Have You Heard?

You may have heard of this little company called Apple and their innovative little device called an iPAD.  I just got mine last week and it’s a fantastic tool chest for REALTORS®.  Of course there are a number of features that make it very useful for everyday life, such as internet access, ebook reader, mapping and more.  But there are a set number of tools to add to this chest to make it an indispensible ally to you as an agent. 

Standard Tools

There are a few apps that come with the iPAD that are very useful to agents and married with a solid GMail account are very powerful.  If you’re using GMail than syncing your calendar, address book and Google Tools with your Droid, iPhone, PC or Mac is a cinch.  All I had to do was enter my Gmail account login information and all my devices were immediately sync’d. 

Apple mail is well integrated with the iPAD and any pop3, exchange or GMail account will work.  The program is solid and allows for all the functions you would expect with email.  If you don’t wish to sync your current email here, than get a free GMail account just for your iPad.  You’ll need it.

Contact is also an easy to use tool that allows for all sorts of functionality.  Again, it syncs with your GMail account and there are other ways to export your contacts into this system. 

The program flips like an address book and allows for easy search function.

Calendar is amazingly easy to use and acts like an old fashion Daytimer.  Users converting from paper managed business to an iPAD will find the transition very easy and comfortable to use.  Like all the apps on the iPAD they are very intuitive.

Real Estate Tools

There are a number of tools that are a mixture of free and feed based apps that are very helpful in the practitioners business.  The list below is a summary of just a few tools I’ve found thus far.

ESign is an app designed to work with your Doc-U-Sign system to manage digital signatures.  This app allows for clients to “sign docs” digitally right on your iPAD.  Very useful for saving time and money.  Especially useful for drafting time sensitive documents on the road!  If you aren’t sure what Doc-u-sign is, I’ve written about here before.

Evernote as an app that is ingenious and unbelievably free.  The program allows you to take notes using text and multimedia from your Droid, iPhone, Blackberry, Mac or PC and sync them all in real time in one place.  I’ve written about this app before and those agents who have used it continue to swear by it.  It makes client documentation and record keeping super easy!  It’s also a great tool for meetings and classes!

Mortgage Calculator is a free app that is essential for quickly working with a buyer’s ability to calculate a monthly payment.  Unlike most mortgage calculators, this app allows you to add PITI, HOA fees and more.  Once the calculations are made you can then scroll through an amortization chart right there on the same page!  It’s quick, efficient and can be used to quickly calm the edgy buyer.

Dropbox is an app that works for both PC and Mac as well as your mobile device.  Dropbox allows you to add up to 2 gigs of documents and materials on one shared drive online (in the cloud).  You can then allow access to others to see / download those materials.  For example, you could add those documents routinely given to buyers or marketing materials you give to your Sellers.  Then allow access to folks to add documents you need such as HOA documents.

GoodReader is a $1.00 app that allows the iPAD to read almost all types of business apps.  It’s especially good because one can transfer documents via USB from within iTunes. 

Goodreader is great for taking reading materials with you.  Documents like those than can be downloaded from Realtor.org’s Right Tools; Right Now campaign.

From the GoodReader website:

GoodReader supports massive PDF and TXT files, but it can also handle all of the most popular file types. Have a look for yourself:
• MS Office – .doc, .ppt, .xls and more
• iWork’08/’09
• HTML and Safari webarchives
• High resolution images
• It even does audio and video!

Dragon Dictation is just what is sounds like.  A free application that allows you to speak and then it transcribes what you say to text.  This is a great application to dictate future blog posts, emails, newsletters, letters or that ebook you’ve been wanting to write about how crazy the real estate world is!  It’s great to push start and let record while you’re driving around in between appointments.

WordPress has developed a fantastic tool for those using WordPress to power their blogs.  The app allows for management and posting of articles and comments.  It’s a very simple and intuitive integration. 

Trulia and Zillow have created some great and easy-to-use apps for iPods and iPads.  Many MLS systems are developing mobile apps for their agents, so for me having these apps is more an attempt to understand what my clients are using to find properties. 

I do occasionally check on our companies’ listings to make sure they are well represented on these tools.

