Here's a way to save a ton of time and grief when dealing with competitors, merchants and other companies in your area. You can check the company you are considering doing business with at The Better Business Bureau and get a "Reliability Report" detailing complaints and how the company handled the issues.

You can also check reliability by retailer type. For example, say you're going shopping for a car -- you can check out all of your area automobile dealers in the advanced search section and weed out the bad guys right up front.

Nice folks these Better Business Bureau watchdogs with the white hats.

Get Quick Facts with a Click

Here's a neat trick to get census data when you don't have the time to wade through forty pages to get the information you want.

"QuickFacts" reports have been prepared by the Census folks giving you summary profiles that show frequently requested data items from various Census Bureau programs. Profiles at the national, state, and county level are available here with just one or two clicks.

Simply pick a location and up comes a one day summary report with selected "QuickFacts" in three categories: People QuickFacts, Business QuickFacts and Geography QuickFacts.

Another great service from your friendly United States government.

Old Time Radio Show Nostalgia

Ever get a hankerin' for some of the classic old time radio shows? Radiolovers.com is a great place for old timers to relive the days of yore or for teenyboppers to experience a touch of interesting and entertaining history.

These kind folks describe this fine effort as follows: "We do not sell the recordings or charge for access to our site. We are trying to bring the exciting world of Old Time Radio to a whole new generation of listeners using the new technology of the Internet."

They have digitized and archived hundreds of vintage radio shows that you can listen to online. These are the shows that families used to tune in to in their living rooms before the days of video games, shopping malls, MTV, and the Internet. So settle back and enjoy Abbott and Costello, Superman, Groucho Marx, Gunsmoke, Sherlock Homes, Benny Goodman,Al Jolson, Mr. Moto, George Burns, Bob Hope plus hundreds of other classics all in their prime -- and all complete even including those old-time commercials.

Nostalgia radio at its best.

Check Your House Appreciation Rate

Here's a great place to check out house appreciation in your area. At this neat site created by The Office of Federal Housing Enterprise Oversight (OFHEO) you can also do a side-by-side comparison of up to three geographic areas lining up historic quarterly appreciation rates for each. Rates for some areas have been tracked and are reported over a 30-year span. Data for others ranges from 15 years and up.

You can track trends and watch appreciation rates escalate and decline. This is an interesting place to learn from history. Give this informative place a visit - it's on the house. You've already paid for it with your tax check.

Published: January 5, 2004

Use of this article without permission is a violation of federal copyright laws.

John M. "Jack" Peckham is the Executive Director of REcyber.com (the Real Estate CyberSpace Society). In that capacity he oversees the development and delivery of the latest up to the minute Real Estate Cyberspace tools, strategies, networking structures and services that the Society provides its members to leverage their effectiveness, visibility, professionalism and earnings. As host of Real Estate CyberSpace Radio, he provides over 40 hours of programming to help listeners integrate the power of the Internet into their daily business lives. He is the author of several real estate books published by Prentice Hall and Harcourt Brace Jovanovich including his latest Master Guide to Income Property Brokerage from Wiley Publishing. A columnist for the Boston Herald for nine years, his syndicated columns have appeared in over 100 papers nationwide. Jack loves to sell real estate has been involved directly in the sale of over one billion dollars in Real Estate. Today he sells in his jeans and fuzzy slippers as a one-man shop and has closed over $40,000,000 in sales on the Internet recently in 20% of his working time. The balance he spends directing the affairs of the 10,000 member Real Estate CyberSpace Society. The Society awards the RECS (Real Estate CyberSpace Specialist) Designation to members based on the current criteria. He served as Chairman of the Strategic Planning Committee for the National Association of Realtors (NAR), is a Past President of the Massachusetts Association of Realtors and has been honored as the Massachusetts State Realtor of the Year. You can reach Jack at or by calling 617-523-4441.