News and Marketing Tips: Real Estate Buyer's Agent Council

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7 time-saving mobile apps for buyer's reps

An excerpt from REBAC's Monthly Newsletter, The Today's Buyer's Rep.

1. Find Nearby Homes

When you’re out with a buyer, questions often come up about other homes for sale in the area. Realtor.com® makes it super easy to show all nearby homes—just launch the app and the geo-locator displays homes for sale in the immediate vicinity. You can also determine the scope of the search by drawing boundary lines with your finger. Store saved listings and searches for your clients on a personal screen. The Realtor.com® app is free, with versions available for iPhone, iPad, Android and Windows mobile devices.

2. Online Transactions Easier than Ever!

Luckily, we now have plenty of tools that can make transactions entirely paperless, saving on administrative costs, making information easily accessible to all parties in one central point, providing a document audit trail, and reducing paperwork shuffling and last-minute stress. Marketing yourself to buyers as a paperless agent has its benefits too.

Some of the programs you’re currently using for your real estate forms and contracts may easily integrate with paperless systems. For example, zipForm®, NAR’s exclusive and official forms software provider, offers online and offline program versions and zipForm® 6 Professional (online) has one-click integration with the relay® transaction management system (ziplogix.com). Top Producer users can integrate their transaction documents with SureClose (sureclose.com).

Two services that allow clients to sign documents electronically are DocuSign (docusign.com/nar) and GoPaperless Solutions (gopaperless.com). You can send contracts and access details to buyers, wherever they are, allowing them to review and sign using their smartphone. DocuSign, the official and exclusive electronic signature provider to NAR members under the REALTOR Benefits® Program, offers the DocuSign for REALTORS® Professional Edition along with member-only offers and savings.

3. Reduce Driving Distractions

Don’t put your life, or someone else’s, in danger by trying to glance at text messages or e-mails while you’re driving. DriveSafe.ly will read messages to you so you never have to take your eyes off the road or touch your phone. Just switch the app to “off” when you don’t want it to read your messages out loud. DriveSafe.ly is also compatible with Bluetooth car kits, making it easy to privately listen to your messages when others are in the car. Free and
paid versions are available for iPhone, Blackberry, Android and Windows.

4. Read Your Voicemail

Listening to voicemail messages can feel slow and tedious. Plus, it can be inconvenient to find time to check for messages and return calls. Speed things up by having your voicemail converted to text with PhoneTag.com and YouMail.com. Each service offers different service and pricing options; YouMail also has a free version.

5. Cut Your Phone Time

Have you ever needed to leave a message for someone, but didn’t have time to get caught on a long phone call? Or maybe you were afraid to interrupt them at a bad time? SlyDial.com lets you go straight into someone’s mobile voicemail (after listening to a couple short ads, which the other person doesn’t hear). The service is free, with premium options also available. Standard phone charges still apply.

6. Type With Your Voice

If you prefer talking over typing, consider using speech recognition software to send text or e-mail messages, make a call from your address book, search the Web or update your social networking pages—basically anything you would normally type on a screen. Free and premium options are available from Vlingo (Vlingo.com) and Nuance (makers of Dragon Dictation for iPhones and similar apps for other mobile devices; nuancemobilelife.com).

7. Google Docs

Google Docs has completely eliminated my need to purchase special software for word processing, spreadsheets, and more. Plus, I can access my documents from my smartphone, or wherever I have an Internet connection. Microsoft users can effectively do the same thing with Microsoft Office 365.

8. ABR® App

Access home buyer resources, finance calculators, marketing tips and articles from Today’s Buyer’s Rep with this free download at iTunes or the App store on your iPhone. Search for “ABR® App” and use your last name and REBAC ID number to gain access to all features.

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