Technology For Agents

Keeping track of my mileage has always been a chore. I’ve tried them all; clipboards, spreadsheets, even the good old pen and paper. Regardless of the method I use to track, the habit of jotting down my mileage each day is one that I just haven’t grown into.

As an agent running a small business, it’s best practice to track my mileage; especially for tax deductions come tax season. I did a quick search on Google for an online mileage tracker, but I didn’t seem to find one that was suitable or easy to use. I don’t really want an extra piece of software on my computer, so I’ll rule that option out.

I want something web 2.0. I’m thinking an Ajax filled, intuitively simple, and filled with as little hurdles as possible. I’ll keep searching for a nice one to review soon, but in the meantime:

What do you use to track your mileage?

More Helpful Tools

There are a couple of nifty tools to use along side your mileage tracker when we finally figure out which one is the best one for real estate agents.

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Have you ever had an interest in working in a paperless environment? It’s quite a step away from conventional real estate work. We’re so used to printing contracts and fumbling through packets of listing presentations that it’s sort of how we do business now; the status quo.

It’s not a widespread phenomenon just yet, but actually converting your real estate business into a paperless environment is easily achievable. With software like PDF Annotator, the feat of intuitively writing on a PDF using your Tablet PC is not longer a chore.

The only draw back is that you’ll need someway to write on the document. I wouldn’t imagine you’d have your clients sign a contract with your mouse (shame on you if you’ve tried that!). Therefore, you’ll need to have one of the following in your arsenal:
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Do you like helping your competition when it comes to search engine optimization? I personally don’t like to.

However, it seems that many uninformed agents looking to increase the nifty features of their website are inherently harming their chances of doing well in search engine rankings.

How is this so? Eric Bramlett, Austin Real Estate Broker has brought it to my attention that the widgets that Trulia offers also include a keyword targeted link back to their site, which intentionally helps improve their search engine rankings.

Why do many agents still use the widgets? I believe that it’s simply them being uninformed about the real intentions of the widget feature. That is why I’ve decided to increase awareness by posting about this here at TechForAgents.com.

Trulia is truly kicking butt in the SERPs (for big time terms, and for long tails) because they’ve cooked up some solid linkbait in the form of widgets.

If you are currently using their widgets on your site, I would either:

• Discontinue the use of the widgets all-together.
• Take Eric’s advice, and modify the script to use the widgets without hurting your search engine rankings. You can see an example of this modification by following the source link below.

Source

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It’s been brought to my attention by a power user at our market center that Top Producer 8i may have done away with advanced searches.

If you had been a 7i user, you would have been privy to an extensive searching option which allowed you to build a custom search to quite a high degree of complexity.

Wanted to find all open house contacts that did not have an email on file? No problem! Or perhaps you’re looking for anyone without a phone number to apply an “email only” action plan.

Both of these types of searches are no longer available in Top Producer 8i. Joey Lam from Top Producer provided some insight:

The quick and advanced searches in Top Producer 7i are combined into one search in Top Producer 8i. Some of the search fields available in Top Producer 7i are not currently available in Top Producer 8i.

He’s going to be submitting a recommendation to development to bring back the advanced searches, which I appreciate, but why do away with it in the first place?

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When protecting your computer, you’ll inevitably get to the point to where you’ll have to decide on your anti-virus solution. Most agents I know would rather not fiddle with such a task, but realize that without the proper attention, leaving your computer exposed could be deadly to the productivity in your business.

What is there to choose from? There’s plenty; though that doesn’t mean that each one was created equal. Some anti-virus software has a tendency to filter way too much; even to the point of interrupting tasks that you, the owner, need to do yourself that you know are safe for your computer.

What you’ll need is software that gives you the freedom to use your computer without persistent interruptions, all while maintaining a strong protection against the “common cold”.

Two Solid Options

Most of the agents I know use Microsoft Windows, so the recommendations I’ll point out below will be based on this assumption.
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