The BlackBerry has ranked as the most popular smart phone among real estate professionals, according to a report released this year by the National Association of Realtors’ Center for Realtor Technology.
The report’s results are based on 1,485 responses to a survey the center conducted in January about Realtors’ smart phone use. About 41 percent of respondents said they use a BlackBerry to do business, while 26 percent use an iPhone and 14 percent use a Palm device.
Respondents were most likely to be considering either a BlackBerry or an iPhone for a future smart phone purchase, the report found.
The following is a list of the BlackBerry App World‘s free and paid apps in its "Business-Real estate" category ranked by popularity. According to the company, the apps are ranked using a metric that takes into account information from the written reviews, in addition to the star rating. Most of the apps are free. The most expensive one is $6.99. They are listed in the order they appear on the site, along with their self-described features.
1. Real Estate Powered by Smarter Agent (Free): search for homes for sale, recently sold homes and apartments for rent by address or current location; filter search by property type, price range, and number of beds and baths; see price, square footage, estimated mortgage, photos, and other property details; save favorite listings; contact an agent to get questions answered or schedule a tour through a "Call to See" button.
2. BlackTrack Lite for Real Estate Professionals (Free): logs phone and e-mail activity automatically; sends daily or weekly e-mail reports that include date, time, duration of call or e-mail, and any other notes you add.
3. Midland Mobile Property Price Chart (Free): see Hong Kong property market information, including price charts, available listings, and transactions data updated daily; search nearby listings through built-in GPS; connect to someone who can answer sales questions. This app is available in English and traditional as well as simplified Chinese.
4. Apartments by ForRent.com (Free): see property information for more than 50,000 listings in more than 190 markets, including floor plans, prices, video tours, and agent contact details; search listings by city, ZIP code or state; save favorites.
5. Ottawa Real Estate (Free): see listings in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada; call or e-mail sales agent Ian Charlebois with Royal LePage Performance Realty.
6. Real Estate Calculator ($4.99, free trial available): tally up a property’s investment potential, including monthly cash flow, rate of return, equity buildup over time, monthly mortgage payments, and appreciation; save multiple calculations and compare properties side-by-side.
7. Proxi-Homes (Free): search properties in Singapore; see quality photos; view nearby amenities; e-mail or call the agent.
8. LaCapitaleVendu Mobile (Free): find nearby properties for sale or rent in Quebec, Canada; view listings on a map; get turn-by-turn directions; see photos and other listing information, including agent contact information.
9. NYT (New York Times) Real Estate Search (Free): search listings for sale or rent in New York, New Jersey, Connecticut, and elsewhere in the U.S. and worldwide.
10. Loan Calculator ($2.99): plug in principal, interest and loan term to calculate monthly payment or do the opposite to figure out what the right interest rate would be for your preferred monthly payment.
11. UDR Apartment Finder (Free): search apartment listings for rent in select metro areas nationwide; find pet-friendly units and short-term rentals for business or pleasure.
12. Pocket 10B SE Business Calculator for BlackBerry Storm ($6.99): calculate cash flow, amortization, appreciation, expenses, and interest-rate conversions, as well as other functions that could be relevant to the future operation of a business, including statistics functions, linear regression, and co-efficient of determination.
13. Monthly Payment Calculator ($4.99): figure out monthly payment for a home given the loan amount, number of payments, and interest rate.
14. EstateOffice Mobile (Free): access your estateOffice customer relationship management data; call and send e-mails from the app, which are automatically logged in the app’s activity history; map all activity history for contacts; obtain listings information, including price, photos, location, and square meterage. Only available in German.
15. EstatePro Mobile (Free): access your estatePro customer relationship management data; call and send e-mails from the app, which are automatically logged in the app’s activity history; map all activity history for contacts; obtain listings information, including price, photos, location, and square meterage. Only available in German.
16. Ontario Land Transfer Tax Calculator ($4.99): calculate the city and state land transfer taxes on a given home in Toronto, Ontario based on purchase price. The app also includes calculators for government rebates for first-time buyers and gives a final land transfer calculation taking both the taxes and rebates into account.
17. JLR Mobile (Free): find historical information on real estate transactions in Quebec, including municipal evaluations of the property value, demographic statistics, property details, owner information, and any renovation permits issued on the property.
Here are some examples of other apps that could be useful that also relate to real estate but did not show up in the real estate category: Dictionary of Real Estate Terms, Homes by Homes.com, Mortgage Calculator PRO, Mortgage Solver, MyLoanCalc, REXconnect, HandyLogs Money, Call Time Tracker by momentem, Mobisco, and ProOngo Expense Beta with Receipt Reader.
According to the tech blog Tech Crunch, the average price for a BlackBerry application is more than three times that of similar apps in the Apple Store and Android Market — perhaps because of the BlackBerry’s predominance among business folks.
