Real Estate Applications for iPad, iPhone, Droid & Blackberry
As real estate agents, you’re constantly on the move. And that means you’re going to need an app that can assist you with the financial and technical aspects of your on-the-go job. These following apps, designed for leading smart phones such as the iPhone, Blackberry, and Droid will help you get it all done on the run!
iPhone Apps:
AroundMe(Free): AroundMe allows you to quickly find out information about your surroundings. When in need of finding the closest Gas Station, Restaurant, Bank, etc, AroundMe shows you a complete list of all businesses in the category you have selected along with the distance from where you are.
Loan Calculator($.99): Have you ever had a buyer pose the question “How much would this home cost per month?” Using the Loan Calculator, you can easily calculate monthly payment based on their interest rate. The calculator also gives you the option to email the payment terms and information to your client from within the application.
ILiving ($2.99): This app allows you to take a picture of a room and then rearrange and add new furniture. This can be handy if you’re working with a buyer who need help visualizing a makeover.
*Other suggested apps: Trip Cubby, TourNarrator
Blackberry Apps:
Real Estate Powered by Smarter Agent (Free): search for homes for sale, recently sold homes and apartments for rent by address or current location; filter search by property type, price range, and number of beds and baths; see price, square footage, estimated mortgage, photos, and other property details; save favorite listings; contact an agent to get questions answered or schedule a tour through a “Call to See” button.
Real Estate Calculator($4.99, free trial available): tally up a property’s investment potential, including monthly cash flow, rate of return, equity buildup over time, monthly mortgage payments, and appreciation; save multiple calculations and compare properties side-by-side
BlackTrack Lite for Real Estate Professionals (Free):logs phone and e-mail activity automatically; sends daily or weekly e-mail reports that include date, time, duration of call or e-mail, and any other notes.
*Other suggested apps: Homes for Sale, EstateOffice Mobile
Android Apps:
Puluwai (Free): Puluwai allows you to quickly and easily browse real estate property listings in your area of interest. You can locate properties by either entering a location or by using GPS functions. It also lets you view photos of properties for sale, find properties on a map, contact the selling agent, and share interesting properties with your friends and family.
Qualify: Real Estate(Free): This app helps you make an intelligent decision on the purchase of your next home. Through its custom rating system, you can rate the properties you look at on your smart phone, based on distance from work and school, or size, etc. After saving these details, you can compare the home’s ratings against all others.
Safe Neighborhood(Free): This app allows you to search for registered sex offenders by address or current location; view profiles that include name, photo, aliases, address, physical characteristics, and relevant offenses.
*Other suggested apps: Real Estate Droid, Mortgage Calculator
In 2006 Patrick Woods joined Keller Williams Realty as the CEO and Team Leader of the Sacramento Metro office, taking it from number three in market share to number one in a declining market.
Prior to working in real estate, Patrick worked extensively with early-stage and mid-stage corporate ventures, facilitating their growth from garage-based start-ups to enterprise-class service providers. His first venture raised over $4 million in investment capital and was eventually sold to Nokia. Patrick’s entrepreneurial skills and enthusiasm have been key factors in his real estate success.
Here, Patrick gives THISWEEK@kw his in thoughts on the new iPad and how agents can use the new tablet to transform their everyday business practices.
As many of my close friends and colleagues know by now, I am a HUGE fan of the iPad!
When I first heard of the iPad, I was sure that it would be a monumental disappointment. As I began reading the blogs though … I got sucked in (like sitting on the sofa as my wife is watching The Bachelorette). After much deliberation I decided that the iPad would be a tremendous investment, if only for the “Buzz Factor.” With the amount of press that this device has received in recent months, how could it not be a conversation piece? I wouldn’t really have to do much on it; the mere fact of owning one would cause people to start a conversation with me! So, I bought one, and …
I was right!
No matter where I am people are asking “Is that the iPad?”, “I have never seen one up close!”, “Do you like it?”
Buzz Factor accomplished.
I knew this would be a great device to create a buzz, but how would it hold up to actual real world application for real estate? While some things (honestly) are still to come, I have compiled a quick list of must have apps to make your iPad really work for your real estate business. So here are the Top 10 Apps that I would recommend for the iPad:
1. Keynote – This is Apple’s version of PowerPoint. I love Keynote and this is the perfect app to “wow” your clients with a slick Buyer Consultation or Listing Presentation.
2. DocsToGo – This great app allows you to access and edit your documents that are stored on your iPad or on “The Cloud.” So whether you use Google Docs, SugarSync, DropBox or a different program, this app will access them all. Not only can you view them, but you can also email them on the spot!
3. SugarSync – This is one of my favorite apps!! This program will sync your document folders between multiple computers, your smart phone and your iPad. Simply amazing!
4. Evernote – Ever have those ideas while you are out and about and before you can get a chance to write it down, you have forgotten it? In comes Evernote! This app will allow you to type or record a voice note. If you use a smartphone with a camera, you can also create notes from photos. Again, this app syncs your notes online so they are accessible everywhere (phone, computer, iPad).
5. Hootsuite – While this app is still in iPhone-only flavor (iPhone apps do work on the iPad, they just don’t look as pretty), it allows you to manage multiple Facebook profiles, pages and Twitter accounts. My favorite feature is the ability to schedule posts and tweets for later! This makes it simple to strategically compose and schedule a series of posts in advance, saving you precious time when you’re on-the-go.
6. Analytics HD – This app syncs to your Google Analytics account and let’s you track your site’s traffic while on-the-go. See if a new blog post or tweet is driving traffic to your real estate site. After all, without the data how do you improve your results? Google Analytics is FREE too! Imagine showing your clients the traffic on their listing page real time from your iPad!
7. Beejive IM for iPad – This is the best Instant Message/Chat client around! You can log in to pretty much any chat client available with this one application. It also has push notifications, so if someone wants to IM you while you are on the go … They can … and you won’t miss it!
8. iAnnotate PDF – This app allows you to actually sign a PDF file, and it doesn’t just drop the signature “on top” of the pdf, it actually adds it into the pdf! Amazing! Now you can sign documents on the iPad! And for those of you that can’t handle signing with your finger… check this out: Pogo Sketch
9. NewsRack RSS – As the world becomes more easily accessible, it becomes increasingly more difficult to sift through everything to find the news and stories that I want to see. Thanks to RSS feeds (Really Simple Syndication) we can now only listen to what we care about! I use NewsRack RSS because it syncs to my Google Reader account, so no matter where I read my feeds, it will be up to date on all my devices!
10. LogMeIn Ignition – Ok, this is the pricey one! And I debated long and hard before I bought it. Wouldn’t you know that the day I did it came in handy. This app allows you to access any computer remotely. So if you are out and about and there is that one thing you need off of your office computer, this app can be a life saver.
So there you have it, my must-have apps for real estate. As the iPad matures I can say with complete confidence that I will be coming out with another list with even better apps. For now, this list should keep your clients impressed and your business on the cutting edge of today’s hottest technology.Do you have a favorite app? Leave a note in the comments section on my blog.
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