Consumer Smart Locks vs. Electronic Lockboxes
Consumer smart locks and electronic real estate lockboxes both allow access to a home. While these two products may seem similar, they're designed for two distinctly different uses. Consumer smart locks are becoming more prevalent on homes, especially on properties with higher price points. Many consumers are finding they're a good source of convenience for things such as deliveries, children in the home needing access after school when the parents are at work, or simply avoiding the need to carry house keys. These products are readily available online, as well as at home improvement stores, and are relatively easy to install. Priced anywhere from $150 to $250, they're an up charge from a traditional lockset. There's no doubt that the number of homes using these products in the future will continue to increase. REALTORS® often ask how this new technology impacts the need for electronic lockboxes.

Safe Selling: Opening a Lockbox and Door
Never turn your back on a client... and we mean that literally. To prevent finding yourself in a vulnerable situation with a prospect, we know to never physically turn away from them. But what should you do in times where that seems inevitable--like opening a lockbox or door? In this week's Safe Selling video, we talk about just that. Watch the video above to learn: Precisely how to stand so that you can open a lockbox while still being able to see the client How to open a door and walk through so that your back is never to the client How to come off as warm and welcoming when opening door or lockboxes, rather than awkward or standoffish.

Quick Tip: Pair These 2 Tools to Automate Showing Feedback Requests
Getting your real estate apps to work together can save a lot of time. There are the obvious time savers: Gmail integration with your eSignature tool, for example, which makes it a snap to dash off documents for review. But don't overlook more unorthodox pairings. Take the humble lockbox, for example. Pair it with a property data app, like RPR or HomeSpotter, and you can automatically pull up detailed listing information upon entering a home for a showing. The simple act of opening a lockbox can trigger other useful actions. Want to automatically send feedback requests to all agents who have shown your listing? Pair your SentriLock lockbox with a showing solution like Showing Suite. Your lockbox will prompt your showing tool to send out a showing feedback request when another Realtor opens it. How to Use Showing Feedback to Your Advantage

5 Ways to Unlock the Power of a Lockbox with Mobile
The lockbox has evolved well beyond its beginnings as a simple, secure storage place for keys. Thanks to today's mobile technology, lockboxes have become the Swiss army knife of real estate tools. No doubt you've used your phone's Bluetooth® capability to release the shackle of your lockbox or open the key compartment. But did you know there's plenty more features your phone or tablet can help you unlock? Here are five ways your favorite mobile device can help you unlock the full power of the lockbox—and even help you sell more listings. 1. Pull up listing information instantly Want to start impressing buyers from the moment you walk into a home for a showing? REALTORS® who use SentriLock lockboxes can when they use the SentriSmart™ mobile app. Thanks to integrations with RPR, HomesnapPRO and HomeSpotter, agents can instantly view listing details when they unlock a property's lockbox. Here's how it works: after accessing the lockbox with the SentriSmart™ mobile app, SentriSmart™ asks if you want to view the property's information in one of SentriLock's partner apps. Select your preferred app and SentriSmart™ will automatically direct you to the property details page of the home you're showing. That way, you'll instantly have all the information you need on hand to answer your buyer's questions.

Best of 2016: 5 Things You Didn't Know Your Lockbox Could Do
We're continuing an annual tradition of counting down our top 10 articles of the year. The following article was originally published back in July and is #3 in our countdown. See #4 here. A new partnership between two NAR Realtor benefits is making it easier for agents to impress buyers during a showing. Sentrilock has teamed up with Realtor's Property Resource to offer agents one-click access to RPR property data from the SentriSmart mobile app. According to a post on the RPR blog, "When opening a SentriLock box, the SentriSmart app will ask users if they would like to view the property by way of the RPR app. Choosing yes will open the RPR app seamlessly." That means that Realtors can open the front door and immediately pull up data on the home, and easily answer buyer questions throughout a showing. We think that's pretty neat, and it got us thinking about other cool things that lockboxes and their mobile apps can do. So we took a look at Sentrilock, the lockbox solution highlighted in our free, annual Technology Guide. Here are the top five things you may not know your lockbox can do: 1. Get text alerts when your listing is shown - Set up showing notifications to find out when a listing is being shown, right as it's happening! This feature will send you a text or email when your lockbox is opened by another Realtor. If you prefer getting a summary of showings at the end of the day, rather than real-time alerts, you can opt for a daily digest instead. 2. Send automatic feedback requests to showing agents - RPR isn't the only app that Sentrilock plays nice with. It also integrates with showing software, like Showing Sync from Showing Suite, which automatically sends feedback requests to the Realtor who opened your lockbox. (It works with Supra lockboxes, too.)

