Technology For Agents

In 2007, two fellows by the name of Drew Houston and Arash Ferdowski had a notion that file sharing and storage was way too complicated, and that it needed to be simplified. Sounds pretty crazy, hmm? I’ve tried their solution, Dropbox, and what can I say; it’s a piece of cake.

In the real estate world, we have a ton of documentation that’s flying around the office. Buyers have residential purchase contracts and third party financing agreements. Sellers have listing agreements along with Seller Disclosures; not including revisions made to each ones.

Keeping track of all of this documentation can be quite tedious, and as I see it, real estate agents stand to gain from any provider of online tools that aims to simplify a crucial segment of our business.

Installation

Installing Dropbox was a breeze. I was actually accepted into the beta, so in order to activate my copy I had to provide the code that was given to me in my acceptance email (no you can’t have it – but I have a surprise for you!).

I was then instructed to download an executable file, which installed on my computer like normal. On the bottom right of my screen, you’ll see a nifty little task bar icon that serves a purpose:

• Right clicking on it allows you the option to open your Dropbox, which is just like a “My Documents” folder. It looks like any other folder you have on your computer.
• Right clicking on it will also reveal your disk space usage. Currently, I’m given a free 2GB of space.
• Finally, right clicking also allows you to submit feedback to their team.
• Double-left clicking allows you to open the online folder.

Most agents have become familiar with the good ol’ drag and drop feature, which allows you to copy over files to new folders without have to right-click copy, right-click paste. Moving files to your Dropbox can be done exactly the same way.

Simply find the file on your computer, drag it to your Dropbox window (after opening it), and voila! It’s copied over to your online storage after it syncs up.

Sync’ing

Synchronization speed is really dependent on your internet connection to be honest. If you’re by chance still working with a dial up, then it’ll take quite a bit longer than someone with a high-speed broadband connection. I’ll put my money on most agents having some form of broadband connection so this shouldn’t really be an issue.

Dropbox also has a web interface where you can view all your files stored online. There are also additional features, such as folder sharing and public linking that could prove useful in the day to day business of real estate.

To share a new folder, you simply name your folder and enter the email address of the individual that you’d like to share it with. That’s pretty much all there is to it. It’s nice to see that they really do makes things simple and intuitive.

Security

This is a really important subject. If agents are going to use a service like this to store all their files online, then it better be REALLY secure. Here’s what the team at Dropbox has to say about security:

We take utmost care to ensure Dropbox is secure. All transport of file data and file metadata occurs over SSL. Files are encrypted with AES-256 before being stored on our backend.

Conclusion

Overall I have a really good feeling about Dropbox. Real estate agents have been craving for reliable online storage for a while that doesn’t cost an arm and a leg. They also want a provider that doesn’t make you jump through hurdles and is simple and intuitive to use.

Dropbox (so far) nails this right on the head. If you’d like to see Dropbox in action, watch this video on their homepage.

About that surprise: I have TEN free invitations to use participate in the Dropbox beta. In a post a little later today, I will be revealing the contest to get your own invite to the Dropbox beta.

Update: Read up on the Dropbox Beta Invitation Contest.  Participate and get your very own invitation.

Don’t worry; physical feats of strength will not be required.

-SC-