Homesnap

Top 10 Mobile Apps for Real Estate Agents
Is your phone dialed in to the latest and greatest digital applications? Apps for real estate agents have become essential tools to streamline business workflows. As independent contractors and entrepreneurs that are always on the go, your business has to move with you. Good real estate apps can help agents edit videos and photographs, schedule and track social media, increase efficiency, manage projects and expenses, keep tabs on industry trends, maintain their CRM – and the list goes on. Here's RPR's (Realtors Property Resource) recommendation for 10 solid apps to download and try for 2023: 1. Promo The app: More and more agents are using video to liven up their social media channels. Viewers simply engage with it more, and your posts on Facebook, Instagram and LinkedIn will perform better in a video format. The Promo app is perfect for creating compelling video ads, social media videos, walkthrough tours and more. Priding themselves on "smart and easy video creation," Promo gives its users access to over 100 million premium photos and videos from Getty Images and iStock, and provides thousands of themed templates to make video magic that much easier to attain. The cost: You can try Promo out for free, and a "Basic" subscription is $25 if you opt for the annual structure. 2. Lensa The app: This AI-powered photography app is an editing experience that elevates your photos to a different league. Spice up your photos and videos with instant retouching, custom backgrounds, and other fun features such as filters, effects and borders. But what's really hot about this app right now is the Magic Avatars you can create. Have you noticed that your social media feeds are full of cartoon selfies of people? That's the Lensa AI Magic Avatars at work. The cost: When you download Lensa, you get a seven-day free trial. Then have the option of paying a one-time fee for a specific number of unique avatars ($3.99 for 50 is the cheapest option) or shelling out $35.99 for an annual subscription and unlimited avatars. 3. Sphere The app: Everyone should be utilizing a CRM, but Sphere goes beyond a traditional CRM by offering lead tracking, transaction timelines, to-do lists, contacts, deadlines, coaching and more. They also promise that you can create your own unique business plan in just five minutes. Another nifty feature about Sphere is that it caters to real estate teams by giving multiple users access to the same account. The cost: Sphere's pricing structure is interesting. A transaction timeline only account is attainable for $10 per month. The full package option for agents runs you $49 a month, and each one of these versions is available for a 30-day free trial. Here's what makes Sphere really special: new agents (licensed in the last 12 months) can subscribe for one year for FREE. See their website "Pricing" section for details. 4. Bubble Level app/Bubble Level app The app: Bubble Level is just what it sounds like: a working level on your phone. While you might not use it every day, it is a handy tool to keep in your pocket—as opposed to an actual, physical level! Some clients are very detail-oriented and might ask: is that door frame level? Is this floor uneven? Just pull out your phone and get a quick reading. The cost: Free! And it's available for both Android and iPhones. 5. Hound The app: We're guessing that most agents don't have the budget to hire their own personal assistant. However, if you download this app, it will sniff out just about anything you ask it to do! Hound is an AI-powered voice assistant app that uses "proprietary Speech-to-Meaning and Deep Meaning Understanding technology." In English? You can speak to it in your normal, conversational voice and it will understand you. While not real estate specific, the possibilities are endless. Ask Hound for driving directions, to make phone calls or send texts, set alarms and timers, weather updates, real estate news, or any other task you need help with. The cost: Another freebie! Available for both Android and iPhones. 6. Fyle The app: Keeping track of receipts and credit card transactions for you and your employees can feel like a job in and of itself. To simplify the process, check out the Fyle app: it accurately pulls and codes data from expense receipts using its AI-powered data extraction engine. Here's how this "real time expense management" works: you slide your card for some printer paper, and then you instantly get a text asking for an image of the receipt. Take a picture of the paper receipt, and then it's added and matched to your credit card card expense, freeing you of bank statement reliance. The cost: Starts out at $6.99 a month, or you can upgrade to $11.99 for more features. 7. Substack The app: First off, Substack is not a real estate app. However, it is a journalism disruptor and a really cool way to receive content from your favorite writers and creators. With it, you can subscribe to independent writers and podcasters who publish directly to their audience. These "newsletters" help you keep your favorite writers in one dedicated space, with zero ads, noise or spam. Which means you can keep up with real estate industry insights by subscribing to creators such as Real Estate Simpleton and CalculatedRisk and Housing Market Insights. The cost: Subscription plans, such as monthly and annual, are set by writers. 8. Microsoft Lens/Microsoft Lens The app: This one is perfect for agents out in the wild. With Office Lens, you can easily turn just about any written surface (whiteboard, blackboard, receipts, pieces of paper, contracts, business cards, articles, sticky notes) into digitized files, such as PDF, Word, PowerPoint, and Excel. With a scanner in your pocket, you'll never lose any written down words again! The cost: If it's free, gimme three! Available for both Android and iPhones for no cost. 9. Later The app: If you're a real estate agent, being active in social media is very much a mandatory activity. But keeping track of all your channels, posts, photos and videos can really eat up your valuable time. Later is a social media management platform that helps you plan, analyze, and publish content in advance—so you focus your time on your business and nurturing clients and prospects. The cost: Monthly fees start at $18 per month, but a yearly plan will run you $15. You can also try it out with a free 14-day trial. 