Just yesterday, I received in my inbox a very exciting email from the folks at 1000 Watt Consulting announcing that for the first time, they are debuting their own app! The app is called How’s the Market.

According to the email,

“The goal for How’s the Market is to help agents get their street-level market knowledge out to prospects and clients easily, clearly and elegantly.”

Put more simply, it’s going to help real estate professionals quickly answer the question “How’s the market?”

As a Realtor, don’t you get asked that all the time? I know I do! As soon as I mention I work with in the real estate industry, it’s the first things people want to know about.

Brian Boero, co-founder of 1000 Watt Consulting posted this on the 1000 Watt blog:

“Street-level real estate knowledge is irreplaceable. No matter how many charts and graphs you can get online, there’s nothing more valuable than a well-informed opinion from a professional with experience in your neighborhood or on your street….If you give people what you know they want how they want it… well, that’s not just good marketing – it’s also great branding.”

I spoke to Joel Burslem from 1000 Watt (and founder of FOREM) who said this:

“The app is really designed to solve two problems. One, consumers really want what only Realtors know. Second, Realtors don’t have an easy way to share their knowledge. How’s the Market aims to fix this disconnect.”

1000 Watt says it’s goal is to launch the app by early summer. The app is being built as a web app for launch – HTML5 – so it will be available cross platform and on mobile devices. They anticipate building native iOS (iOS, iPad) and Android versions shortly thereafter, depending on demand.

For a limited time, they are accepting names into the wait list for their Beta.

Joel emphasized to me that the Beta is only open for a limited time, so sign up as soon as poosible! You can sign up on their web page www.howsthemarket.com. Since the launch yesterday, 1000 Watt has received hundreds of requests to be a part of their Beta. I already signed up and am looking forward to seeing this first app from this very talented team.

What do you think? Did you sign up? I love your feedback, leave me a comment below!

Written by: Katie Lance, Social Media Director, Inman News, @katielance

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Many people are calling March in real estate tech world as “March Madness!” How do you make the most of your time at a conference? What are some apps to make the experience even better?

Here are 7 of my favorite apps for real estate conferences or events:

1. AudioBoo – Create an audio recording up to 5 minutes in length – this is fantastic for  audio blogging, interviewing a speaker or just audio recording a few key notes you don’t want to forget!
2. Lanyrd – Ever wonder when the next big conference is? Lanyrd is a directory of conferences, events and speakers. Visitors can sign in with Twitter to see events their friends are attending or speaking at, submit new events, add talks that they have given and build up their speaker profile. The site also indexes videos, slide decks, audio clips and write-ups of talks given at previous events.
3. Foursquare – Definitely a must-have app for a conference. Check in at the location but also the name of the event i.e. “Agent Reboot Phoenix”. Upload photos, share tips, see who has already arrived and have the ability to set up a few lunch meetings!
4. Urbanspoon – At a conference you are always looking for a great local restaurant. Urbanspoon is one of my favorite apps to use in a city I am unfamiliar with – see reviews, maps, ratings, cost, and more.
5. HootSuite – I am a huge fan of HootSuite. I love being able to save the hashtag of the event so I can easily check out what people are talking about and then retweet and get engaged in what people are talking about. I also love the ability to schedule  my tweets – I may choose to not fire off 10 tweets in a row but schedule them out 5 minutes at a time to not annoy anyone! I love of people really like TweetDeck as well – just a personal preference – but one of these is definitely a must-have!
6. Facebook – Definitely a “given” app to have on your phone, but at a conference, you can use it to easily upload photos, videos and comments right from your photo to the conference Facebook page. Make sure you save the conference page (i.e. facebook.com/agentreboot) as a “favorite” on your phone so you can get to it right away!
7. CardMunch – I just discovered this tonight via Reggie Nicolay – but this is a really awesome app! Take a picture of business cards received and they automatically sync to your iPhone contacts. How cool is that?!

What are your favorite apps? Leave me a comment below so I can add it to my arsenal!

Written by: Katie Lance, Senior Marketing Manager, Inman News, @katielance

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I just downloaded one of the coolest and latest real estate apps on the iPad – the new “House of the Day” app from The Wall Street Journal. Just released this week, this app is based on the popular “House of the Day” feature from WSJ.com, in which readers can peak inside breathtaking houses all across the country.