SentriLock Adds New Mobile Agent Safety Feature
Lockbox provider SentriLock's mobile app now offers an agent safety feature. Officially launched in October, the new update to the SentriSmart mobile app alerts others when an agent is in a potentially dangerous situation. How It Works When an agent uses SentriSmart to open the lockbox, the application begins tracking the time and sends a request for a status update every 15 minutes. The Realtor has the option of clicking on their mobile device to either reset the next status request for 15 minutes later, stopping the status requests, or sending an alert. If the agent doesn't respond at all, an automated emergency safety alert goes out to designated contacts, including colleagues, family and friends to inform them of a potential problem so they can provide assistance. "The key difference in the functionality of the SentriSmart safety application compared to others is that it requires no other action by the agent to have the alert set. It goes automatically when agent opens the lockbox," explains Greg Sheldon, CEO of SentriLock. Sheldon also notes that the app feature is a free add-on benefit for Realtors who are already using the SentriSmart application. Realtors can update their mobile application to the newest version, which includes the new safety feature, through either the Apple or Google Play stores online.

New SentriLock and Homesnap Integration Helps Agents Shine During Showings
Agents have a new way to impress clients during a showing, thanks to a new partnership between SentriLock and Homesnap. Realtors can now access property data right from SentriSmart, the lockbox maker's mobile app. When obtaining lockbox information from the app, users are able to open the listing's property details from Homesnap in just one click. If that sounds familiar, it's because Sentrilock launched a similar integration with Realtors Property Resource (RPR) in June. In fact, the process of accessing data from both integrations is exactly the same. After receiving entering the lockbox code, SentriSmart prompts the agent to open the listing's property details page, as seen in the image below. Simply select your integration partner of choice, and SentriSmart will automatically send you directly to the property details page in either the RPR or Homesnap mobile apps. How It Works The property details integration is completely painless. After from a few initial set-up steps, instantly accessing listing info is a breeze. To get started, make sure that both SentriSmart and either Homesnap and/or RPR are installed on your phone.

Lockboxes 101
Lockboxes have become standard for most real estate professionals. You've become accustomed to seeing them on your own listings and those of others – but are you really taking advantage of what this technology has to offer? A lockbox can be so much more than a mere security and accessibility tool. It gathers valuable data that can be used to make important strategic decisions about your listings. By doing your research and being selective, you can unlock the possibilities of this new technology. Choosing the Right Tool If you're in the market for a lockbox, there are questions you can ask to evaluate which option is right for you, like: Is there a preferred lockbox provider in my MLS or Association? Does my broker have a preferred lockbox provider? How will the lockbox perform in adverse weather? Does the lockbox require batteries? If so, what type and how long will they last? What tracking and reporting tools are available? What showing software integrates with the lockbox? Do I need a specific phone or specific software running on my phone to use the lockbox? How easy is it to schedule privacy times when the lockbox will not allow entry? Find more questions to ask in our 2014 Technology Guide. It's a free resource for real estate pros who want to learn more about the technology products available to them.

Product Review: Showing Suite Mobile
Showing Suite is a technology platform designed to help real estate agents automate many tasks related to home showings (and more), enabling them to spend more time on valuable sales and customer service activities. Like many companies, Showing Suite has recognized that agent productivity must be as effective on mobile devices as it is on a desktop computer. To this end, they offer a comprehensive mobile solution through any Web-connected mobile device and have recently released a native application for the iPhone. If you have tried Showing Suite in the past, you will appreciate these new enhancements. If you have not considered Showing Suite before, you should contact them for a demo. Here is an overview of the Showing Suite mobile solution. Showing Suite's Native iPhone App Showing Suite put together a nice video that gives a brief tour of their iPhone app.