of New York. I used some traditional in-house & Web-based resources to generate a response. However, in my e-mail this morning, I was reminded of another source. The Milken Institute releases its Best Performing Cities report every year, and the 2005 version has just been released. The report ranks the 200 top-performing large cities, as well as the top 179 small cities, based on an index of its own creation. The index is heavily influenced by such factors as job growth, wage growth, and what it calls "high-tech GDP growth". The highest ranking NYS large city on the list is Poughkeepsie (my hometown), with Albany-Schenectady-Troy ranking second (where I currently live). Just a coincidence. To read the whole report, go here .

Earthquakes aren't simply a west coast phenomenon. Apparently, since 1737 New York State has experienced 6 earthquakes over 5.0 on the Richter scale plus 4 others ranging V to VII on the Modified Mercalli (MM) Intensity Scale (see the list on pages 27-28 at http://www.nysstatistics.org/yearbook/04/data/O_1.pdf ). The North Country has experienced the majority of the significant earthquakes - most recently on April 20 and May 24, 2002. Alaska and California, however, have experienced the largest earthquakes on record for the U.S. And worldwide, the deadliest earthquake on record took place January 23, 1556 in Shansi, China with a death toll of 830,000.

A brief article on CNET News.com explains the difficulties of a truly global economy. US companies are facing restrictions as to what the content of their websites can contain…and feeling the strong reaction to their complicity at home. Here are a few views of the issues: February 17, 2006 Time to Export Your China-Based Website Entrepreneur.com Posted by Teresa Ciulla @ 02:54 PM “According to proposed legislation that's scheduled to be introduced shortly in Congress, nearly every U.S. company with a website located in China will have to move it elsewhere or its executives could face prison terms of up to a year… The bill, currently titled the Global Online Freedom Act of 2006, was drafted by Rep. Christopher Smith (NJ-R) in response to recent reports of censorship in China by some of the major internet players, including Yahoo!, Google, Cisco and Microsoft. If passed by Congress, the CNET article says the bill "would dramatically change the business practices of corporations

March Road Tour: 4 Cities. 6 Workshops. 24 Opportunities to Grow NY Agriculture. State Agriculture Commissioner Patrick H. Brennan announced "March Road Tour," a series of workshops that will enhance the awareness and understanding of economic resources available for the agricultural industry. "Over the past eleven years, Governor Pataki has established numerous programs and incentives to assist farmers and agri-businesses in New York State," Commissioner Brennan said. "We want to make sure these resources are known and thoroughly understood, so they can be utilized effectively on the local level. I encourage anyone interested in agriculture, from farmers to local elected officials, to take the time to attend one of these sessions and learn what the Department of Agriculture and Markets has to offer you and your business." The free sessions will run from 8:30 a.m. to 3:00 p.m. at the following dates and locations. • Tuesday, March 14 Canton Best Western,