10. RPR The app: Did we save the best for last?! The RPR Mobile™ app provides agents with an almost unlimited supply of "listing intel." Your buyer has a question about a property that's across the street from the one you're touring? Look it up in a flash with RPR. Better yet, text your client a report on the property in minutes. In addition, the app has recently been refreshed and revamped: the property search filters are more in line with the desktop version, the Buyer Tour feature has been improved, and the reports generation experience has been streamlined. The new RPR app offers all that and much more. The cost: If you're a REALTOR®, there's no cost whatsoever. And only REALTORS® can use it! RPR is included with your membership in The National Association of REALTORS®. To view the original article, visit the RPR

8 Time-Saving Programs Every Real Estate Agent Should Try
No matter what local market conditions are like, many real estate agents work pretty much all the time. After all, they need to be available when their clients are free, and they need to constantly refresh their knowledge of their local market. And yet, there are some real estate agents who manage their work-life integration seamlessly and carve out time for their family, friends and relaxation. How do they do it? One way is to rely on timesaving programs to speed up or outsource some of their tasks. ‍8 timesaving programs to try: 1. An automated CRM. Keeping up with your clients is essential to building a real estate career with longevity, but it can be difficult to remember birthdays, anniversaries and other reasons to stay in touch once you have hundreds of contacts in your database. Customer relationship management (CRM) software can streamline your outreach. Two to try: Cloze and Hubspot. Explore more CRMs in RE Technology's Product Directory. 2. Automated marketing. Continually marketing yourself and your listings is just as important as keeping in touch with your current clients. Several programs are available that help you spend less time on your marketing. Try MoxiWorks and Outbound Engine. Explore more Marketing Solutions in RE Technology's Product Directory. 3. Organizing your time. Whether you're hyper-organized or manage your career despite a chaotic style, multiple tools exist to keep real estate agents on task and their paperwork at their fingertips. Try Thryv, which integrates with your website to schedule appointments, EverNote for well-organized notes and reminders, and DropBox to keep your files secure and yet easily sharable with clients. 4. Image editing. While you may have a photographer or videographer you like to use, sometimes you don't have the time or extra money to spend on professional images. Try the VSCO app for editing photos and videos to showcase your listings at their best. If you want to create your own marketing materials, try Canva for video editing, templates for flyers and more. 5. Editable PDFs. To simplify your interactions with clients and end the practice of printing, scanning, signing and emailing documents, try a program that allows you to create editable pdfs. Adobe Acrobat may be the best known, but some real estate agents also like DocFly. When you need your clients to be able to sign confidential documents, DocuSign is also a good option. Then, there are times that you need a quick edit of your finished PDFs, you may use Canva PDF Editor. Explore more Document Management and eSignature solutions in RE Technology's Product Directory. 6. Money management. Tracking your expenses and managing your commissions can get complicated, so several companies developed software geared to real estate agents to simplify their accounting. Try RealtyZam or IXACT, which functions as both a transaction tracking and CRM tool. Explore more Accounting solutions in RE Technology's Product Directory. 7. Virtual assistant app. If you need help but aren't ready to hire a full-time assistant or develop your own team, a virtual assistant may be ideal to take on simple tasks such as keeping your database updated. Try Zirtual to find a trained virtual assistant to take over some of your responsibilities so you have more time for your clients. 8. Concierge services. Speaking of responsibilities, whether you need errands run, a minor repair or a TV installed, TaskRabbit can provide you with the help you need from a vetted person at a simple hourly rate. Handing over hassles to someone else frees time for you to work on your business, which often includes prepping a house for sale. For that, rely on Revive to step in with a plan, the contractors and materials needed to execute it and the team to manage the process. Your sellers will get a better price for their home, and you'll be relieved of the time-consuming energy it takes to get a property ready for the market. Time management for a better life – and a better career – requires multiple solutions. Thankfully, programs and services are available to streamline multifaceted real estate transactions. To view the original article, visit the Revive

5 Realtor Safety Apps to Help Protect You and Your Clients
