Subhi J. Gharbieh
By Subhi Gharbieh
Now that I have sort of become known as the “Real Estate Technology Geek,” I receive calls and e-mails daily about how REALTORS® can become paperless. I highly doubt that it is possible to be 100 percent paperless in our business, but here are three tips that will get you darn near close to never using a printer, ever again.
1. Daily Real Estate Task: Printing “Agent Full Report” from MLS. It is something that we must have when showing a property. It has the details that customers/clients don’t have in their “Customer Full Report,” such as days on the market, the listing agent’s contact info, private remarks, etc.
For PC users — Instead of printing this report, download a program called CutePDF. It is a free PDF converter that will set up as a printer in your print menu, BUT… drum-roll, please… it will not print! It will save your report as a PDF. This program is great and saves you the hundreds of dollars it would cost to purchase a similar Adobe product. I simply save the reports in Dropbox or Box (another must-have) and simply open it up on my iPhone or iPad.
For my fellow Apple/Mac users — Simply click print, and in the bottom left corner there will be a tab that says “PDF,” click on that to save your report as a PDF. No third-party program necessary.
2. Contracts/Addendum: Instead of printing the contracts/addenda you create in zipForm (or any other forms software that you may use): From your iPad, open the document with Box (an app that must be downloaded) and save it in your Box Cloud. Once you have it saved, Go to DocuSign (an app that must also be downloaded) and link your Box account directly to DocuSign. From there, you will be able to open the documents you saved in Box, place initials/signatures, assign recipients, and send the documents for signatures — getting your document signed without it ever being printed or scanned.
3. Listing Presentations: Instead of printing and binding a fancy listing presentation to give to your potential sellers, create a presentation in Keynote or Powerpoint, with fun graphics and the information you want your customer to see. Hand your clients your iPad/Tablet and let them flip through it while you ramble on about how you’re the best REALTOR® in town. They will love it, and if it’s done right, they will be sold on you immediately.
Subhi J. Gharbieh is the broker/owner at Gharbieh & Associates in Dallas. Connect with him at www.Gharbieh.com or on Twitter @subhig.
Peter Lamandre
By Peter N. Lamandre
No Apple event would be complete without a post from me, the self-proclaimed “Über Apple Fan-boy.” iOS 6 is finally here and the new features are aplenty…
I will rundown a few of the super cool new things iPhone/iPad users can now do.
Let’s start with the new maps app replacing the previous map application, which was a Google product. It’s clear that Google was holding back some of the cool features in the iOS version of their product as the Android version had far superior features. Can you really blame Google though? Would you really provide your competitor with a “great product” or a “just okay” one? So Apple took the bull by the horns and created a new map app from the ground up, and I must say, so far this is a killer app. With all the iOS users out there, I can not see how the GPS companies will stay in business. The turn by turn is smooth, and so far it is accurate — hopefully it won’t send me into a corn field as I test in in some rural areas in the next few days. I took a spin on the highway and the anonymous crowd-sourced data to determine traffic patterns seems to be spot-on.
Mail received a facelift with the ability to now directly insert pictures and movies from the mail screen. Seems like a simple idea, but the insertion of videos and pictures was previously a cumbersome task, now it’s easy peasy lemon squeezy. I frequently read messages then mark them as “unread” in order to remind me to go back and do something with the email… I know I can flag them but I prefer to mark as unread so I was a bit scared when I could not find the “Mark as unread” link where it normally is. You can now find it in the lower left hand corner of your screen under the flag icon.
In the camera and photo features, there is now a built in panorama shooting mode in the iPhone, but not the iPad. I have used many panoramic apps over the years, and this one is fast, easy, and the sticking works very well. The photo app has noticeably faster loading, which I’m sure all the users can appreciate. The addition of a multiple photo stream will allow users to quickly share specific photos either publicly or privately by invitation only. I can think of numerous real estate-related uses for this feature.
As REALTORS®, we are always in meetings with clients, or in committee meetings where phones can be a distraction. Continue reading »
Stefanie Hahn
By Stefanie Hahn
This video outlines the pros and cons of the iPad and covers the basics that all real estate practitioners should consider before they make their purchase.
Stefanie Hahn is the education director for Coldwell Banker Hearthside, REALTORS® in Malvern, Pa. Visit her Web site: www.StefanieHahn.com.
Stefanie Hahn
By Stefanie Hahn
So my laptop is on its way out. I am now spending more time fixing it than I am actually working on it. For someone who uses her laptop like a third arm, this is very disturbing. What’s a girl to do? Research, read and then buy! Or at least that is my plan.
I get asked by agents ALL of the time, “I want/need a new laptop! What should I buy?” Well, I can’t tell you exactly what to buy, but I do have a few personal guidelines.
First of all, I would buy a PC. I know Apple is sexy. I know they are less prone to viruses. I know all the cool kids have them. I would still buy a PC. My MLS just (as in last week) became compatible with Firefox. We also use a ton of programs and applications that do not play well without Internet Explorer. And yes, I know, you can run a side-by-side set-up that will allow you to run any programs that will not work with Apple, but it doesn’t seem worth it to me. Bonus: Microsoft’s Windows 7 operating system is said to be comparable to Apple’s Snow Leopard.
Next, I would research: go to http://shopper.cnet.com/ and see what is rated the best and why. Read the reviews. CNET will give you a CNET editor rating and an average user rating on most products. I also like to research and read the information on PC Magazine – http://www.pcmag.com/reviews. Finally, check out Biz Rate at: http://www.bizrate.com/computers-software/ for more information. Biz Rate’s tagline is “search compare conquer.” What’s not to love about that company line?!
Now, pay attention. Let’s talk parts and specs and such… Continue reading »
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