At Inman News, we talk a lot about workstyle and how much has changed in just the last few years. How real estate professionals work, has been a fundamental theme of Agent Reboot and Real Estate Connect.Why? There is an absolute fundamental shift in how we do business, that has occurred because of technology, mobile and social media.

I wanted to share this awesome infographic I found on one of my favorite sites, Gist.com. This infographic really outlines so well how we (especially in the real estate industry) have changed how we do business.

Enjoy the infographic and thank you to our friends at Gist! (view the original post here)

Katie Lance, Social Media Director, Inman News, @katielance

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Do you have an iPad? If you do like me, you probably have already discovered Flipboard – the world’s first social magazine app. I love Flipboard!

If you haven’t seen it yet, Flipboard allows users to compile their own personal publication by selecting and importing Twitter feeds, Facebook profiles and Really Simple Syndication (RSS) feeds of their favorite websites.

Better Homes and Gardens Real Estate today announced yesterday that its twitter feed – @bhgrealestate – is featured content in the Business & Finance category of Flipboard .  @bhgrealestate was chosen for its “timely, informative news and interesting curation” according to editors of the popular iPad application.  What is really exciting about this is that Better Homes and Gardens® Real Estate is currently the only real estate franchise featured in the Business and Finance category comprised of top business magazines, news wire services and thought leaders including Fast Company, CNN Money, Fortune, The Economist and Inc.

I added the @@bhgrealestate into my Flipboard and was really pleased with the content. Here are two screenshots from their app:

“Delivering timely information to the informed consumer and the next generation broker is especially important in this challenging market,” said Sherry Chris, president and CEO of Better Homes and Gardens Real Estate LLC.  “Technology has always been core to our brand.  In particular, our social media strategy has continuously spurred new thinking and ideas with people who share a passion for the home, real estate and the lifestyle aspirations our brand stands for.  We are proud that our leading content is featured on Flipboard, an innovative technology that is a favorite among our brokers, clients and fans.”

The @bhgrealestate feed features news and opinions on housing, culture, and social and digital technology from the Better Homes and Gardens Real Estate executive team.

Personally, I think this is an super smart and strategic marketing move by BH & G Real Estate. They keep staying one step ahead of the curve!

It is available here in the Apple iTunes App store.

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

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I just became aware of a brand new product that will help real estate professionals manage leads and track phone calls.

This new product is the first voice-marketing automation platform specifically tailored to members of the National Association of REALTORS® – it is called Ifbyphone®.

Ifbyphone®, a voice-based marketing automation platform, announced on Monday, the launch of its newest product, Ifbyphone® for REALTORS®.

Why is Ibyphone?

Ifbyphone frees agents and brokers from deskwork by automating voice-based marketing. According to their press release:

“Agents can then use Ifbyphone® for REALTORS® to connect with hot leads faster, optimize marketing spend, and most importantly, close more deals. The product was created in collaboration with NAR and offered through NAR’s REALTOR Benefits® Program.”

Ifbyphone® for REALTORS® is delivered as a suite of software-as-a-service voice applications that includes:

• Call tracking
• Dynamic inbound call forwarding
• Outbound call automation
• Virtual call center solutions.

All are easily set up by the broker or agent, freeing up more time with clients and prospects.

“Using Ifbyphone® for REALTORS®, agents can focus on clients and prospects while Ifbyphone is handling the forwarding and tracking of leads,” said Irv Shapiro, CEO and founder of Ifbyphone®. “Real estate agents can spend the majority of their time in the field, responding to those leads, managing customer relations and working toward more sales, while maintaining a nimble virtual office with Ifbyphone®,” he added.

One of Ifbyphone’s powerful marketing tools, SourceTrak™ call tracking, provides agents and brokers access to comprehensive, real-time call reports. The automatically generated reports reveal exactly where marketing efforts are most effective. By tracking lists of unique phone numbers across online media, lawn signs, and print ads, Ifbyphone® records exactly where leads are originating. Agents and brokerages can then use the reports to more efficiently allocate marketing dollars.

Ifbyphone also turns “clickers into callers” by instantaneously calling the listing agent when a prospect submits a Web form. This “call form” then “whispers” to the agent the listing information and where the prospect saw the ad. If the agent is part of a listing team, Ifbyphone can dial each team member in sequence or all at once.

Other exclusive features of Ifbyphone® for REALTORS® include:

• Forward calls to an individual agent or to an agent team
• Leave client- or listing-specific memos, then review from anywhere
• Qualify callers through voice response so the appropriate agent connects with the with the right person
• Manage “floor time” remotely and free agents from the office by using an “on call” application with smart forwarding capabilities
• Leverage lead measurement and reporting through Ifbyphone’s industry-leading SourceTrak™

The announcement of the new product comes four months after the National Association of REALTORS® invested in Ifbyphone through its strategic investment fund, Second Century Ventures. As part of the arrangement, the National Association of REALTORS® sought to collaborate with Ifbyphone® to develop solutions that enhance voice interactions for its 1.1 million members.