Scratching the Surface

The list above is only a partial list of the many tools that I’ve found in the app store.  Some other must-have’s are Keynote, Skype, WebEx, GoToMeeting,  Facebook, TweetDeck, Google Apps and Box.net which are all pretty self explanatory. 

You should go nuts on in the App Store and feel free to share your favorite apps in the comments below!

Facebook’s New Toy

Recently Facebook added a new feature called “Places”.  Its’ similar in principal to FourSquare and allows users to post their location, so that their friends can know where you are.  In the past, I’ve used FourSquare very judiciously.  For example, I don’t post my location when I’m on travel without  my family, I don’t share when I’m in a private meeting, etc…  Essentially, I want to be social, but not at the expense of it being a safety risk. 

Here is Facebook’s introductory video on “Places” - 

How to Set Your Facebook Privacy Settings to secure “Places”

Awhile back I did a video tutorial on how to set your security settings on Facebook.  Whereas I think ‘Places” can be fun, I think that Facebook jumped the shark when they added this feature and allowed other Facebook friends to update your location.  There are a number of reasons why I think this is a bad feature.  As a professional who has my clients as friends on Facebook, I don’t want people to know where I am socially. I certainly don’t want friends updating my location, when I may not really be at a given location.  For these reasons and many more, I’ve turned off the ability for others to set my location.

Here are the steps to updating your security settings to limit who can update your location, and who can see your updates.

1.  Login to Facebook and go to “Account” and then click on “Privacy Settings”

2.  Click on “Customized Settings”

3.  Disable “Friends can check me in to Places”

4.  Based on  your Group Settings, choose who can and cannot see your personal updates to “Places”.

I think that “Places” can be a fun way to share in the future, so long as we all use a little commonsense in what we update.  If you’re sensitive to people knowing where you are and what you’re doing, make sure you’ve updated your settings.

WordPress for Real Estate Beginners

I’m happy to see more and more Realtors using WordPress for their blogs and some even for their static webpages.  Over the next few months I’ll be putting together video tutorials and outlines to help those agents who are getting started. This post is just a few tools to get together after you’ve installed the blog and gotten your basics started.

WordPress Friends

Whereas many components of WordPress and Blogging is free, there are some worthwhile tools that do have associated fees.  The (affiliate) widgets below are worth exploration.  You’ll see more on those in the future.

Plugins

The following free plugins are great tools to add to your blog.  Generally, it’s easiest to go to the Plugins page and do a search for these plugins and then add them.  However, some of these plugins need to be downloaded in .zip and then uploaded via a FTP client.  FileZilla is a GREAT free FTP client that works very well with WordPress.

• Wibiya Toolbar is a fantastic tool that adds a footer toolbar on your blog that allows you to add personalized messages for your visitors, chat with you, link to all your other social media sites.  Additionally it will allow you to translate your site into different languages and allow your readers to search your site for past posts.
• WordPress Mobile Pack is a complete plugin to make your blog more readable and easier to navigate on a mobile phone.  With so much emphasis on mobile computing this is a must have for your blog.
• WordPress Database Backup is just what is sounds like.  This handy plugin will allow you to automatically backup your wordpress blog and send the backup to an email address.  I chose to create a free gmail email that I only check when I need to restore my site or make sure the emails were being received in a timely manner.
• SexyBookmarks is one of the coolest post sharing tools I’ve seen.  This highly modifiable tool allows you to add icons at the bottom of the posts and pages, allowing your users to share your material with their friends on a myriad of social sharing sites including Twitter, Facebook and more!
• Live Comment Preview plugin allows your user to see how their formatted comment will look on the post after they hit submit.
• Google Analyticator is a MUST have for your blog.  Each Blogger should have a Google.com/analytics account to keep track of activities and SEO on your blog.   The Google Analyticator plugin makes it easy to setup an account and tie it to the blog.  It also posts stats and things on your WordPress Dashboard to easily see who’s visiting your page, how long they are hanging around, etc…
•  FD Feedburner Plugin makes creating and maintaining an RSS Feed through www.Feedburner.com much easier.  The default RSS feed on your blog will allow people to subscribe, but doesn’t track the number of subscribers or allow email subscriptions.  Feedburner.com (owned by Google) is  handy tool to do just that.  One word of caution.  Feedburner has a habit of giving fluctuating numbers.  So if it looks like you’ve lost a bunch of subscribers, just wait 24 hours and check again.
• fbLikeButton plugin adds a Facebook “Like” button on each post, which will allow people to share your post on their Facebook page. 
• Edit Comments XT allows users a limited amount of time to edit their comments after postings.  More than once I’ve commented on a blog and then re-read my post and wished that I had worded or omitted something.  My feeling is folks are more likely to comment if they feel they can have a second chance to really say what they want.

