Mobile Phax is 1 of 7 Top Must-Have Apps

This list was created by Daily Real Estate News | August 26, 2010 |

– 7 Must-Have Apps for Your Smartphone:
From faxing on-the-go to creating property “reminder” tours, several new applications for smartphones aim to help improve your efficiency while away from your office and impress clients.

James Dwiggins, chief strategy officer with Realty World Northern California and Nevada, provided dozens of mobile application and Web site ideas to attendees at Inman News’ Agent Reboot on Wednesday in San Diego. Agent Reboot is a series of one-day conferences nationwide that highlight the latest marketing and technology trends.

Among some of the apps Dwiggins highlighted included:

1. Gist: Pull together all your contacts from your address book, inboxes, and social networks to access all in one place. The app also pulls in your contacts’ status updates from their social networking pages, blog posts, and news to create an up-to-date business profile for all of your contacts. iPhone and Android. Free.

2. RECalc: Figure monthly payments, interest rates, and loan amounts with this mortgage calculator app. It also allows you to add in annual property tax and home owners’ insurance to give a snapshot to your clients about what they can expect to pay. iPhone. $1.99. For Android users, try Karl’s Mortgage Calculator. Free.

3. Expensify: Keep tabs on your expenses and get rid of the hoards of paper receipts. Take a photo of paper receipts with your phone’s camera and the receipts will be stored online digitally. This app also allows you an easier way to keep track of your mileage when driving clients around for tax purposes later on. iPad, iPhone, Blackberry, Android, Palm, PC, and Mac. Two accounts are free, $5 per account after.

4. Mobile Phax: Take a photo of any letter-sized document or page and this app will allow you to then send it as a PDF to any e-mail address. You can also send the document directly to a fax machine using eFax, fax(.com), send2fax, and other compatible fax programs. iPhone and Blackberry. $4.99 (plus packs available for additional monthly faxes).

5. Tour Narrator: Capture your customers feedback while they tour homes by using your phone to snap photos, take notes, and record audio. The information you gather can then be used to create a sales presentation that can be converted into a PDF with a URL that you can later send to clients. They’ll be able to browse through the properties and see the notes, photos, and listen to the audio as reminders of what they liked and disliked about the homes they toured. iPhone. $1.99.

6. Realtor.com: Access millions of listings with photos and property details, open house information, and map searches. You can also share listings via social networks. iPhone. Free.

7. Vlingo: Talk to your phone and tell it what to do. You can send text messages and e-mails by speaking your message. The phone will transcribe it to text and send, offeringa safer way to text and e-mail while driving. iPhone, Android, and Blackberry. $10.