[vinriver]

I am new to this aspect of webhosting and I am very enlighten of how diff prod. are put together to make a web business. Yet I am a real estate entreprenuer with above average tech knowledge of the common world. I know how to do basic hard coding, but that's not my agenda or in my plans. I like to put things/people together in real estate.

** I'm looking for ideas, suggestions, and comments **

Goal:
start a real estate investor web hosting company and real estate forum, then mortgage web host service.

Objective:
assemble the most effecient and cost effective software and service

Research:
I've started with hotscripts.com (amazing softwares), then into these forums.
I've read cpanelguide.net to learn of what the basics of cpanel is.
Read about free hosting service, pros and cons

-- a lot of darn reading, and I believe I'm just scratching the surface of things.

** I'm not expecting to become an expert, but I want to how to put things toghether such as softwares, programs,... all of the elements w/o being a hardcore tech.

Questions:
Of all the products and software avail and offered, can someone tell me what is what to run a real estate web hosting business?

--i know this sounds obscenely long, yet almost every software in here or provider says they're the best. As you can tell, this can get confusing.

--you guys can do this in your sleep, but i don't know how to fish yet, teach how to fish.

where to go, what to put together, what brand/provider/sw provider is effective, functional and real, not part of a scam.

**ie: i see these co. advertise $xxx for a forum, yet on cPanel it is offered free to install one.
--what is good? what is?

**Spyware n Virus, etc.
--can I be pointed to a location/article to be hack safe or hack preventative?

**Fantastico Typical List--- what do you recommend??

Blogs
b2evolution
Nucleus
pMachine Free
WordPress

Content Management
Drupal
Geeklog
Joomla
Mambo Open Source
PHP-Nuke
phpWCMS
phpWebSite
Post-Nuke
Siteframe
TYPO3
Xoops

Customer Relationship
Crafty Syntax Live Help
Help Center Live
osTicket
PerlDesk
PHP Support Tickets
Support Logic Helpdesk
Support Services Manager

Discussion Boards
phpBB2
SMF

E-Commerce
CubeCart
OS Commerce
Zen Cart

F.A.Q.
FAQMasterFlex

Guestbooks
ViPER Guestbook

Hosting Billing
AccountLab Plus
phpCOIN

Image Galleries
4Images Gallery
Coppermine Photo Gallery
Gallery

Mailing Lists
PHPlist

Polls and Surveys
Advanced Poll
phpESP
PHPSurveyor

Project Management
dotProject
PHProjekt

Site Builders
Soholaunch Pro Edition
Templates Express

Wiki
TikiWiki
PhpWiki

Other Scripts
Dew-NewPHPLinks
Moodle
Noahs Classifieds
Open-Realty
phpAdsNew
PHPauction
phpFormGenerator
WebCalendar

thank you in advance....I'm just doing and researching the best I can to succeed