I love gadgets. The more lights, bells, and whistles, the more I like it. I’ve had a cell phone since my undergrad days, a laptop since getting my Bachelor’s degree, and have had my desktop tower cover taken off more than it was ever put together.I got my first Palm m100 about 8 years ago and loved it, and eventually had the Treo 755p phone/PDA convergence. What I loved so much about Palm and their products was the software available for them that I found useful for business, education, and for lifestyle.
Then Apple came out with the iPhone and blew the guts out of my wee little Treo. I got once as soon as they were available through my mobile provider – and once they had them in stock! – and am totally in love with my 32gb iPhone 4G.
Dennis switched too once he saw how much I loved mine, although he’s not as app-crazy as I am. I currently have 166 apps that I’ve downloaded and kept, mostly photography-related apps. But what’s really exciting is all the new FREE apps that are great on their own as well as several that are great for people in real estate. First up: the real-estate specific apps.
1. Realtor.ca
This is an independent app put out by Realtor.ca and allows users to search for properties currently listed for sale near them using the built-in GPS. You can also search for open houses, search for a realtor, and even save your current agent, your favourite properties, or look up properties according to their MLS number. The drawbacks? Unfortunately it does not show recent sales, which is also important to buyers when making their decisions about where they want to move.
2. CIBC Home Advisor
There is no shortage of mortgage calculators available in the App Store, and while they all do pretty much the same thing, CIBC’s app looks to provide users with more information about the home buying process, as well as comparing rental versus ownership costs, “affordability” in addition to the mortgage calculator, and a number of articles about mortgages, equity, and the process of purchasing a home. On the plus side: Get pre-approved for your mortgage ON YOUR IPHONE with a 90-day approval certificate. Drawbacks: It’s only for CIBC. If you’re not a member of CIBC, the pre-approval function may not be appropriate for you, and many times a mortgage broker may be a better choice for buyers as they are able to access lenders from a variety of banks and other sources. Also, I don’t know that I want to share my financial transaction information over Facebook and/or Twitter.
3. MagicPlan
Whenever we go into a new listing to take photos and record information about the house, we need to determine the layout and dimensions of the rooms. It was often challenging with only a notepad and a tape measure, and then trying to remember the floor plans and how the rooms were arranged from memory. And if the homeowner didn’t have the original plans available… well, that’s why all contracts state that the measurements are approximate and it is the Buyer’s responsibility to verify them.
But with MagicPlan, after watching the video tutorials for each step, you need only spend about 10 minutes calibrating the app and then you can measure, arrange, and identify the rooms on each floor of the property you’re working with. Pros: with practice, users can create accurate, professional floor plans for residential properties. Drawbacks: Most apps don’t have a real learning curve and after only one use I know already that I need more practice, particularly for oddly-shaped rooms. But so far I like it, I think it’s going to be a great help to me, and it’s FREE!
Apps for Everyone!
What really drew me to the iPhone in the first place was the advances in the built-in camera compared to my first camera phone. My camera in my Treo was terrible; grainy, poor resolution, small image size, and very little you could do with it. With the iPhone, the quality is as good or better than my first 2-megapixel digital camera was, and with the retina display, users have the capability for high-def resolution in both photos and video.
I won’t get into camera apps, there are far too many to start with and they’ve been covered by a lot of other great tech sources such as TechRepublic.com. But once you have those pictures, there are some really neat apps available.
1. Zapd
Publish a unique webpage in 60 seconds. Okay, that’s their selling line and sure, it took me a bit longer than that the first time I used it, but it was still super-quick! The app comes with twenty pre-l0aded webpage templates with more promised in future updates, and easy buttons to add your text, photos, and web links. Include as much or as little information as you want about yourself, and in publishing your page you can share it on Facebook and/or Twitter. It would also be easy enough to email the link to friends, family, customers, whoever you think might want to see the webpage you’ve created on your iPhone.
The pages are optimized for viewing on a mobile device, but look great on a desktop or laptop screen, too. Not yet available for the iPad, and not available for the Blackberry or Android. And FREE! Did I mention it’s FREE?
2. Viddy
Photography apps are very popular, especially when you can choose your “filters” or “lenses”; the processing algorithms to change the look of your photos. Now this processing choice is available for your videos. Viddy is similar to Instagram in its interface and provides users with a community for sharing short videos of 15 seconds or less. While I may not use this app for virtual tours of our new listings, it’s definitely a fun app for little vignettes of daily life.
Shoot your video with the Viddy application itself or choose one of your existing videos. Then choose from six different effects and adjust the sliders for how much of that effect to apply to your video as well as how much of the music soundtrack you wish to accompany your video. Each effect has a different soundtrack to change the mood of your video. The result is a fun little video that you can produce and then share with Viddy community as well as Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube. Foursquare and Tumblr are coming in future updates as well.
3. Vimeo
Similar to Viddy, but Vimeo allows for longer videos. Currently only offering two processing effects, but likely more are in the works as well. Shoot your video with the Vimeo app or choose an existing video. Users are also able to add clips from other videos and includes a video editor for transitions, titles, and audio from their pre-loaded recordings or import new ones from your iPhone or from iTunes itself. Upload to share with the Vimeo community or save to your iPhone and then email, post, or upload it wherever you like.
4. Splice
Also similar to Vimeo in that it allows for longer videos than Viddy, but is a video-editor app only. Doesn’t record or upload, but allows a little more control in your editing and rendering. Some pre-loaded effects and audio, with more available via in-app purchases from the Splice store.
5. Twitter
I’m not sure I can talk about marketing homes for sale without acknowledging the growing influence of Twitter in the consumer marketplace. Your choice of Twitter app – I use Echofon on my iPhone and Tweetdeck on my laptop – isn’t quite as important as HOW you use Twitter and who your followers are.
For real estate I have one set of Twitter accounts (@surreyhomesales and @kellymbohl) while I have a private one for friends and family. Why multiple accounts? Well, my friends might be amused to know that the boss and I are planning the office golf tournament, but they might not be so interested in our new listings for sale. Particularly if those friends live outside of Canada. Hence a separate account for real estate with hashtags to make searching for homes for sale in Surrey easier.
I love my apps. I love my iPhone. Sorry BlackBerry and Android, but Apple just made it a lot easier for me to do my job and gave me the tools to do it better, faster, and with more features.
What are some of your favourite apps? Drop me an email at kelly@surreyproperties.com, tweet me at @surreyhomesales, or check out the rest of our website at surreyproperties.com which is now OPTIMIZED for mobile devices. We’d love to hear from you.
Dennis Fung
Kelly Bohl
