Since there is no such thing as a “routine day” for a real estate agent, balancing work and life may sometimes become overwhelming. Luckily with the emergence of smartphones and mobile technology, we are able to make our professional and personal lives a little bit easier with the use of some awesome apps. We’ve come up with the 5 best apps for real estate agents who are always hustling and on the go.
Even though the title of this article implies that this is only for real estate agents, we still believe most working individuals could fine benefits in some (if not all) of the apps recommended.
1.) Evernote
Cost: Free
This is a cloud-based app that is intended to create and organize many different types of media across all of your devices. It can be useful for both professional and personal aspects of your busy life.
How about all the notes or ideas you come up with throughout the day? Your never ending To-Do list? Need to share notes/ files with colleagues? With Evernote you’re easily able to organize all text docs, photos, videos, voice recordings or even webpages. Combined with the fact that no matter where you create something (phone, tablet, desktop, internet) it syncs across all devices to your account, makes this a must-have for those of us who don’t have an assistant who keeps track of our lives for us.
Click here to see how easy it is to keep track of all the business cards you get at open houses
2.) JotNot Scanner
Cost: Free, $2.99 for Pro
Think about all those times when you are away from the office, but you need to scan and send a document ASAP… Well now you can!
JotNot is an app that can turn your iPhone or iPad into a portable multi-page scanner. With the free version you are able to scan your documents, receipts, business cards, and other things into digital format. You will need to upgrade to the Pro version ($2.99) if you want to convert the scans into PDFs, JPEGs, or PNGs. With Pro, you are also able to email scans directly, or upload them directly to other popular apps (Evernote, Dropbox, Google Drive, etc.).
For those of you who are wondering what JotNot does different than just taking a normal photo, it has a proprietary image processing that (which doesn’t require internet access) that makes the document look crisp by removing shadows, adjusting contrast and the white balance.
3.) Google Drive
Cost: Free for basic plan
What do you do when you are away from your computer, but you need to access or edit a file?
With Google Drive you have a single place to manage and access all your files, from any location and with any device. It lets you easily keep and share anything. Even if your computer crashes, your important files will always be backed up on the Google Drive cloud where you can access them through any browser or on any device that has internet access or where you’ve downloaded the app.
If you’re one of the people who prefer Dropbox, then read this article that compares Google Drive and Dropbox.
Group members can share documents or projects with one another and all edits are automatically updated across all accounts. You can use Drive to store all file types including documents, presentations, spreadsheets, music, photos, and videos.
Google also has a whole suite of apps that are designed to work together to make your life more efficient. If you want to edit documents, slideshows, or spreadsheets from any of your devices, you can use Google Docs (Word), Slides (Powerpoint), and Sheets (Excel). You can also use Hangouts for video meetings, Maps for directions to properties, and Calendar for scheduling events and important reminders.
(Check out this article that explains how to sync your google calendar with your apple calendar)
Cost: Free for basic plan
If you use multiple social media accounts in your business or personal, then you probably know from first hand experience how time consuming it can be when creating similar posts for each account. Hootsuite and Buffer apps are referred to as “Social Media Management” tools that help you manage most of your social networks. With either app you are able to create a post and blast it out to your Facebook profile, Facebook business page, Twitter, LinkedIn, Google+ (only on Hootsuite). You can also create a log of scheduled posts so that you can organize what you will post throughout the week in one sitting.
If you are using social media for marketing purposes, in the dashboard you are able to view multiple streams from the connected accounts so you can view and respond to everything your followers are saying in a easy to view format.
Choosing between Hootsuite and Buffer comes down to preference, but generally businesses will use Hootsuite and individuals tend use Buffer.
5.) IFTTT
Cost: Free
How nice would it be to receive a notification in the morning if it supposed to rain? Or how about receiving an email if a new result comes up on craigslist for a specific search? Wouldn’t it be convenient to have the ringer on your phone muted at bedtime?
Well with IFTTT you can make it happen. IFTTT stands for “If This Then That” and it basically putz technology to work for you. You’re able to create “recipes” or connections between multiple services that you already use. Whether it be Facebook, Gmail, Twitter, notifications on your iPhone or Android, or one of the many other channels supported on IFTTT, you can quickly configure ways to connect them to make your life just a little bit better.