iPhone and Android Apps for Real-Estate, Part 1

Ok, there are a lot of apps for the iPhone and the Google Android (Droid) based phones. Too many, we say. Trying to wade through the list to find what might be useful to use in real estate can be very time consuming. In this article, I will try to provide a shortcut for the process.

I’m going to list a few apps that are available on both iPhone and Android phones. Where it is only available on one phone, I will note that also.

The first group of applications is location based search apps for finding things like restaurants, gas stations, etc. These are good because the can make you the instant neighborhood expert if your riding around with a buyer and they say “can we get some coffee”. Whip out the phone and find the nearest Starbucks or neighborhood coffee shop.

Aloqa – This is a very interesting app. It has channels you can add for things like “Coffee” or “Meetup Groups” and yes, it even has a real estate channel called “Hotpads” that is similar to other location based real estate search apps. Homes around you show up on the map of the area you are in. But for this section we want to focus on the other channels. In addition to these, there are channels for fast food, shopping, and ATMS which can be real nice. The channels list is large and growing. You can find just about anything you might be looking for. It will definitely make you the “expert” of the neighborhood.

Maps – Similar to Aloqa, but using layers instead of channels, you can turn on or off categories of things to find near you. I like it because you can have multiple layers turned on at one time versus Aloqa which will show you one channel at a time.

Places – like Maps and Aloqa, but in reverse... sort of. You will first pick the category you want to find and then Places will give you a list of the places in that category it finds around you and you pick the one you want for more info and a map with that place located. It's nice if you want to read the reviews or ratings before you map it.

Where – also very similar to Aloqa. You will first set your current location, either manually or using the phone's GPS and you will get a category list of things to choose from. There are the typical restaurants and places, but Where focuses more on information about a place. For instance, instead of a gas channel, there is a gas prices channel. And unlike Aloqa, there is a check- in capability which we will touch on later in the next group of apps.

So go download these and start becoming the “expert” of your next neighborhood. It works even for agents who aren't really from there.

In the next article, we will talk about the group of location check-in apps out there that allow you to show the world where you are and that you know the neighborhood because you visit local spots.

Navigating Real Estate Technology

There are so many companies out there trying to sell agents all kinds of technology to improve our business. That’s great, except it leaves the agent with trying to wade through it all and figure out how to make is all work and what really does work. For the most part, people trying to sell us technology are NOT Realtors. They don’t know or understand our business.

Most technology companies deal with one single aspect of our business, like websites. But there are many technologies needed to make a website successful. There is the website itself, the IDX technology, the web search strategy, the lead capture and follow up, and the list goes on. Yes, there are many companies that offer a so called “All in One” solution, but usually this means we are getting a bunch of technologies that are thrown together and no one of them is that great.

So I want to try and start something new and offer to answer questions from readers about real estate technology. What works? What doesn’t? Which technologies work best together? Most importantly, what technologies actually can make your job easier and give your clients a better experience?

So while the technology developers will continue to throw new cool technologies at us, I’ll be more concerned with how that technology translates into our everyday business. For instance, one new technology I will be writing about in a future article is live mobile broadcasting. We heard about this over a year ago when companies like Bambuser began to offer live video broadcasting from your iPhone. I have been busy testing this with a few ideas on how to use it in real estate. Right now I am testing it as a live Open House broadcast.

So continue sending questions and comments and I will work them into answer in future articles.