Being a professional real estate agent involves working with new people you do not know, and that alone can be risky business. After all, research shows that Realtors meet with prospective clients they have never met before either at their office or a neutral location 65% of the time. Nearly 40% off all Realtors hosted an open house alone last year. Almost one in five felt unsafe when doing so. Agents who have shared their stories online about coming close to avoiding a scary situation when asked to show a home point to a common experience: Something just didn't feel right about the prospect. Calls from restricted numbers, requests to see a home on a moment's notice, or a prospect overemphasizing they will be paying all cash can be warning signs, agents have shared. Several agents have revealed that some sketchy prospects have turned into stalkers – fortunately, that landed them in jail. Fortunately, over the last decade, the National Association of Realtors, along with state and local Realtor associations nationwide, have emphasized the importance of personal, professional, and community safety. Historically, September has been Realtor Safety Month, although remaining safety-conscious is a daily task for every agent. The NAR offers a repository of safety information and tips on its website (nar.realtor/safety), including safety planning strategies, tips and best practices to remain safe, safety training videos, and personal protection resources, which includes safety apps for your smartphone. Do you need to use a safety app for your phone? Consider these agent safety study finding from Agent Genius: Most attacks took place on Thursday or Friday afternoons. Roughly 30% of attack victims are men. Most attacks didn't take place inside major metropolitan areas. About half of attacks involved guns. Several attacks resulted in murder, even though robbery was the original intention. Here are five real estate apps for smartphones that are designed to keep agents safe: 1. Forewarn $20 a month – individual agent What it does: Forewarn offers an instant background check. It lets you know in advance who you are about to work with by verifying identity, searching for criminal histories, and validating information provided by unknown prospects. It needs little information upfront, such as a phone number of the person the agent is planning to meet. Available both online and through its mobile app, Forewarn instantly can help agents reduce their risk through using due diligence upfront. In addition to a personal subscription plan, Forewarn is available through many Realtor associations as a member benefit. 2. Real Safe Agent $4.99 month – individual agent What it does: Real Safe Agent is one of the most robust safety apps designed for real estate agents. It uses Hoosfon to see if a prospect is using a prepaid phone as well as other key information that could indicate a red flag. With Prospect Link, Real Safe Agent offers the ability to request a selfie and photo of their driver's license. These tools are used to build an "Agent Comfort Index," which shows if a prospect has been reaching out to other agents and if those agents reported feeling uncomfortable. By leveraging a social networking design, it allows agents to identify individual safety "buddies," fellow teammates and partners, and other individuals to create a safety network of people who are alerted instantly when an agent feels threatened or is in danger. Agents can also use the app to ask for someone in their network to join them at an open house they are hosting alone via an "Accompany Me" feature. Other features include Drop-in Alerts, allowing you to ask another agent in your network to "drop in" if a someone is making you uncomfortable, and an Open House feature to arrange someone to join you when you are opening or closing – the most dangerous times of an open house. Real Safe Agent also offers a unique 9-1-1 Alerts feature, as it notes it is the only system fully integrated with the nation's 911 system, ensuring the correct address is provided to the 911 operator. The alert can be immediately deployed simply by violently shaking one's smartphone. 3. SafeShowings $4.99 month or $49.99 annually – individual agent What it does: SafeShowings, available to more than one million Realtors through their associations, protects agents and the homeowner by capturing facial images of prospects. It also collects geolocation information from your phone. If there is an alert involved, SafeShowings will automatically send the stat to your emergency contacts. During an open house or individual showing, SafeShowings captures a facial image of anyone who is about to enter a property. It allows you to set a timer during a property showing and if an agent is unable end the timer, an alert is instantly and automatically triggered. 4. Homesnap Pro Free for most agents via their local MLS Homesnap Pro+ is $599 a year, discounted to $499 a year for the first year What it does: Homesnap Pro has been downloaded by more than a million real estate agents nationwide. It has a safety tool built in to the app. Before a showing or an open house, an agent can set a safety timer. The safety timer can be set at the agent's discretion for the amount of time they plan to be at the property. The coolest feature is that the app uses Homesnap geolocation technology, which means it automatically populates the property address when you are within 2000 feet of the property you want to show. Homesnap Pro also has a Distress Alert feature that will automatically text to your emergency contacts your time-stamped location, which an agent can access at any time they feel uncomfortable or threatened. 5. SentriKey Real Estate App Subscription prices for its lockbox service vary based on local association member pricing What it does: SentriLock is the official lockbox solution for the NAR, and is an optional, subscription-based service that associations often offer to their members. Its built-in agent safety feature creates an automatic way for an agent to alert their designated emergency contacts in case of potentially dangerous situations. The Agent Safety feature automatically launches when the mobile app is used to open a SentriKey lockbox. The agent can select a set time – SentriLock recommends approximately 90 seconds — or a time determined by the agent — for the app to prompt for a status update. If the agent us unable to respond, the app will automatically alert the agent's designated emergency contacts if the agent does not or cannot confirm they are safe. Safety is not an accident As you can see, many of these safety apps often require a subscription service. But that can be a small price to pay for the peace of mind and comfort it can bring an agent. For more information about other safety technology for real estate agents, see NAR's Resources for Personal Protection. For help setting up or installing any of these safety apps, reach out on your Tech Helpline app, or call or text a Tech Helpline expert for personal and friendly assistance. To view the original article, visit the Tech Helpline