Although the iPhone isn’t the best thing since sliced bread (just don’t tell iPhone users that), it is a super useful tool that people are relying more and more upon. Available applications have become more sophisticated over time and there is no way to fit all of those useful apps in one post, but we’d like to show you just a few that you should know about.
Today, we bring to you a variety of apps ranging from brokerage and real estate search apps to apps you can show your buyers or sellers to impress them and even a few that could help your business.
Apps to help your business:
- Speak4it: for agents who are in the car a lot, Speak4it is a speech to text app that allows you to keep on working while driving without hitting deer, trucks or innocent children in the road.
- ESIGNControl: manage documents and get signatures with this app which is DocuSign’s iPhone app for those of you on the go. Esignatures are more accepted now in the industry than ever, don’t limit yourself to a computer or laptop, use your iPhone! Go ahead and start practicing now by saying, “oh you like this home? Sign here please!”
- TourNarrator: manage your listings and clients better with your notes and feedback from clients.
- Agent Feedback: the iTunes description is pretty cool for this app, “permits the agent to select only those questions they think relate to the specific property and to have visitor comments, linked with visitor contact details, sent to a file server, for review and emailing to the seller.” Cool!
Apps to help your clients:
- Where: this app is super useful to agents who are showing buyers around and need to quickly answer that “where is [insert day care, car wash, obscure religious location, arbitrary retailer, etc]?” when inside a listing. Be prepared!
- RulerPhone: while on a show and a client says, “I don’t know if my six foot couch will fit here,” just whip out your iPhone, pull up RulerPhone and a credit card and take a picture of the space with a credit card in the shot and RulerPhone will tell you the measurements based on the credit card. How cool is that?!?
- Home Tracker: this consumer facing app allows home buyers to keep track of the homes they see and take notes so they can remember them later. Encourage your buyers to use it because their efficiency is your efficiency… prevent those, “wait, which house did I like, the pink one or the blue one? Are you sure it wasn’t the blue one?”
- Mortgage Calculator: if we have to tell you what this app does, you’re fired. But what you should know about it is that it has a cool interface whereas most calculators are SUPER boring.
- Dictionary of Real Estate Terms: for clients that like to know everything about everything or frequently have that deer in the headlights look, both can benefit from a dictionary. I haven’t played with it so I don’t know how thorough or accurate it is, but the concept is great!
- Houzz: this app has tons of pictures and “ideabooks” that let users browse style and clip them like a design scrapbook. Then, they can check out contractors to implement those very ideas. Agents can use it to get an idea of the style a buyer likes when people are having a tough time describing their dream home (interior design can give you a great insight into their wants).
- Offender Locator: when you’re in a listing and someone asks you about safety, Fair Housing prohibits your opining, but you can at least offer their taking a look at where sex offenders live and save them a step. Parents will appreciate this app.
- Color Snap: this Sherwin Williams app lets you take a picture from a magazine or real life and select up to three colors from the image, producing the paint code. Real world example: you’re in a model home and the buyer loves the color of the walls and adores the couch. Snap a shot and immediately email them the paint code numbers. That’ll impress ’em!
Brokerage and real estate search apps:
Whether or not you’re affiliated with any of these brokerages or search sites, you should at least be aware of what their offerings are. And who knows, dare I say that you might just like one better than your own?
- Realtor.com is one of the top rated real estate apps on many user lists and is one of the most downloaded RE app in iTunes.
Century 21: I’ve been talking with the C21 folks and they just released their app that has the ability to geolocate wiki information and users can pull pics, school data, demographics, area history and more based on what zip code they’re in.- Zip Realty: ZipRealty’s iPhone app also has some augmented reality options built in which is pretty cool!
- Zillow: love or hate Zillow, their app is well liked by users and you should know what your clients are seeing, so check this one out for sure.
- Trulia: this app offers a pretty neat Open House planner, so it’s a great idea to have your Open Houses listed appropriately.
- NearBuy real estate search: created by four students, this app is highly acclaimed by industry insiders.
- NearBuy apartment search: sometimes when you’re in a pinch and a home isn’t completely built in time or clients arrive early from out of town and their short sale hasn’t been approved yet, you may need to do a quick apartment search when you’re on the go. It’s good to have just in case.
- Homes.com: has fully interactive maps which is different than some other apps, so buyers dig this one.
What apps are you or your clients using frequently? Let us know in comments!