What I love most about this app is that it is sleek, features gorgeous full-screen photos and minimal text. At first glance, the app features a variety of luxury homes from the beaches of Santa Monica, to the snowy ski slopes in Aspen, and the lavish apartments in Manhattan. In the coming weeks, dedicated sections for homes in NYC, Europe, and Asia will also be added.

According to WSJ.com, the app features included:

• Homes with vivid slideshows for a close and inside look at architecture, landscaping and design details
• Share the latest houses on Facebook and Twitter or email photos to friends
• Save images to the photos folder on the iPad or within the app

You can download the app from the iTunes store here >>

The big question I’m sure every real estate agent is asking is, “How do I get my listing on here?” I have checked with their media kit and have contacted several different sources at the WSJ and have yet to receive an answer. I t would only make sens to me that they would monetize this as an ad product. As soon as I know the pricing and process I will post it here.

Have you downloaded this yet app yet? What do you think? Leave me your feedback below!

Written by: Katie Lance, Senior Marketing Manager, Inman News, @katielance

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On this U.S. holiday, Presidents’ Day, I thought it would be fun to share 5 fun iPhone apps I found this weekend. I realize they may have not a whole lot to do with real estate, but I’m hoping on this day that you can take a moment and think about what this day is all about… even if it’s done through your iPhone!

5 Fun President’s Day Apps

1. The White House (FREE) – Just a very cool app that includes photos and interesting info about 1600 Pennsylvania Ave. Side note, I just realized you can pull up a Zestimate for the White House – I don’t think the house is ready for the market yet, do you?
2. Top 100 USA Historical Documents ($.99) – Ever want to read the constitution or the Declaration of Independence? Now you can on your phone – awesome app for history junkies!
3. Hail to the Chief Button (FREE) –  Now this is just cool – need a little pick me up? Push one button to hear “hail to the chief!”
4. Political Terms ($.99) – Easy to use resource for terms all things political
5. US Presidents Match ‘Em Up History ($.99) – Fun match game for adults and kids. Think you know your presidents? Think again!

Check them all out in the iTunes app store >>

For all of our U.S. readers – have a wonderful President’s Day!

Written by: Katie Lance, Senior Marketing Manager, Inman News @katielance

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Chad Fisher enjoys life as an entrepreneur, developing sites to help people find
affordable housing, and creating a resource for users to compare auto insurance quotes from companies in their state.

An Android smart phone can be a real estate agent’s best friend. Rather than having to trudge back to the office or make a phone call when an impromptu inquiry pops up, you can have all the information you need in a jiffy. Real estate agents fulfill so many roles that you probably need more than just five good apps to get the job done. Still, these five apps are useful to any agent. They are available directly on your phone and can provide the information you need in just a few clicks.

1. Suburb Scout

This handy app highlights anything that might affect the property value of a home. It will show you at a glance how far away the nearest airport is, if there is a landfill in the area, or the proximity of the local power plants. Prisons in the area are also highlighted. REALTORS® and home shoppers can use this tool to eliminate any unexpected surprises before they get too far into the home buying process.

2. Smarter Agent

This clean-cut, easy-to-navigate app helps anyone locate the nearest homes or apartments for rent or sale. You can look up the prices for any listed property, as well as recent photos and maps of the location. You can also get a quick average of home values in the neighborhood by researching the prices that area homes have sold for within the last three years. Users can browse by price or location and narrow searches easily. Even REALTOR Magazine likes this app as a tool to share with clients. It’s a freebee you can offer that lets clients search the MLS based on GPS coordinates and other criteria.

3. Google Voice

Google Voice is quickly becoming one of the most useful tools for real estate agents. Once you establish your own Google phone number you can use the native Android app to send voice messages as well as text messages. You can also listen to voicemails or read text transcripts of the voicemails directly from Google. Since it is part of the Google suite of applications, it automatically incorporates all of your contacts and information in one place on your phone. It’s never been easier to stay in contact with prospects, the office and other agents.

