I’m sure most people are already using something like Google Reader to track their favorite blog feeds.  If you’re not the I suggest you give it a try, especially if you read a few blogs.  We’re hoping that the Rofo Space Need Feed gives you one more reason to start tracking feeds.

When businesses are searching for commercial space they come to Rofo and post exactly what kind of commercial space they are looking for.  Then landlords and brokers make proposals and the tenant accepts what they like. The Rofo Space Need Feed tracks all these space needs and allows you to subscribe to feeds in different areas.  After subscribing, your reader will show an update every time a new Space Need is posted.

The Space Need Feeds cover the main regions in California where Rofo receives a substantial amount of space needs.  We will be rolling out feeds in new cities when we start to see more getting posted.  Here is a list of the feeds we have rolled out:

San Diego Area Commercial Space Needs

Los Angeles Area Commercial Space Needs

South Bay Commercial Space Needs (San Jose, Santa Clara, Cupertino, Sunnyvale etc.)

Sacramento Area Commercial Space Needs

Peninsula Commercial Space Needs (Palo Alto, San Mateo, Redwood City etc.)

Orange County Commercial Space Needs

North Bay Commercial Space Needs (Santa Rosa, Petaluma, San Rafael etc.)

East Bay Commercial Space Needs (Oakland, Berkeley, Walnut Creek, Fremont etc.)

So subscribe today and easily stay up to date with the market.  We’ll be rolling out new feeds in the future if your area isn’t up there yet.

One feature on the Rofo site that is incredibly useful to both prospective tenants and space providers is the Space Needs section. It allows businesses looking for space to post their exact requirements, i.e. space size, what city, preferred move date, company type and other requirements.

For busy small businesses owners, this allows them to save time by posting their need and then accepting or rejecting the offers they receive. It reduces the time a small business owner has to spend searching for space.

For space providers, the system provides an easy way to connect with potential tenants. The process for proposing a space is quick and painless and you will be notified via email when the tenant accepts or rejects the proposal. When proposing a space it is best to be mindful of the tenants needs and not propose a space in a city miles from where they are looking. Space providers also can sign up for “Space Needs Alerts”, which notify them through email when a Rofo user has posted a space need similar to a vacant space they have listed.

Map view and radius search are two great search features on Rofo. Occasionally, listing view doesn’t provide quite enough information, especially if you are not familiar with a location. This is where the map view search function can help. It allows you to target your search geographically and see a more dynamic representation of office space search results.

If you want a more focused commercial listing search, use the Rofo Radius Search tool. This allows you to display only the listings within a certain distance from an address. Want your office to be near a certain highway, public transportation or other amenity? Then search for an address near it and Rofo Radius Search will display listings within your specified distance.

To use the map view, just click on the “Map View” tab at the top of any search results page. This will take you to a map of that city and the icons represent all the buildings with listings. The Radius Search Tool is located in the left sidebar search tool. Just click on the Radius search tab at the top of the window and type in the address in an area you want to locate your office. Then those commercial spaces will be displayed in the search results for you to review.

We’ll be introducing some great new features and an even simpler design in the coming weeks. The number of entrepreneurs and small businesses using Rofo to search for office space continues to grow. We’re listening to your feedback and incorporating into the site.

In the world of commercial real estate there’s a lot of room for improvement in the area of content and data.  And when you mention data everyone always goes to research and analytics.  What we think of is data and content related to marketing a commercial space.  Businesses want to understand the characteristics of a space before they go see it.  They also want to know characteristics about the space and building in the context of running a business.

Common questions:

How will my employees commute to this space?

Are there local amenities?

How good is the building security?

Rofo is aggressively encouraging and promoting the use of video to market office space. The reason is that we’ve witnessed incredible results for both businesses and landlords when video is used.  Office space listings like the one at 182 2nd Street in San Francisco are getting far more views and inquiries.  We will soon be showcasing the listings with video on Rofo knowing the help it provides to both parties. translator directory .

This weekend we pushed an updated version of our search results functionality.  Now you can simply plug in an address (might be your home or an existing office location) and find all commercial real estate listings within a defined radius.  Most people have an idea where they want to locate their business.  Radius search gets you to the available options even quicker than before.

Stay tuned for more website changes and improvements to come over the next few weeks .