Technology For Agents

I stepped into the office yesterday, flipped up the phone to answer a ringing call, and heard a snap. The life of my phone after three years has finally come to an end, as the flip up lcd screen snapped at it’s base. Long live the free, silver phone, for it worked so well for so long.

I skipped down to my local Verizon Wireless B&M, and spoke to a helpful man named Jim, who asked me what I did and carefully helped me select the best phone for me. He hit the nail on the head when he introduced me to the Motorola V325. GPS on my phone?! You’ve got to be kidding me!

Jim wasn’t kidding, and in fact, was eager to show me the wonderful capabilities of this awe-inspiring gadget. Upon activation of the VZNavigator software, Jim showed me how the V325 could easily get directions to local airports, restaurants, ATM’s, and much more. It even has voice-prompt, which relieves you from having to fumble with your phone while looking for the next turn. Upon testing, it notified me 0.5 miles ahead of each turn! The technology in cell phones has vastly improved in recent years, offering more options to user than ever before.

As a real estate consultant, I must say, “I hate printing out those property maps; GPS on my cell is my savior.” I’ve been using this phone for a couple of days now and I’m quite satisfied. I’m going to experiment with it a bit more and be sure to write up a review for my readers to see. As a real estate agent, this is one neat tool that has a very useful purpose in our industry.

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I received an offer in on one of my real estate listings yesterday, and I went through the normal routine of asking myself, “How can technology help me present this offer in its best light?”. I jumped into my contact management program, Top Producer 7i, and quickly found my way over to the financial section to work on a seller net sheet. Using this tool is very simple and intuitive, and it helped me create a professional looking net sheet that is presentable in a professional way.

The last thing I want is to scribble down a net sheet on a piece of paper, and that’s exactly why Top Producer’s net sheet calculator shines. It has a nifty built in report function that will print out and summarize the expenses and income of the sale. At the bottom of all the calculations, it also derives a total amount to seller, which is my client’s bottom line. This is probably the most important number of all; and it’s in bold.

Another neat feature is the ability to add default expenses, such as the seller title policy (I usually estimate 1%), or agent commissions. This comes in handy when pulling net sheets for multiple offers; I’d hate to have to re-enter the same items repeatedly. You can also add in expenses, such as prorated taxes or estimated payoff on their existing mortgage, in order to provide the most accurate “equity from the sale” as possible.

I think this simple tool is a great way to express your organization in your business. I will be presenting this offer tomorrow at noon with the completed Top Producer report; I’ll be sure to update how that goes and make sure I get feedback on the final net sheet report.

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