4. Google Maps

Google Maps continues to improve its excellent interface. You can follow a GPS signal to make sure you are headed in the right direction, no matter what part of town you need to locate. You can use the app to locate businesses or schools in the area. It will calculate the distance between locations and give you a good estimate of how much time it will take to travel that distance. If you like, you can choose to get driving directions in a simple list form. You can also receive driving directions in a graphical interface that shows exactly where each turn is along the route.

5. Karl’s Mortgage Calculator

Nothing works better than a visual aid when trying to help prospective buyers understand the value of a home and the cost of a mortgage. Karl’s Mortgage Calculator helps you fulfill your role as adviser when buyers are considering a purchase. It offers a sophisticated visual analysis of loans and investments to help buyers feel confident about their purchases. Try different interest rates, early payoffs or extra payments for “what if” scenarios.

Other helpful apps that you might consider include Remember the Milk for a to-do list, iHandy Carpenter to get that last-minute wall hanging up straight, Evernote for capturing and organizing any type of information you need, Dropbox for storing and sharing documents in the cloud, and Safe Neighborhood to help clients with concerns about locating convicted offenders in the area.

What are your favorite Android apps?

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This Easter weekend, if you get tired of chocolate bunnies and easter eggs, check out some of these cool smart phone apps!

Here are my 5 favorite Easter apps:

Dress Eggy (FREE) – Dress up your virtual egg with fun patterns, icing designs, cute backgrounds and fonts. When you’re done, record a message that gets delivered with your Easter postcard.

Easter Scratch (FREE) Make a scratch-off Easter card, similar to a scratch-off lottery card. You can even customize the card with personal photos. Cards can be shared on Facebook, Twitter or even e-mailed to non-iPhone users who can virtually scratch their card with the click of their computer mouse.

Egg Painter ($0.99)
Decorate eggs without the mess. Great app to keep the kids entertained at the Sunday brunch table!

Flip Eggs (FREE)
Remember playing the memory card game as a kid? This is just like it but with eggs!

Easter Quizzle (FREE)
More than 150 questions to test your Easter knowledge!

BONUS: Not Easter related, but have you seen the new App Store Facebook Page – pretty cool!

Do you have a favorite iPhone app? Leave me a comment below!

Written by: Katie Lance, Marketing Manager, Inman News

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Planomatic recently released PhotoPlan Mobile 1.0 Beta - the first mobile interactive floor plan presentation optimized for the iPhone in the virtual media industry. iPhone users now have the ability to interact with real estate listings’ floor plans from any point on earth with internet service.

Planomatic seems to really have hit the nail on the head. The coolest part of this product is that the consumer can interact with it.

Once you click on the floor plan, you can pick from a drop down menu and choose which room you’d like to ‘decorate.’ Once you select the room, you are given a large variety of ‘furniture’ to choose from – including colors and styles, as well as the ability adjust wall and carpet colors.  I really like that a lot of thought went into the interactive part of this app. For example, you can pick different styles and colors of furniture – which really help to ‘put you in the house’ and paint the picture of what it would be like to live there.

One thing this app has going for it is the ‘fun factor.’ If I was a buyer, I could definitely see myself using this app especially for homes I was really interested in. It could  help a buyer make that decision when they are wondering:  “Is this the house for me?”

Kori Covrigaru, the CEO of Planomatic says, “It’s quite unique, and in my opinion (yes, I’m obviously biased) the coolest thing to hit virtual tours/iPhone in quite some time.”

To access the app – tap this link  from your iPhone – Safari will recognize that it’s on the iPhone, and automatically display the PhotoPlan Mobile:

Interactive FloorPlan Presentation

There are other great floor plan programs out there such as: United Lane or Floor Planner but none have the interactive iPhone app that Planomatic has.

According to Kory, the BlackBerry and Android apps are on their way!

What do you think of this app? Would love your opinion of it!

Do you have a unique or new product coming to the market? Drop me a line at katie@inman.com or post it in the comments below.

Written by: Katie Lance, Marketing Manager, Inman News

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I realize I’m a little biased in the world of smartphones. In the interest of full disclosure, I am a proud iPhone user. I love the apps, the ease of use, the large screen and the ‘bells and whistles.’

