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Mobile Technology for Real Estate Agents

Mobile technology is particularly exciting for real estate, because it allows the agent or broker to operate in real time, providing top notch service and response.

Real estate professionals have never been, as a whole, early adopters of technology, despite proven benefits. But falling behind when it comes to applicable technology can cost you money, and a lot of it. Mobile technology for real estate agents is a hot, growing field. What do you know about it?

The average real estate agent is in his or her mid-50s (57, to be exact). This is a contributing factor to the prevalent use of outdated technology in the business. But realtors are adopting mobile technology. Smartphones are commonplace. Tablets and iPads are growing in popularity. These devices enable location aware applications at very reasonable price points, designed for use on systems most people are already familiar with. It’s win-win-win-win!

Mobile technology is particularly exciting for real estate, because it allows the agent or broker to operate in real time, providing top notch service and response.

Handy SMS mobile tools like Smart Lead Capture allow real estate professionals to market their listings and capture leads over mobile devices. With smart lead capture, agents and brokers can capture leads by offering their clients the ability to “text for more information” about a property listed for sale or rent. The system stores and displays all of the property information and displays it to the prospects in a manner that best fits the user’s mobile phone. Information can be sent as a text message or over the internet via a mobile browser.

You can also ensure you never miss a text lead by setting up SMS Auto-Responder technology. Similar to email auto-responders, SMS Auto-Responders allow you to send an automated response via text message as soon as a prospect utilizes your text for information service provided by Smart Lead Capture. You can write custom messages for each of your listings, and they’ll be sent automatically.

Over half of prospects (56%) expect to be contacted within 30 minutes of expressing interest in a property, according to NAR statistics. This kind of high expectation leaves no margin for error. Taking advantage of the many affordable mobile technology tools now available to real estate professionals helps you close the gap, more and more.

Mobile applications like Lead Alert send instant leads via SMS (text) message, so that follow-up can happen in real time. Respond while a prospective buyer’s interest is at its peak – while they’re standing in front of the property or clicking through its individual property website.

We could spend weeks covering mobile technology for real estate professionals (and maybe we will!), but this is a great place to start. There is no shortage of awesome applications and new developments. Just a little investment will take you and your real estate business a long way.

Why You Need a Mobile Website

Why Do You Need a Mobile Website? The short answer: Because more and more people are accessing the Web via their mobile devices, and your desktop Website is likely not providing them with a very good user experience.

What is Mobile Web?

The Mobile Web is defined as the use of Internet-connected applications, or browser-based access to the Internet from a mobile device such as a smartphone, connected to a wireless network. In plain English, it means accessing everything that the Internet has to offer anywhere, anytime, from your smartphone.

Mobile is Hot

Not that long ago, people used to access the Internet through their PC or laptop, from home. But current research shows that this is changing fast. Mobile is a hot trend, and in fact, it’s more than a trend – it looks as if it is the next generation of Internet usage.

Mobile Access to Traditional Sites

As more and more Internet users expect to get the information they need using their mobile device, you as an agent and as a website owner should start paying attention to how your site looks in a mobile device. Your desktop website probably doesn’t look very good when accessed from a mobile device. If you want to make mobile user experience better, you have a few options.

Make Your Site Mobile Friendly

You can hire a software developer to make a few coding changes to your site that will make it more mobile-friendly. The advantage to taking this route is that you keep everything in one place but make access to your site easy to both desktop and mobile users.

Develop a Mobile Site

More and more companies are offering their services as developers of mobile sites. In fact, the .mobi top level domain was launched specifically for the mobile Internet and is used to make sure sites comply with mobile web standards to ensure visitors a consistent and optimized experience on their mobile device.

Develop a Mobile App

The same developer who can build you a mobile site, or make your desktop site more mobile friendly, can also build you a mobile app. Mobile Applications enable users of mobile devices to access the Internet directly through the application, without accessing a browser first. Since apps are built for mobile devices, they ensure an optimal Internet experience for mobile Web users.

If you consider going this route, remember that data shows that apps with practical use work best at long term, continued usage. So while a “cool” or “fun” aspect is great, the most important thing is to come up with an app that adds value to home buyers and home sellers.

RealEstateSites.com includes a free mobile version with every standard website! Check it out from your iphone at www.KimAgent.com.