The Mobile Agent

Many agents in the industry today acknowledge they are mobile. The majority of agents I know have some form of PDA device (Blackberry, IPhone, Palm, etc..) and a laptop. While having one of these devices does establish a mobile presence, many of these agents may not be utilizing their devices to ensure they are not only productive and efficient while away from the office, but cutting edge as well.


Know Your Device and Equipment

Whether it's an IPhone or a Blackberry, today's agent must understand the full capacity of their device to maximize their productivity. This means constantly being in tune with the latest apps and updates their devices offer. If not already, soon there will be an application for practically everything imaginable.

I chose an IPhone. The IPhone has mortgage calculators, loan apps with client management, property searching apps, and recently an app that is perfect for the real estate professional - AgentWorx (not yet available for Blackberry). AgentWorx organizes your listings and details along with your buyers from a dashboard. Let's say you get a call from a sign. Simply go to that listing on your IPhone and the specs and details are right there! There is also a leads tab and features a way to forecast future income. Another featured app the IPhone has is MobileMe. This instantly updates all of my outlook contacts and appointments with my IPhone wirelessly. I then have a Groups App that automatically imports specific groups I create, and color coordinates each group. Being a Broker, this allows me to e-mail our office as a whole or any other group by tapping the screen. It's that simple. Recently, one of my agents was selected for our MLS company's beta-testing for a mobile MLS app. From what he showed me, it looked great! So whether you are using a PDA, Laptop or Netbook with Wireless plan, or all of them, your business is now everywhere you go whenever you need it.

How Far Will Technology Go?

My philosophy as both a broker and an agent is technology will only get more advanced and more complex. While it's initial use will be fairly easy, complete utilization will take some craft. The real estate office will become smaller and more remote (this is already happening). The water cooler chatter will be replaced by texting and blogs, and offices will become more barren as work becomes more mobile. I particularly am in favor of this. I am accessible 24/7 via my mobile device to my agents and clients. I have web-based servers that maintain our files, and I can handle 75% (or more) of the issues away from the office (as can most of our agents). Technology is advancing quickly and is here to stay. Embrace it now and make it an integral part of how you run your business.