In real estate, having a smartphone is not just an option but a necessity. Everyone wants a response right now, not later today.

So the question remains, can the leader, the iPhone still hold their lead in 2010 as the top smartphone in the United States?

According to Nielsen…
According to Nielsen, The iPhone is still the most popular smartphone, followed by the BlackBerry 8300 series, but despite all the new smartphones flooding the market, Motorola’s trusty Razr (yep, the RAZR!) flip-phone was the third most-popular phone of the year.

What about Andriod?
Comascore.com, a leader in measuring the digital world, announced a few days ago the release of its latest report on the mobile market, ‘Android: Crashing the Smartphone Party.‘ The report provided an overview of the current U.S. mobile environment and offered an in-depth look at the Android OS. Among the report’s key findings is that consumer awareness of Google’s Android is growing rapidly, due in large part to the Verizon Droid ad campaign.

Here comes Google!
Coming to the smartphone party (possibly) next month is Google’s Nexus One. Nexus One puts Google in business against other providers of Android-based phones. Google is the major force behind Android. Will this create a backlash against the company, or did other providers get into the Android game aware that Google eventually would make this move?

A major shift happened…
A new survey of smartphone users by PC World and Macworld found that 85% of smartphone owners were extremely or very satisfied with their handsets, and the same percentage said they rely heavily on them. On a typical day, people use their phones two-thirds of the time for personal use and the balance for business. This highlights the HUGE shift that happened with smartphones from being primarily a corporate use to gaining a wider consumer customer base, courtesy of the iPhone.

So what is it about the iPhone?
I think one of the biggest reasons consumers, especially real estate professionals, love the iPhone is because of how easily they work – not the mention the incredible branding campaign that Apple has done to make you “feel” extra cool when you own an Apple product!

Did you know?
Did you know, Apple didn’t even launch the iTunes App Store until a year after the first iPhone became available? Over 2-billion-apps-sold have been sold as of late September 2009.When the iPhone was first launched in June 2007, Steve Jobs tried to sell developers on just making Web apps. When Web-based apps couldn’t match the performance or capabilities of native apps, developers asked for more. Apple announced that they were changing course in October, but didn’t launch the App Store until July 2008—just as Apple released the second generation iPhone hardware

So, in the spirit of the holidays, and because I do love the iPhone, I wanted to share with FOREM readers 7 FREE new iPhone apps just released within the last few days:

1. Ribbit Mobile
This app has already gotten quite a bit of buzz. You have to sign up and request to be invited to their beta trial. Ribbit Mobile will read your voicemail and then text or email it to you, it will save your messages forever, you can dictate memos on your phone, and answer calls on any phone.

2. CallRec.me
Pretty cool app especially for real estate agents –record your phone calls and voice notes with the push of a button. I could see this being especially helpful for agents to keep track of conversation records.

3.  HWA, Inc. – Home Warranty of America
Videos, sales tools, what’s news, and much more. Great app for title/escrow officers, mortgage lenders, real estate attorneys and agents. I’d love a Realtor’s first-hand experience using this app.

4. iParked
Ok this app was made for me – it helps you remember where you parked your car! If you dare to go shopping in the next couple days, I recommend using this app!

5. San Francisco Tweets
Search by categories or by SF districts. I like that it is a live Tweet stream so you could theoretically be walking down the street toward a restaurant and see if there is anyone inside the restaurant tweeting about the food, service, etc.

6.  New York App
Look up shows/events, places to eat, bars/clubs, tourist attractions, Yelp reviews and much more. Cool factor: there are links to some of the best lifestyle blogs in NYC built right in and a NYC Twitter stream. Not bad! Can’t wait to check this one out in person next month.

7.   ConnectNYC
Saved the best for last! This app is specifically designed for Real Estate Connect NYC  Jan.13-15th (#ICNY) includes live Twitter feeds, conference schedule, what sessions are starting within the next hour, exhibitor and sponsor booth info, as well as NYC hot spot info.

So how do you feel about this smartphone debate? Are you loyal to your iPhone, Blackberry, Andriod, or Razr? Are you holding out for something else?

Leave me a comment or send me a tweet here or here!

Written by: Katie Lance, Marketing Manager, Inman News

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