The real estate industry is a "people" industry. Agents and brokers spend just as much time talking with their clients about their lives and their work as they do about the properties or the specifics of the deal.
Focusing upon the "human" aspects of the transaction has largely kept technology out of the real estate industry. Sure, real estate agents, financial institutions, and individual brokers now have websites to provide their clients with more information (prior to or after the meeting), but relatively few utilize technology at the time of contact without sacrificing the relationship-building benefits of face-to-face interaction.
Let's face it - hovering over a laptop to bring up pictures or to access property information is not very conducive to talking (and not very portable). Still, the allure of being able to offer clients more information about a property or a loan, show colorful pictures of a properties features (or properties you driving to), or utilize a database to gather client information has some real estate veterans toting around the latest in sub-notebooks.
There is an alternative. With a properly configured PDA, you can offer your prospective buyers or lenders more information, pictures, and even gather information for marketing use later on without sacrificing that "human touch."
The Device
Choosing your device is critical. In most cases, you will probably hand this over to your clients as you drive or as they walk through a property. So having a device with a crisp, clear, color screen is very important. On the Pocket PC side, the Compaq iPAQ has one of the most vibrant screens (with a very substantial backlight as well). For the Palm OS, the m515 also has a very vibrant screen. Both the Pocket PC and Palm devices have similar screen sizes and support 64k color. They will both operate in the same fashion (i.e., you can use the graffiti area or the built-in, on screen keyboard), and provide you the same end result - being able to provide your clients with property pictures and information.
Whatever device you choose, though, should have memory expansion capability. All of the newer Palm OS devices are being equipped with memory card slots. Most Pocket PC devices include a PCMCIA slot. In short, having the option to insert a removable memory card means you can store more pictures and data for your clients.
Because this device will be out of your hands, you should also consider two protective accessories. The first is for the screen such as Fellowes PDA WriteRight Screen Covers. These thin overlays protect your screen from scratches (or clumsy stylus use). The second is for the device itself. There are several "shock protection" covers such as those made by RhinoSkin. These hard-shell cases seem almost bullet proof. Both of these accessories will extend the life of your device as well as assuage client anxieties - when they drop it.
Finally, there are a few optional attachments that can be used to provide additional value. First, are the digital cameras attached to your PDA through either the serial port or PMCIA slot. There are a number of different cameras for each PDA platform. Some examples include:
- Palm OS: Kodak PalmPix (discontinued but you can still get a used one from Amazon or eBay)
- HandSpring Visor: EyeModule Digital Springboard Module, EyeModule2 Digital Springboard Module, Targus HandCam Springboard Module
- PocketPC: NexiCam for Compaq iPAQ , HP Jornada 560 Pocket Camera, CASIO QV Digital Camera
Second are the keyboards. Just introduced into the PDA scene, these keyboards that attach to the bottom of the PDA (via the docking port), provide a much easier way to quickly enter information. Some examples include:
The Software
There are, of course, hundreds of software applications to choose from. But in utilizing your device during client interaction, there are three main categories of software that you should look to install - graphic, database, and financial.
Graphics
The first category, graphics, is critical to providing your clients with visuals of the properties. On the most basic level, you can use this while driving in the car. Hand your clients the device and let them peruse pictures of houses. Within the software, give these houses easy-to-remember "code numbers" so that they can be referred to away from to device. On a more advanced level, you can utilize a digital camera (attached to your PDA) to capture pictures that your clients might request. Some picture display applications include:
- Palm OS: PhotoMeister. This comprehensive Windows-based application allows you to organize, improve (reduce fuzziness, optimize for display, frame), and export your photos. One format for exporting photos is to send to a PDA that uses the PhotoMeister viewer (available with software).
- Pocket PC:Applian PicturePerfect 5.1 which includes a thumbnail feature, a full-picture view, and a picture slideshow.
Database
Just as important as displaying pictures of houses is utilizing a database to both display property data and capture client information. A database will provide you the ability to:
- Keep a listing of all properties - whether by client or in general. Having this information handy on your PDA (and far more accessible than MLS printouts by allowing you to search for information) means you can provide quicker access to client questions.
