15 Technology Tools for Real Estate Agents
Digital adoption has been a major theme in recent years across industries. The real estate sector is no exception to this phenomenon.
There are some excellent tools available on the internet that real estate agents can especially benefit from. These tools will not only help improve the efficiency of work, but also ultimately add to the bottom line.
Read about some of the best available tools for real estate agents that you can leverage to transform your business. Thanks for being a reader today! We appreciate you!
Check this out: Real Estate Agent Marketing Tips & Lessons
Top 15 Tools & Apps for Realtors
#1: G Suite
G Suite by Google Cloud – Cloud has become a buzzword among tech experts and marketers. Leveraging freely available cloud technologies, such as Google’s G Suite, has plenty of benefits for all professionals including real estate agents. In fact, you may already be using some of these technologies.
Gmail, Google Docs, Google Calendar, and Google Drive are all part of the G Suite. Working on the cloud means that you can access all your emails, your documents, and your meeting schedules on any device. Cloud-based apps also allow you to collaborate with your office staff remotely or you can even hire freelancers on the other side of the world and collaborate with them easily.
Since you do not save actual files on a device, the security aspect is also more robust. Backup and recovery are also much better with Google Cloud. G Suite offers benefits like flexibility, higher efficiency, and top-class collaboration.
#2: Canva
Canva – Canva is a creative designing tool that can make your marketing material look sharp. You need absolutely no designing background to use Canva. The user interface is in a simple drag-and-drop format. So, you can pretty much design your newsletter or your marketing material the way you have visualized it in your mind. Text boxes, images, fonts, and other visual elements can be moved around and placed in a customized way.
You can even save templates are reuse them in order to save time. There are millions of images to choose from as well. Canva has pre-made templates, brochures, and social media graphics specifically for the real estate sector. So, real estate agents can get started with these templates.
#3: Hootsuite
Hootsuite – Social media is perhaps the most important platform in any digital marketing strategy. It is literally where life happens in the online world. Hootsuite allows you to pull all your social media accounts in one central location. You can manage posts, schedule them, and engage with your audiences on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and Linkedin from one location.
Hootsuite also allows you to create targeted posts. The free version of Hootsuite allows you to operate 3 social media accounts and post 30 times in a month. For a real estate agent, generating leads is one of the primary tasks. Social media is, perhaps, the number one medium online for lead generation. Leveraging social media is critical for your business and using Hootsuite can streamline the entire process of managing social media.
#4: Trello
Trello – When you have multiple team members each working on different tasks, tracking each one and managing the progress can be quite cumbersome. However, with Trello, you can aggregate the entire activity at a central location.
Trello uses cloud-based technology to allow the user to create boards for various projects. There are even ready-to-use boards specifically for real estate agents. On each board, you can create lists and cards.
Lists denote a stage of work while cards can be filled with specific tasks and details. You can assign cards to each team member and then allow them to upload their work to the card.
The cards can then be moved from one list (for under progress) to another (for finished work). It is like moving files from one desk to another, except you do that in the digital world and can do so anywhere in the world on any device.
#5: DocuSign
DocuSign – DocuSign is perhaps one of the most useful tools for real estate agents on this entire list. As an agent, you have to deal with plenty of paperwork and have banks or clients sign contracts and other documents.
Signing on physical paper can be time-consuming because you have to actually send the documents to the client and then to the bank and it can eat up valuable time. Sometimes, a signature gets missed or something isn’t legible enough to be read easily.
DocuSign solves all of these practical issues by allowing the necessary people to digitally sign and send documents. Being a cloud-based technology, DocuSign allows users to sign documents anywhere in the world, at any time, and on any device. DocuSign can truly increase the number of deals that an agent can close within a specific period of time.
#6: ConvertKit
ConvertKit Email Software – ConvertKit is an email marketing software similar to Mailchimp. It has some interesting features which make it unique. For example, you can tag your subscriber list according to their interests and activities. You can set up automated messages that will increase interaction with your audience.
ConvertKit also connects with other tools like WordPress and LeadPages. Real estate agents can design customized emails, create sign-up forms for any property tours, or even set up a landing page for a specific real estate project.
#7: Slack
Slack – Slack is like a work-version of AIM but with plenty of useful work-related features. The app is mainly a messaging and communication tool. However, you can also assign tasks, upload or share files, and collaborate with team members.
Slack has added multiple apps in recent times to make it more work-oriented. You can even add Trello lists and due dates, Twitter posts, and Google Drive documents to Slack. So, it has an open system that interfaces with certain aspects of other internet tools.
