16 of the Best Real Estate Tools
1. Matterport
Matterport is hands-down the coolest 3D tour option for homes. Think of it like Google’s Street View feature for touring a property. We’re pretty thrilled about it, because we’ve provided it at no cost for a few of our sellers.
2. Free e-signature options
If you don’t want to pay for cloud-based e-signature services like Docusign and HelloSign, you may not know about the free versions for Mac or PC. It’s not as easy to figure out, but you can import your signature into Preview on Mac or Adobe Reader on PC and sign documents that way.
3. Doorsteps
doorsteps
Doorsteps allows you to nurture a buyer for months, answering their questions and more, since buyers take about 18 months to decide to buy a home or not.
4. Talking Photos
Many real estate agents love using this app for presentations. You can easily take photos, then record audio on top of it. The possibilities are endless, but one application is to use it for a comparative marketing analysis. Use a photo from each comp and talk about why a new listing will be slightly more or less than the comp.
5. Evernote
Busy agent’s MUST stay organized in order to keep up with all of their client’s needs. Keep your tasks out of your mind and in endless amounts of notebooks. You could do one just for buyers, one just for sellers, and make a note for each client, for example. Evernote syncs between all of your devices that you have it installed on, so you’ll never leave a note behind.
6. Skitch
evernote skitch
A free tool created by Evernote, Skitch allows you to mark up photos easily. For example, snap a quick photo of the sink you need fixed for a seller, draw circles and arrows to the problem areas, and shoot it over to a contractor.
7. Yesware
Use Yesware to track your emails. Instead of wondering if your client has received an email of yours or not, Yesware will let you know if they’ve opened it or clicked on a link you sent. You can track 100 emails a month for free. Use the paid version for sending mass marketing emails, so you can track open rates and tweak your subject lines.
8. Curb Call
curb call
Get a notification from a buyer wanting to see a place right away. Agents can select that they’re available to show nearby homes, and if a buyer wants to see something near you right away, you’ll receive a notification. Curb Call has significant safety benefits as well. Your brokerage will always know where you are, and you can hit a big red “Panic” button if you ever feel threatened to notify your broker and emergency contact.
9. My Maps by Google
my maps
There’s no such thing as over-communicating with clients, and you can use custom Google Maps to communicate various locations to clients. For example, the day before you head out on a showing spree with buyers, do a good job at setting expectations and drop a pin at all the addresses you plan on visiting.
10. Slydial
When you don’t have time for chitchat, but need to explain something to a client in detail, skip straight to voicemail by using Slydial.
11. CamScanner
cam scanner iphone shots
CamScanner is a free app that converts photos of documents from your smartphone to PDF’s. There is a free version that most people believe fits their needs and paid versions. Of course the paid version of $4.99 a month come with more features like creating docs with password protection, auto uploading straight to services like Dropbox, and setting expiration dates for doc links.
12. Virtual Staging Solutions
virtual staging solutions
An empty room isn’t attractive to buyers. Fill up a room with virtual objects like couches, tables, chairs, and decor to let buyers imagine what a property would really be like when they move in. Virtual Staging Solutions costs a decent amount of money, at $225 for 3 photos. But it could be a better solution than paying a lot for a staging company.
13. Vidcaboodle
If you’re an agent that loves to put videos on YouTube, whether it be listings, testimonials, or selling tips, Vidcaboodle helps you organize all of those videos into categories on a nice looking channel page.
14. Truplace
truplace
A few good photos of a home is not always enough to give buyers a feel for the layout. Give buyers a better perspective of your listing by providing a floor plan. Truplace provides a layout/virtual tour setup that lets users flip through photos as they go through rooms.
15. Floor Plan Visuals
Another floor plan creation company, Floor Plan Visuals creates illustrated floor plans instead of a virtual tour like Truplace.
16. Mortgage Calculator
The buyers you’re working with should already have a grasp on their price range and monthly mortgage payments they can afford. But having a mortgage calculator pulled up on your phone is still a great idea if the homes you look at fluctuate by a few thousand dollars, so you can show your clients an approximate payment while at the property.