- Keep a listing of all clients - by using your database to record client information such as e-mail addresses and alternate contact numbers.
- Capture client feedback (through custom forms) - with perhaps the most advanced features of databases is that you can create forms for client input that will allow them to comment on each property, and provide you valuable information about both how they feel and their buying habits that you can leverage later in one-to-one marketing.
There are many database applications available. Some like Langman Technologies Mobile RealEstate 1.3, although very inflexible in providing you the ability to accomplish those three tasks described above, are built exclusively for the Real Estate industry. If you feel that a flexible solution is the best for you (and you wish to spend a few hours setting up the database and creating forms) then when deciding upon a database application, you should consider the following:
- Does the database allow form-based entry?
- Does the database synchronize to the desktop?
- Does the database (or its desktop application) allow you to export?
There are quite a few database products for both the Palm and Pocket PC that aren't industry specific. But few answer a "yes" to all of those questions. Some that do include:
All of these database applications will require you to spend some considerable setup time. But the long-term benefit of having a flexible solution (rather than industry specific one) is that you'll be able to customize data capture and analysis based upon your specific customers. Also, some of those flexible database solutions also provide downloadable databases (often created by other users) from their website.
Financial
Just as important as providing your clients pictures of properties, property data, and potentially capturing their preferences is giving them financial tools. Although purchasing property is very much an emotional decision at the time of viewing, when reality sets in it becomes based almost entirely upon numbers.
By having tools on your device to help your clients understand the financial aspects of a property, you are providing an invaluable service in helping them better understand what they can purchase (and saving everyone a bit of time). You can also capture some of this information for follow-up analysis.
- Palm OS: Home Buying for Digerati 1.0 is a great program that combines a home database and payment estimator. For each client, you could put in the houses you want to show them (including such fields as asking price, MLS listing, etc.) and delete them along the way.
- Pocket PC: MortgageCalc3.0 is a freeware application that provides mortgage payment projection including mortgage insurance and finance costs.
Putting It All to Use
Okay, so you have a handheld, you've loaded it with software and pictures and property data, your clients are using it without fail. Now what do you do?
Collecting data is obviously important, but how you leverage that data will allow you to extend the customer relationship. For each of the following, your primary conduit is e-mail. You should use every opportunity to capture a client's e-mail address during your face-to-face time. For example, if your PDA is equipped with a digital camera, offer to e-mail your client the pictures. In short, utilize e-mail to:
- Follow-up: One of the most important things you can do is follow-up via e-mail with your clients. Provide them a synopsis of the properties you viewed and their reactions.
- Analysis: If you've used a database with customized forms, then you should capture as much data as possible. For example, if your customer is using the mortgage calculator on your PDA, try and get them to enter that data into a form about the property (or you can do it). When you have synced your device with your desktop PC and are looking at your customer's preferences (i.e., their feelings about individual properties they entered into one of your database forms), the more data you have, the more complete picture you can get. In following-up with your client, provide this data in an e-mail (with a few pictures of each property) to reaffirm their feelings.
- Suggestions and recommendations: Analyzing the data will provide you the opportunity to suggest future properties. You can send along pictures of these properties in the e-mail to further entice your clients for another viewing session.
For the more advanced real estate agents, you can upload those pictures onto a secure website (with a client-specific username and password). This is especially useful if your client doesn't have an e-mail address (or entered it incorrectly).
Conclusion
PDA technology is not for the weak willed. Setting up databases, taking pictures, synching the device to your desktop computer, and a host of other activities all require some training and computer knowledge.
There are new devices, though, that will make it even easier. For example, the Sony Clie N70V has a built in digital camera, build in keyboard, and a graphics viewer. These types of "integrated devices" will make getting up and running far easier.
Whatever you choose to do with your PDA, if you're willing to accept the challenge of setting your device up (or if you're already a skilled PDA user) it can become an invaluable tool in extending your client relationships - and differentiating you from the competition.
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