Editor’s note: Inman News wants to hear about the go-to mobile apps you are using for your real estate work. We are reaching out to real estate professionals to share three to five mobile apps they use most in their daily work. Got an apps list you’d like to share? Drop us a note at press@sandbox.inman.com, with the subject line: "apps list."
Chris Nichols is a branch broker for Prudential Utah Elite Real Estate. He was 2011 Realtor of the Year for the Utah County Association of Realtors, where he is also a past president. Chris is a graduate of the National Association of Realtors Leadership Academy. He uses an iPad, a Macbook Pro and a Samsung Galaxy S Android phone in his business.
Google Calendar
Platform: iPhone, iPad, Android
Cost: Free
Realm: Productivity
 Chris Nichols |
NICHOLS: This is an invaluable app for me! Google Calendar keeps me on track as a broker, serving at our local, state and national associations, and the many other things I have going on in my life! It allows (sharing), different calendar layers, (and allows me to) make changes on my smartphone that then reflect on my Mac or iPad. I’m not sure how I (got all of this done) before Google Calendar!
Evernote
Platforms: iPhone, iPad, Android, Blackberry, Windows Phone 7, HPwebOS
Cost: Free
Realm: Productivity
NICHOLS: I’ve been using Evernote daily for sometime now. It’s a great tool for real estate agents to use with clients, especially when working with buyers and showing homes or doing a final walk-through.
I also store all of my current … listing sheets here for easy and quick access across all three platforms (iPad, Mac, Android). I also use Evernote as my blog content journal. It’s a great way to jot down notes as you are out and about and see something that inspires a new blog post.
Having all of my active contracts here is extremely helpful when a question comes up, such as an approaching deadline, etc. I also use the file-sharing capabilities to share things with both my agents and the clients I am currently working with.
Path
Platforms: iPhone, Android
Cost: Free
Realm: Social Networking
NICHOLS: I started using PixelPipe … to share content to my different social channels. Since discovering Path late last year, I have switched to it. I don’t really use it as a stand-alone social network (while it is that); I really use it for the ease of posting to, say, Twitter, Facebook and Foursquare all at once.
REALTOR.com
Platforms: iPhone, iPad, Android, Windows Phone 7
Cost: Free
Realm: Lifestyle
NICHOLS: I tend to be out and about a lot. I always like to pull out this app and just see what’s available around me. It helps me keep up to date about what’s going on in my market. More than once, I have stumbled across a home that might work for a client.
It’s also a great tool to use when you are showing homes to buyers. Being able to share things like the average price per square foot in the area, or what comparable homes are selling for, is always a great thing to have readily available. Plus, the buyers love to play around with it on my iPad!
Google Currents & Zite
Platforms available: (Google Currents) iPhone, iPad, Android; (Zite) iPhone, iPad, HPwebOS
Cost: Free
Realm: News
NICHOLS: I typically start and end my days here. I like how Zite learns what I like to read as I use it and indexes what my friends are talking about most in social networks. Google Currents makes it easy for me to keep track of new content posted to my favorite site.
Both of these help me stay up to date with what’s going on in real estate, social media, finance and so much more. It really gets me to the meat of the content I want and saves me lots of time.
Got an apps list you’d like to share? Drop us a note at press@sandbox.inman.com, with the subject line: "apps list."