Posts Tagged ‘Cool Apps’

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Cool Apps: How and Why to Get Your Facebook Subscribe Button

By John Thompson | September 23rd, 2011 0 Comments

Last week, Facebook unveiled a new “Subscribe” button to give users the same sort of one-sided following experience they get on Twitter and Google+. This is a new feature that’s not automatically placed on everyone’s page, which is why agents should take a few moments to understand what it is and how to get it.

The “Subscribe” button is very useful for real estate agents who are using Facebook to interact with clients, potential clients and business partners because it enables you to gain subscribers (aka followers) without having to become friends with them. A lot of people on Facebook don’t necessarily want to be friends with someone they may be doing business with, but would love to see their updates and feeds.

If you’re using Facebook as a profile page and not a business page in which followers simply “like” your page to receive updates, then definitely take a few minutes to install this button. It’s free, and potentially opens up more opportunities to network. It’s actually a nice bridge between having a Facebook profile page and a business page – something that comes up often with agents because you are your business in a sense.

To get your Facebook “Subscribe” button, go to https://www.facebook.com/about/subscribe and click on the “Allow Subscribers” button in the top right corner of the page. That’s it!

As Facebook describes it, “Allowing subscribers is a simple way to broaden your conversation on Facebook, while reserving personal updates for people you know well.”

If you’re using Facebook as your personal and business epicenter, there are a million reasons why you’d want to keep a lot of (if not all) your personal updates from your clients and colleagues. Give it a try and see what happens!

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Cool Apps | Top-Notch Mortgage Calculators On The Go

By John Thompson | August 26th, 2011 0 Comments

As real estate agents, we’ve all been there: kneeling in an unfurnished house, helping our client through a couple of math situations as we compare and contrast a couple of houses and loan situations. That’s why every agent could use a good mortgage calculator app, such as Karl’s Mortgage Calculator in the Android Market or Home Shopper for iOS..

Karl’s Mortgage Calculator enables you to calculate mortgage payments given principal, interest and loan terms. And you can reverse calculate any of the other variables given the other three. Perhaps even more useful, you can see how the monthly payment changes when factoring in additional monthly costs like mortgage insurance, taxes, homeowner’s association dues, and property insurance.

Have international clients? Karl’s Mortgage Calculator supports multiple currencies for easy translation.

Home Shopper on iOS is just as robust. This app isn’t just for buyers, it’s a must have companion for real estate agents and lenders in the field who need quick answers for their clients regarding the costs and benefits associated with owning a property. Do you need to know the total monthly break down of owning a home, as well as what your tax benefits will be in plain easy to understand terms? Want to be able to compare those figures to what you’re currently paying in rent and then email that entire report to yourself, your agent, your spouse or whoever? Then Home Shopper is for you.

There are literally hundreds of mortgage calculator apps out there. Both of these are very professional looking, without being bloated with unnecessary functions that make it difficult to use. Graphs and charts help visualize the data so it’s quick and easy to understand.


Cool App overview

Name: Karl’s Mortgage Calculator (Android) & Home Shopper (iOS)

Website:https://market.android.com/details?id=com.drcalculator.android.mortgage

http://itunes.apple.com/bw/app/home-shopper/id452513740?mt=8

What it does: These Calculators enable you to calculate mortgage payments given principal, interest and loan terms and more.

How to use it: Download the app to your device. Enter  down payment amount or percentage and let the calculator show how large a mortgage you require.

Cost: Karl’s Mortgage Calculator (Free)
Home Shopper (.99 cents)

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Cool Apps: Send and Receive Texts In Your Web Browser

By John Thompson | August 19th, 2011 0 Comments

To sum it up, this week’s feature is a “cool to have in case you lose or simply forget your phone at home some day” app:

Browsertexting.

And yes, the straightforward name pretty much sums up what the app does. It enables Android users to send and receive text messages right through their Web browsers.

It’s free to sign up: Visit Browsertexting.com, create and account, install the app on your Android phone, scan the QR code you’re given in order to match your phone to your account, and you’re off to the texting races.

The benefits?

  • Browsertexting makes it easier to continuously work on your computer and not have to pick up your phone to answer text messages.
  • You can leave your phone undisturbed and charging while you work on your computer.
  • You have backup for when you inevitably forget your phone on the mantel, lose it in the parking lot, or forget it in a restaurant.
  • For most of us, a full keyboard is much more efficient than a pair of thumbs by themselves – although it does lack the humorous mess-ups (a tragedy to Lamebook fans).
  • It works in all popular browsers: IE, Firefox, Chrome, Safari, Opera.
  • Of course, there’s a slick Chrome plugin.
  • It has all sorts of other added features like live synching, no signup, and the ability to cancel messages.

The service is still in beta, which in the app world means there are bound to be glitches here and there. However, I found that it worked quite well.

