Nothing is more helpful to the editorial staff of a magazine than to get feedback from the readers. Criticism, compliments, suggestions, even insults are useful to us. Without interaction we can never be completely sure that our efforts have hit the mark or gone astray of the target.

Consequently, I found myself smiling with satisfaction recently as I read our first two letters-to-the-editor since we re-launched our magazine as Real Estate Portfolio. Excerpts of those letters are printed below.

I encourage all of you to let us know what we are doing well or poorly. Feel free to suggest article topics, areas of concern, or any other ideas that you would like us to consider as we plan future issues.

Christopher W. Murphy
editor-in-chief

The Letters

While I enjoyed [Real Estate Portfolio], I feel I must make one comment ... In the discussion of "in-house versus out-sourced maintenance" of posting items to the company Web site [in "Connecting with Investors," pp. 56–60, November/December, 1999, by Elaine Derso], Ms. Derso’s article offered the two choices of yesteryear—"do it yourself," or reliance on slow, disinterested outsiders—both methods being inconsistent with the IR ideal of widest possible dissemination of material information in a timely manner. With the new technology, postings to the Web site are simultaneous with news dissemination through a newswire service or an EDGAR filing to the SEC—all without any additional work by the IR department ..."

Phyllis Wolper
Director, Investor Relations
Basic Capital Management, Inc.

Elaine Derso of Realty Resources, a regular contributor to Real Estate Portfolio sent us this note in response to Ms. Wolper’s comments: "Our purpose was to get inside the investor relations function and examine how different REITs approach the use of technology to extend and improve their communications with shareholders. The specific technologies named by the reader were assumed in our discussion and form the context for it."

I felt I needed to drop you a note to tell you how impressive a publication Real Estate Portfolio is and how pleased you should be with the content and the style.

It’s a publication I look forward to receiving. It represents a fantastic change from the previous form and content of the old NAREIT publication [The REIT Report].