Happy Blogging!  If you have some favorite tools, please share them in the comments section!

As Realtors our days are often spent dodging the barrage of marketing messages directed at allegedly making us more profitable, knowledgeable and at times more impressive with pharmaceutical enhancements.  With the exception of the last marketing scheme, it’s sometimes hard to say no to such great tools or services, since they will make us millionaires over night.  But which products really can help us give better service? 

Here’s a list of five services or tools that I think are well worth the investment of time or money.  

1.  ZipForms

I’ve used a few different programs, but by and large ZipForms has always been the best.  The support for both Windows and Mac is a huge benefit, but the interface and integration with other tools like Docusign is a big time saver.  The forms are easy to use and up-to-date.  It’s relatively inexpensive for what you get.  Having all the forms available online or on your desktop saves from carrying extra files, go back to office or begging to borrow forms.  Additionally, printed contracts are far easier to read and helps to prevent misinterpretation.

Here’s a video overview that another user has created

2.  DocuSign

A good partnering with Zipforms is DocuSign.  DocuSign is an esign or electronic signature program that is internet based and in compliance with eSign law of 1999.  Some hesitation was pressed against this service when FHA declined to accept electronic signatures, but in a memo from this past April that issues has been relieved.  This very simple program allows your clients to sign documents online, without the need to print them out, find a fax machine or mail.  Countless hours of car time has been relieved by the use of this program.  If you go to www.Docusign.com/NAR you’ll get a discount for the service bringing the charge to under $20 per month. DocuSign is well worth the money.

3. MailChimp

MailChimp.com is one of new favorite marketing tools. It’s an easy-to-use email marketing system that takes the email campaign to a whole new level.  MailChimp takes care of your CAN SPAM and compliance issues, allows you to create multiple lists and unique emails as well as distributing them to almost everywhere!   MailChimp ties in nicely with your other social media tools, like a blog, Facebook page or Twitter.  It’s FREE for the first 500 email address’ and then very affordable thereafter.  Not only is it easy to use, they have outstanding online training and easy to follow videos.  Best of all, it shows you who opened your emails and what they did with them.  This really shows you, who your target market is and who’s paying attention!

4.  Dropbox.com

Dropbox.com is a free tool that has helps with transferring large files and keeping much need files in a easy-to-access and secure area. Do you have forms or documents that you like to use and wish that you could open them on your Droid, iPhone or even someone else’s computer?  Dropbox is a great tool for you!

You can create shared folders online that you, your team and/or your clients can share.  All you have to do is drag a file into a folder on your computer and it syncs with the folder online.  This maybe especially good for teams or small brokerages who maintain commonly used documents or programs.

For Realtor Associations or schools, you could even sync all the meeting materials or class materials in one place for group sharing.  Very Cool!

5.  The FlipCam

Over the past few years you may have heard about the FlipCam.  This inexpensive (under $150) high-def video device is super simple to use and compact enough to carry everywhere.  The FlipCam has a number of useful features and a skilled agent can really make a name for themselves.

Some of the techniques that an agent can use with a mobile video camera are:

• Video of new listing

• Educating Consumers

• Client Testimonials

• Subdivision Tours

I’m sure you can come up with more options for Realtors using the video, but there are just a few examples.  It’s a great tool that’s becoming almost as important as your digital camera.  

A few months ago HOME released summary report of the Fair Housing acumen in Virginia.  It’s a easy to read profile that shows there is still a lot of work to be done.  Since so many of my readers are also instructors or managers, I thought I’d post it here so that you can share with your agents in the future.