If you’re using texting a lot to stay on top of business, and communicate with clients and vendors, then check out Browsertexting and make your text/work experience even more seamless.

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Cool Apps: Read and Annotate PDF Files On the Go

By John Thompson | August 15th, 2011 0 Comments

Business is very possible to do from your smartphone. But sometimes there are roadblocks that come up. Case in point: A contract in PDF format needs a review before sent off to move a deal forward. Until now, it’s been kind of difficult to manipulate that while out in the field – better left done on a laptop.

Enter RepliGo Reader, which enables you to view and annotate Adobe PDF files from your Android or Blackberry device. The app integrates with Gmail, Dropbox, Evernote and other apps.

Here’s what you can do with it: • View and annotate PDF files from your email, memory car, Dropbox, Evernote or the Web.

• Highlight, underline, add arrows, text boxes and other annotation tools.

• Scroll quickly through pages by swiping or tapping the screen.

• Zoom in or out of documents.

• Copy text to your clipboard.

• Send PDF files via Bluetooth, Dropbox and Evernote.

There are more features, but these are the biggies.

No mobile professional should be without a good PDF program on their handheld. You just never know when urgent things come up. Now RepliGo Reader enables you to read and respond – all on the go.

The app is available in the Android Marketplace for $4.99, and also in the Blackberry app store for $14.99 (or a free 30-day trial). It’s not currently available for iPhones, but we’ll tackle an alternative in an upcoming Cool Apps post.

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Cool Apps: GroupMe Gives You Group Text, Phone Abilities

By John Thompson | July 29th, 2011 0 Comments

In a typical real estate deal, you’re rarely dealing with just one person at a time. You’ve got a couple of buyers or sellers and dozens of other individuals who you need to message a lot – many times in groups or pairings.

Enter GroupMe, an app that enables you to group text, conference call, share online pictures, share locations, and more. You can create groups of up to 25 people – taken from your contacts list or Facebook or Twitter accounts.

How it works: The GroupMe app creates a unique phone number for every group that’s created, and automatically sends that number to every group member. Now you have a private chat room for different groups of people, for instance:

  • Your new buyer clients – husband and wife who are super busy commuters. Instant text chatting with them at the same time is an ideal method of efficient communication.
  • Your new buyers under contract – who are dealing with the drama of getting a home loan – and their loan broker.

You can basically create groups for whatever need you have. Maybe it’s just one for family to get the “what’s for dinner” conversation started. Maybe it’s for the group of parents whose kids go to school with yours. Maybe it’s all your friends who like tribute bands from the ’80s.

GroupMe is available for iPhone, Android and BlackBerry. You can sign up and get more info at GroupMe.com.

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Cool Apps: Never Miss a Crucial Follow-Up with FollowUp.cc

By John Thompson | July 22nd, 2011 2 Comments

Many times in real estate sales, your livelihood depends on the follow-up. How many times have you witnessed a deal that never would’ve closed had you not followed up like an obsessed maniac? That’s just the reality of working with transactions that involve so many hands, and so many signatures.

But why risk missing that crucial follow-up that keeps your transactions moving? Persistence is an extremely powerful tool that makes things happen amazingly for your clients. And now you can trigger those follow-ups with a simple Gmail plug-in called FollowUp.cc.

Sweet, how does it work?

Visit FollowUp.cc’s website and sign up for the plugin. Once it’s all hooked up (really, there’s no wizardry beyond providing your email address, password and agreeing to a few things), the plug-in allows you to add a specific email address to an email’s CC field to determine how long to wait to send a follow-up email to anyone who is copied on the email. How does that work? Well, if you want a follow-up on July 30, you’d create an address jul30@followup.cc. If you wanted a follow-up in one week, you’d create 1w@followup.cc. The app creator provides a complete list of examples here.

FollowUp.cc also integrates with Google calendars and Salesforce for even more follow-up madness.

What’s it cost?

You can sign up for the free option, which allows you to schedule 25 follow-up reminders per month. Paid versions range from $5 per month for 100 reminders to $15 per month for 1,000 reminders.

Don’t use Gmail? Unfortunately, this week’s Cool App only works for Gmail or Google Apps users. Sorry folks. I did write about an alternative app called Boomerang that offers similar functionality back in December. Boomerang works with Gmail or Outlook. Check out that Cool Apps article here.

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Cool Apps: Central.ly Offers a One-page Profile for Your Business

By John Thompson | July 15th, 2011 3 Comments

Wouldn’t it be nice if you could just throw together a great looking webpage that acts as an online business card, one-page glossy ad, and sends leads directly to all your online networks? Now you can with Central.ly.

Central.ly is a free online service that’s extremely similar to About.me, except it’s targeting businesses rather than individual profiles. (If you missed About.me, check our review of it here.) It helps you create a one-page business profile that can include a number of third-party apps that link to sites like Facebook, Twitter, Yelp and your own website.