Slack also allows you to create public and private channels in which you can have different groups of people. Think of meeting rooms for different agendas, except these rooms are in the virtual world.
#8: WordPress
WordPress – A significant chunk of the websites in the world are made using WordPress. It is one of the most popular platforms for making a website. You can choose from free or paid templates, customize the look, create pages and posts, and even include payment gateways.
If you want to showcase properties or create listings, then there are templates to do just that. You can integrate with a WordPress plugin to connect to an IDX software to sync MLS listings with your website. See the next tool below, IDX Broker.
If you want a professional website with your own domain name, go for the paid version which requires buying a hosting plan through a company like Siteground. A website is the most basic necessity of any business in an internet-driven world and WordPress is the best platform to do it.
#9: IDX Broker
IDX Broker for websites – IDX Broker allows you to organize data from multiple listing sites and make it searchable and reviewable. It also allows a real estate agent to create professional websites that can showcase properties in an appealing way. While WordPress is a general website platform, IDX Broker will make it real estate specific. It also allows customers to view properties on a map. You can add useful features like a mortgage calculator as well.
#10: Streak CRM Gmail Extension
Streak CRM extension – If you use Gmail to reach out to prospects and clients, then you need a way to track how and when to follow up on people that you have reached out to. Having the extension in Gmail itself means that you do not have to go back-and-forth between a separate CRM system and Gmail. All tracking and further communication can be done in one location.
Streak creates a visually effective snapshot in your inbox using colorful headings. This allows you to easily spot the areas that need the most attention and areas where you have been doing well. You can even create templates of messages that you need to send out. It will save you the time to type out the same standard pitch every time a new lead is to be reached out.
#11: Copper CRM & Gmail Extension for Copper
Copper CRM – Staying with the CRM theme, Copper is another CRM tool useful to real estate agents. It works well with Google’s G Suite. You can see updates from tools like Slack, Google Drive, Gmail, etc. all in one place. You can also track performance with Copper’s analytics.
Email marketing, document storage, event reminders, and lead management can all be done quite seamlessly with Copper CRM. You can automate tasks, create templates for standard messages, and schedule meetings without spending much time. Copper literally frees up your time from tedious work and lets you spend that time doing what you should be – selling.
#12: Mailchimp
Mailchimp – This tool is perhaps a favorite of every digital marketer. It is by far the best website to create newsletters. Creating the newsletter is a very easy task as Mailchimp’s user interface is simple and has drag-drop elements as well. There are also pre-made templates that you can choose from if you are a first-time user.
You can also create a list of all your contacts, feed in their emails and other personal details, and then choose who to send a specific email to. Mailchimp tracks important metrics like the email open-rate, the click-rate on links within your email, and the bounce rates.
Whether you want to engage clients, tenants, suppliers, or any other stakeholder, Mailchimp lets you do so without having designing or coding skills.
#13: Animoto
Animoto – Every business professional and entrepreneur needs to learn how to make videos. YouTube is filled with marketing videos. Real estate is one sector that can benefit disproportionately through video marketing.
The reason is that it allows anyone sitting anywhere in the world to view a property and do a virtual walkthrough without going anywhere.
Real estate agents must learn how to leverage videos. Animoto is one of the best tools to make promotional videos. It has a simple drag-drop interface so that anyone can get started right away.
There are pre-built storyboards that you can choose from. You can add slides, photos, testimonials, and even background music. You can make a professional-looking video in minutes. There is no need to master video editing software when you can simply use Animoto.
#14: Facebook Business Manager
Facebook Business Manager for Ads – Advertising on Facebook can be a very cost-effective activity. It allows you to work on a low budget and reach out to specific types of audiences. The targeted nature makes Facebook Ads an effective way of marketing properties and real estate deals.
Facebook Business Manager for Ads allows you to create campaigns and track its success rate. You can choose from among various goals such as promoting a post, driving traffic to websites, or getting a high click rate on a specific ad. This tool is a must-have for any social media marketing strategy.
#15: Google Ads Manager
Google Ads Manager for Ads – Google is the most used search engine on the planet. Anyone looking for real estate deals in a specific area is more likely to first go on Google than do anything else. Therefore, you must be visible in the search results when that potential client hits the search button.
Google Ads Manager allows you to place ads not only on the search page, but also through its network on various websites via Google Ads. You can even have your ads display on mobile apps. Google’s analytics will let you monitor your campaigns. If you set up Google Analytics on your website, then it will integrate nicely with your ads campaign and give you a more comprehensive report.