How to Generate and Nurture Real Estate Leads While You Sleep
A career as a real estate agent can be challenging, and timeliness is key – you are expected to respond to inquiries almost immediately. According to the Properties Online annual real estate technology trends survey, 77 percent of sellers expect a reply from their agent within 30 minutes, while 88 percent of buyers are willing to wait a whopping 60 minutes before they expect a response. Unless you are able to clone yourself and not sleep, this can be a daunting task. But what if there was a way to make it seem like you were available 24/7? Advancements in artificial intelligence (AI) have made this a reality. Real estate agents and brokers can now employ chatbots and automated responders to ensure that both existing and prospective clients receive all the information they want and need at the exact moment it is convenient for them.

No Pressure, No Problem: Take the Video Chat Challenge
We've given you our take on the best video chat apps out there, and shown you five different ways you can use video chat to up your services to clients. But... you haven't fired up FaceTime or ooVoo with a client yet, have you? It's alright to have some nerves, but it's time to move past them so you can delight and surprise every client, no matter how near, far, busy or slow-moving. So. It's time. For the video chat challenge. Step One: Buddy Up When you're intro-ing any new technology, it's important to do as many test runs as you need before taking the new tool or app into "prime time." So first, find a buddy who also wants to learn how to use video chat. It can be a fellow agent, your broker or office tech liaison, a listing coordinator... and if all else fails, it can be a spouse, your teenage kid or a personal friend. Step Two: Choose One App Review our top five video chat apps and decide which one seems the most suited to your business. Ideally, you and your buddy will want to try the same app (so you can give each other pointers). But if you feel that different tech would work best, then tackle one app one week, and the other app the following week so everyone wins.

The 5 Best Video Chat Apps for Real Estate Agents
No, you're not imagining it. Open house attendees, showing appointments and even your fellow agents are video chatting a lot more often these days. It makes sense that in our hyper-social world, buyers may want to crowdsource their decision before they make an offer. But they're not the only people who can get ahead using video chat technology. Agents can also leverage live video chat apps to keep in touch with out-of-town clients, update buyers about small changes that have been made due to contingencies or inspections, or to simply show off their latest listing to other agents who are too busy in the field to swing by the broker open. We've done the research and the Results Series team informally voted on our top five favorite video chat apps for 2017. Read on to see which video chat app is best for you and your clients. 1. Most Intuitive: FaceTime FaceTime is the native video chat app for Apple mobile devices — iPad and iPhone. FaceTime is designed to use your wi-fi connection first, but will connect and run through your data if wi-fi is unavailable. Here's how to check to ensure that your iPhone knows to use wi-fi first, with data as a backup. Biggest FaceTime advantage: Unlike other apps that require a special download, FaceTime has just one barrier to entry: it's available to iPhone users who are contacting other iPhone users. This makes it a great option for anyone, regardless of their technical prowess. The technology comes pre-loaded on your iPhone and you just have to tap the FaceTime icon within your contacts to make a FaceTime call. Biggest FaceTime disadvantage: FaceTime is still a 1-to-1 app, so you can't yet host a group video chat. Rumor has it that you'll be able to host group chats with the launch of ioS 11 this June. FaceTime best practice: Even if the purpose of the call is to show off the listing, be sure to start every call in selfie mode, so you can quickly establish a connection before you turn the camera on the property. And remember to avoid looking at the corner where your face is; always make eye contact with the call recipient when in selfie mode by looking at the lens.