How does it work? Very simply. In fact, if you’ve used About.me, you’ll have no problems as it’s very similar. First, go to the site to register. You can use Central.ly’s native URL or you can use your own domain name.

After securing an account, you’ll then spend just a few minutes filling out your business’ basic information like what it’s called, what you do and how people can find you. Then you can have fun adding a background image to give more of a branding or visual identity.

So, why do you need this? I wouldn’t say you need it, as in your online business will completely die without it. But it does only take a few minutes to do, is kind of fun, and free. And when you’re done, you’ll end up with a nice new visual identity that can be found in search results. Once found, it then plugs into all the sites you want it to. That alone deems it a cool app in my book!

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Intero Cool Apps: Why You Should Resist the Urge to Ignore Google Plus

By John Thompson | July 8th, 2011 0 Comments

By now, you’ve likely heard some buzz around Google’s latest big release called Google Plus. Maybe you’ve already gotten an invite and tested it out. If not, you should. I’m going to talk about why and how this new social network can be useful in your real estate business and go over a few basics of the road.

Why oh why do we need yet another social network?

This of course is the first question that comes to mind anytime someone invites you to a new “Facebook” of sorts. The short answer for why Google Plus is worth your time is this: It’s easy to use, takes seconds to set up and gives you the flexibility you’ve been longing for to segment your professional and personal social networking in a meaningful way.

OK, so how to get an invite if you don’t already have one?

The best way is to simply put the word out on Facebook and Twitter. Let your existing network know that you haven’t gotten an invite yet and are looking for one. Chances are high that someone in your circle has gotten in and can send you an invite.

What’s it all about?

The fundamental difference between Google Plus and the others before it is privacy. Google Plus is based on the Google Circles feature, which enables you to share and view content to and from specifically defined groups of people – and no one else. So if you want to share new listings or local housing news with your group of interested local buyers, then your cousins in Minnesota don’t have to be burdened with your irrelevant posts. Likewise, your professional contacts won’t have to see the pics from your summer family reunion.

How is this any different from Facebook’s list feature? Very very different. First, there’s ease of use. Google Circles is simple drag and drop. As soon as you get set up, you start creating your circles and simply sort your contacts into their respective groups. Second, there’s the segmentation of viewing content from these groups. So you’re not getting professional news and marketing tips alongside updates from your family members.

It’s easy to get fatigued by social media and resist the urge to jump on the next big thing that ends up being nothing at all (remember Google Wave?). But Google Plus really shows promise to be the best social web tool of all – especially for those of us who’ve found our personal and professional lives blending, finding it hard to keep up with all the content we want to keep up with due to this very blending.

Reach out and get your invite and start test-driving Google Plus today!

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Intero Cool Apps: Get the Inside Scoop on Your Clients with Flowtown

By John Thompson | June 24th, 2011 0 Comments

You know those names and addresses that line the pages of your real estate email contact list? Do you know who these people really are? Have any clues about them, what they enjoy in life, where they envision themselves living? Or, when is the last time you did a quick reality check on who you think they are?

Without any information (or the right information) about the folks who receive your marketing messages, your efforts are wasted dollars.

Enter Flowtown. It’s a social media marketing platform that enables you to mine your current email lists and figure out where your contacts are active and engaged online. (Could this be the end of aimless Twitter and Facebook campaigns?)

The web app can help you reach your existing contacts in new ways. You’ll know a bit more about them as you gain information about where they’re engaged in public online networking sites like Twitter, Facebook and Flickr. You can get more detailed data about what they’re into.

The only thing Flowtown needs to work is an existing contact list, which hopefully you’ve been cultivating since the day you set foot into the real estate field.

OK, how does this thing work?

1.     Go to Flowtown’s website to get started.

2.     Once you’re in, hook up your contact email list.

3.     Watch as the app prepares an information sheet with data about your clients (based on their public social network activities).

4.     Mine that data for all sorts of useful information like which social networks they use most, which clients have large followings online, their occupations, interests, etc.

5.     Start thinking of how you can better target your marketing to fit your real customers.

Real estate choices are about lifestyle. It’s amazing the kinds of clues you can get about a person’s approach to lifestyle just by analyzing what they’re doing publicly online. (I stress the word “publicly” because this activity could have a Big Brother feel to it, but no one’s privacy is being compromised here because the app is using information gleaned from public sites.)

Once you know more about your clients – past, present and future – you’ll be able to craft stellar marketing messages that really speak to them, not just out-of-the-box real estate marketing that every agent in town is using.

This sounds wonderful, right? But alas … there is a catch. Flowtown is still in early stages and accepting new users only by invite. So to use the service, you have to sign up to be on the invite list and invite a few friends and colleagues along with you.

Bummer, I know. There’s a tad bit of waiting involved.

But cruise on over to the website and get your name in there to test drive this thing. You may be surprised by the results!

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