Developers warm to digital offering plans

Despite New York State authorities having pushed back the start date of a new regulation requiring all developers to produce their offering plans in digital form as well as in hard copy, the practice is already catching on within the real estate community, the New York Times reported.

Bob Mirell, the owner of a company that produces offering plans in searchable CD format, said developers have increasingly been requesting the service since he began offering it last year.

“It’s become an amenity,” Mirell said. “If a prospective purchaser is going to put down a few million dollars for a condo, they’re going to ask for the CD with the offering plan. It’s a convenience, and developers are asking that every offering plan I print should have a CD that’s searchable with it.”

The digital format regulation, which had been slated to become effective earlier this year, was postponed after attorneys representing smaller developers said their clients could not meet the minimum cost requirement of providing the digital plans, the Times said. It will now go into effect only once the state has its system for accepting electronic offering plan filings in place. [NYT]