Technology For Agents

Though this can be a direct testament to my inability to read an instruction manual, I have finally learned how to enable multiple stops along a home tour using the Mio C310x. It’s actually quite simple. Using the “Edit Route” feature, you can add stops to your route by searching for a new address, using past searched properties through your history, even by coordinates.

I’ve used this feature in the field and can attest to it’s usefulness. How was I searching for homes prior to placing the multiple stops in the C310x? I was entering each address one by one. After getting in the car after touring a property, I would check the next stop on the list and begin a GPS search using the C310x. I would use the multi-stop feature of Mapquest to find out the most efficient route from property to property on the day’s tour.

You never know when a GPS device such as the Mio C310x will come in handy. In one particular case, I was able to show my client the area in relation to the property we were touring. This quick overview of the nearby streets allowed him to gain his bearings on where he was exactly, and helped him understand that the home was actually quite close to the highway and other major thoroughfares.

A GPS device is, in my opinion, a worthwhile investment for any real estate agent. Though I don’t feel it’s absolutely necessary to sell real estate, it sure does come in handy in those parts of town you are not 100% familiar with.

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I did the unthinkable; I made a compulsive purchase. About three weeks ago, I was at my B&M Circuit City and happened to stroll by the GPS display. They seemed to twinkle and beep at me just as the casino slots do at those theme parks for adults. I paused, and began to inspect the new arrivals, prices, and sales that were going on at the time. I actually had an appointment nearly 45 minutes from my office that day, so I thought that a GPS should come in quite handy. Indeed; the miniscule device performed quite well despite my lack of knowledge of the area.

I bought the Mio Digiwalker C310x, a new device that just hit that market as i was told, mostly due to it’s size, features, and sleek look. This unit ran me $429.99, and it surely has paid for itself in saving me from humiliation while on a showing tour.

The Mio Digiwalker C310x is a portable car naviagation system that comes preloaded with the entire US Map. It also features turn-by-turn guidance and an MP3 player which I have yet to utilize. It is a pocket sized device running on Windows CE and uses Tele Atlas maps. The actual unit I purchased comes in a sleek white design with an integrated antennae.

Initial Impressions

Upon opening the box, I was easily able to put together the car suction cup adapter which took a few tries to get right. It also has a pivot head that will allow you to adjust the GPS to a passenger copilot or straight on for everyone in the car to conveniently see. Startup was simple, and it booted up and the GPS was locked on within a few minutes.

I began to play with routing and discovered the finding locations was actually very easy. The system actually will stop making you type in the address once it narrows down the street to a select number of streets you could possibly choose. All the buttons to press are moderately sized, and may give those with larger hands a difficult time to use comfortably. None the less, it worked perfectly for me and the GPS signal wasn’t lost through the city of Houston.

The routing feature worked well, but did take some getting used to. Sometimes the Digiwalker would repeatedly request a really inconvenient route to take, mostly in part because it was technically the shortest route possible. The lack of traffic integration is to be expected at this price, but it could come in really handy in the future.

Battery life is really excellent on the C310x, in my opinion. I use the unit daily, and have it plugged in sometimes, but I haven’t had the thought come across my mind that the Digiwalker had short battery life at all. I actually have the unit plugged in every once and a while, with it probably 80% of the time unplugged from it’s in-car charger. The only feature I wish was automatically enabled was the automatic shutoff. Out of the box, the Mio will stay on even while unplugged if you don’t manually turn it off. There is a setting in system options to turn it off at pre-determined time intervals (such as in 10 minutes of inactivity).

Summary

It seems that Mio is a new player in the field and their GPS device works as intended. The C310x is being used daily and I will be sure to records my moments of awe, and woe, as days progress with its use. For now, as a real estate agent, I can’t see how I ever got around town without a GPS device. Let alone that all my clients are amazed at it’s size; it’s a very convenient tool for showing tours and locating that hard to find property just around the corner.

Update: According to one of my readers, Jack, you can now get the Mio Digiwalker C310x for $299 at Circuit City. Aren’t price reductions grand?
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I was excited to login to Mapquest.com today and notice that they’ve implemented a feature that is an absolute necessity for real estate agents. Mapquest is known for providing accurate maps and detailed explanations on driving directions to your destinations. Now, you can create a route using their “beta” route planner to input more than one destination.

The first thing you will notice is that Mapquest is now implementing Ajax technology to create a seamless user experience. You can add up to 10 destinations with ease using saved history or direct input. You’ll also find useful that you may select to avoid highways or avoid tolls. This comes in really handy when planning routes for your clients on showing tours. Simply take a printed copy of your final route with you and being lost becomes a rarity. You can even feel safe to provide a copy for your clients if they are following you; in Houston I have yet to get lost using the Mapquest turn by turn directions.

There is one key feature that I enjoyed about Ask.com Maps multi-route planning tool that Mapquest has yet to implement. With Mapquest, you are not able to drag or rearrange the destinations based on the proximity with one another. I found this tool to be really handy on Ask.com Maps as I always didn’t know which was faster to get to each route. One way to work around this caveat with Mapquest is to simply enter the address where it becomes saved in your history. If you need to delete the destination on your list are re-insert it elsewhere, it’s quite simple after the initial input. Simply click on the “saved and recent” butt next to the address input box and a list will come up showing all your past searches for address. Click the desired address and your are done.

Mapping software has really been taking giant leaps forward. Through nearly everyday use, I’ve self-discovered that Mapquest has the most accurate directions that it’s competitors. Now that Mapquest allows for multi-route planning, which saves me from printing directions to and from each property, I am confident that all my mapping needs are now taken care of by Mapquest.

I wonder what the next improvement will be?

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I’ll admit it, I was a little flamboyant in regards to Verizon Wireless’s GPS capabilities on the phones. However, after experimenting with the phone for a month now, I’ve come to the conclusion that there is just too much time wasted fiddling with the gadget.

One of the primary objectives of incorporating technology into our daily lives is to make common tasks more efficient, not complex. When I continually used the GPS it seemed to take such a long time to initially setup; you have to browse to the appropriate section in the phone, punch in the address, and wait for the route to load using the downloaded software. It also lacked one function that I realized was much more important than originally planned.

When using services such as Mapquest, or Google Maps, you are given a route with a very important piece of information: The expected duration of your trip.

When planning tours with clients I discovered that it was vital for me to have this bit of information BEFORE getting into my car.  While I planned the trip, and scheduled with local showing services, it was very important for me to realize the time between trips to be able to accurately gauge the showing time slot.

It’s not impossible to do this one the cell phone GPS, but in order for it to calculate time you must actually be moving so that it can get an average speed. The online tools simply use some other form of method (which is suprisingly accurate) to determine the required time to get to your desination.

So for now, I’ve done away with my GPS system, let alone it would cost me $9.99 a month to upkeep.   I’ve reverted back to the simple flip phone to answer incoming calls, and have put the need for GPS on the backburner.

Once this need is realized again in the future, I will revisit it once again. At current time, however, it seems that GPS on a cell phone overcomplicates a simple task.

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A new mapping tool that just hit the web is Ask.com’s Mapping Tool. I’ve started to play with it a bit, but it seems to be a bit sluggish. Perhaps this is due to the mass hysteria that surrounds new software on it’s premier. None the less, this new mapping service is utilizing the AJAX standard, making the user interface intuitive and user friendly.

I particularly like that you can actually map more than one property and create a sort of “route plan”. Agents, this would be particularly useful to you when planning buyer tours. You can simply plug in the properties to be viewed and plot your course. Say goodbye to keymaps!

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