5 Essential Apps for Real Estate Agents

Before helping a client buy or sell a home, real estate agents must first keep their own organizational houses in order. This requires putting in place the infrastructure you need to meet and communicate with clients, help them find and view the home of their dreams and sign on the dotted line.

The best apps for real estate agents will help you check off all these items on your agent to-do list — and more. Keep reading to find out which real estate apps make the cut.

Microsoft OneNote

Whether you need to capture on-the-fly questions from clients or a rough drawing of a floor plan, you can easily take down and organize your daily to-dos with OneNote. The app (iOS, Android) acts as a digital notebook that lets you create notes and drawings. When you use the app on a tablet, you can create all of these in a personalized, handwritten format using a wide range of pen colors and options.

When you're finished virtually jotting down your thoughts, search, sort and share them with your business partners or clients. Because the app syncs these files across your other electronic devices, you'll never lose an important document again.

DocuSign

Still making your clients wait days for the paper copy of a buyer's contract or a lease agreement? Speed up sales by incorporating the DocuSign app into your real estate transaction workflow. The app (iOS, Android) lets you and clients create a custom digital signature and then use it to virtually sign any document scanned into the app through your phone's camera or uploaded to the app from the cloud or an email attachment in a variety of popular file formats such as PDF and Microsoft Word. DocuSign digital signatures are as legally binding as a physical signature, but far quicker, more convenient and more secure to capture from anywhere in the world.

Magicplan

Create a floor plan of a home in seconds with only your fingertips with the Magicplan app (iOS, Android). The process of creating a bona fide blueprint is as simple as snapping a photo of each corner of a room on your smartphone and then tapping to create a plan that you can then digitally furnish, annotate and customize with your own pictures.

You can store the finished floor plan or export or publish it as a virtual tour for your clients. Need to help your client budget for the cost of small improvements or major renovations on a home? The app will even provide an estimate of the cost of materials in the measured space so there are no surprises come property closing time.

RPR Mobile

One of the best apps for real estate agents who need an accurate method of doing property research, the RPR Mobile app (iOS, Android), built exclusively for REALTORS®, has property data down to a science. Use the app to search for-sale and off-the-market properties, create, send or save branded property reports, and get a snapshot of statistics from tax rates to local schools in an instant with no more than a few taps.

Because you can create a custom search area right on top of a map, you can easily hone in on a prime neighborhood and perfect home for a buyer and then contact the listing agent overseeing it so you can facilitate transactions more quickly and smoothly.

MileIQ

Need a convenient way to log trips from your home office to showings or other business-related mileage you rack up throughout the year? Let MileIQ take the wheel. The app (iOS, Android) automatically runs in the background of your smartphone to track and create a detailed record of your tax-deductible and reimbursable mileage so there's no need to keep an eye on your odometer. You can even opt to have these mileage records emailed to you weekly.

With a simple swipe, you can easily classify each of your drives as business or personal. When it's tax time, deduct your vehicle expenses. Put even more money back in your pocket by deducting the cost of the MileIQ app as a business expense.

To view the original article, visit the MileIQ blog.