President's message: Everyone into the pool!

The New York State Commercial Association of Realtors (NYSCAR), WNY chapter board of directors, voted September 11 to open access to the Buffalo Niagara region's newly-minted commercial listing system. Now, any licensed commercial real estate broker or agent wishing to post exclusively-listed properties can apply to join the Catylist-powered Buffalo Niagara commercial listing system www.buffaloniagaracls.com and expose that inventory on the private side of the site to full-access members locally and nationally. The group believes the Catylist technology and marketing reach is so powerful that write-only users, who will be able to display their listings to, and receive direct communications from, more than 80,000 brokers nationwide, will quickly decide to convert to full-access membership and gain the broad spectrum of benefits offered by Catylist and its national network of strategic partners, including: Google Base, which delivers more than 50% of the real estate search traffic in the USA; My Next Deal, over 500,000 listings; and REBusiness Online, owned by France Publications. All full-access member listings in the Buffalo Niagara CLS automatically display on REBusiness Online.com's new property search engine. Everyone is pulling in the same direction. Local business owners, labor leaders, and professionals across the spectrum are taking the job of attracting business to the region into their own, capable hands. On September 12-14, a powerful grassroots effort brought more than 30 international CEOs from high tech and manufacturing companies around the globe to attend "Explore Buffalo Niagara," meet their counterparts in industry, and learn about relocation and business opportunities in the region. Sunshine, cool breezes, great food, new friends, and a peek at a special region with more than its fair share of natural, built, and human resources was topped off with the annual Black Tie celebration of the opening of the theater season, curtain up! NYSCAR is supporting this attraction process by positioning the Catylist-powered Buffalo Niagara commercial listing system as a portal for companies around the world to explore commercial real estate and relocation opportunities and network with professionals who can help them achieve a smooth transition into the region. Keep an eye on what's happening here. Opportunities abound and sometimes people halfway across the world are the first ones to notice. You can join the Buffalo Niagara commercial listing system at www.buffaloniagaraCLS.com. Contact the CLS administrator's office, Rabia Fournier, at (716) 636-9000 or [email protected] for more information. Kristin Badger-Bach is the 2007 president of the WNY chapter of NYSCAR, Amherst, N.Y.