Listing levels the playing field; all brokers now can get same market information. (Real Estate Monthly)

A year and a half after hitting town, a computerized commercial real estate listing has leveled the playing field between big and not-so-big firms, allowing everybody the same access to market information without the cost of a research department.

CoStar, a computerized market information system developed by the Realty Information Group in Bethesda, provides Baltimore's commercial brokers with a comprehensive listing of available properties, similar to the Multiple Listing Service used by residential brokers.

What that means is smaller brokers who never could afford research staffs now have access to market information they didn't have before. And the big brokers have been able to save money by reducing their research staffs.

"We went from four researchers down to …