To learn more about Ifbyphone® for REALTORS®, visit the Ifbyphone® website or contact Ifbyphone® directly at (877) 295-5100.

What do you think? Is this a technology that you will use? I’d love your feedback, leave me a comment below!

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

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Guest post by Jeremy Blanton

This past week I had the pleasure of joining a great lineup of speakers at Agent Reboot in Charlotte. Many of these people like Daniel Rothamel, Chris Smith, Heather Elias & Sherry Chris I call good friends. This being my first Agent Reboot, I did not exactly know what to expect. I figured there would be some good content shared to help real estate agents grow their business. I was definitely not disappointed.

As a social media speaker who has traveled the country speaking to thousands on how to use technology, I must admit that I was very impressed by the Agent Reboot event. Many times I go to these events they are unorganized and have 90 minute sessions where you lose your focus within the first twenty-five minutes. The 10-25 minute sessions keep the event moving along quickly and give you plenty of information on a full spectrum of topics. Time between sessions is also at a minimum. There was never a long lull between presenters to bore you. Also, the quality of the speakers and the content they were providing was top notch.

One of the big takeaways that I brought home from this event was something that Darin Persinger mentioned during his session on QR codes. At first I thought of it as a big joke, but as I reflected on what he said, I believe he may be onto something. Darin drew a very good analogy between technology & Star Trek. What he said was that the new technology we see today was originally used back on Star Trek. In essence, Star Trek were the pioneers to current technology. The point he made is that you NEVER saw them use a QR code. So, do you think they will ever become mainstream? That I will leave up to you to decide.

My other favorite session of the day was Sherry Chris sharing on lifestyle branding. She shared on how consumers connect with a brand now is different than the way they did years ago. We in the real estate industry must begin to recognize these changes and be willing to adapt as needed to connect with new potential clients. We need to become the Harley Davidson of real estate. It is a brand known by the world and recognized by many. In fact she said it is the most branded tattoo in the world! Anyone want to get inked?

Overall, I really enjoyed the rapid fire of sessions with great content continuously flowing. Before I knew it, we had reached the wrap-up with Daniel and the event had come to a close which was a nice change from some of the events I attend. There have been many times I sit there wondering, when will this reach the end.

So if an Agent Reboot comes near your town, I would highly recommend attending. The amount of information shared to help your real estate business is second to none. Many of the agents I talked to in attendance at lunch had already felt they received their moneyʼs worth out of the $49 investment they made to the potential in front of them. They were excited how the things they learned would lead to so many future business opportunities.

But, donʼt take just my word on it, take a look at what others thought of Agent Reboot Charlotte:

For me, I enjoyed this event so much that I decided I was going to attend the next one in Atlanta. I hope to see many of you there!

About the author: Jeremy Blanton is the co-founder of 210 Consulting- Social Media Advisors. They help individuals understand how to use social media platforms to increase their business and also build custom WordPress sites.

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Please join us for a FREE Webinar!

3 Ideas You can Execute Right Now to Future-Proof Your Brokerage

Sponsored by:

Thursday, May 12th
10:00 a.m. – 11:00 a.m. (PDT)

Business is changing, so is the real estate industry. Does your brokerage have what it takes to not just survive the change, but to take advantage of it? In this webinar, we’ll share three ideas that will give you the strong foundation that your brokerage will need to be prepared for any change in the market. If you want a brokerage that will thrive both today and tomorrow, don’t miss hearing these ideas!

This webinar is ideal for brokers. See you there!

Register now!

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

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Note: I received this press release this week and thought it was interesting technology to share with our FOREM readers. I’d love your thoughts on this app if you’ve used it – please leave me a comment below. – Katie

OKLAHOMA CITY –  a la mode, a leader in real estate technology, today released its popular DaVinci appraisal app in the Android Market.

The free labs release of DaVinci for Android follows in the footsteps of a long line of time-saving data gathering and sketching products in the DaVinci family, including DaVinci for iPad, DaVinci for iPhone, DaVinci for Desktop and DaVinci for Tablet PC.

“DaVinci has really made a splash on iOS devices, reaching more than 100,000 users this month, and we wanted to give more appraisers the opportunity to easily gather data in the field,” said Product Manager Dale Spoonemore. “Since releasing DaVinci for iPad a year ago, we’ve received a ton of requests from appraisers using Android devices, so we’ve designed a version of DaVinci that uses some of Android’s more popular features like talk-to-type text input.”

Like others in the DaVinci family, DaVinci for Android was born from a la mode labs – a research and development environment designed for collaboration on new applications.  By releasing new technology through the labs, a la mode gives appraisers a chance to try its newest releases and provide feedback on tools which are critical to their business.

DaVinci for Android works on any Smartphone or tablet device running Android 2.1 or later.  Like its mobile predecessors, DaVinci for Android offers appraisers all the fields they need to gather property data on site, create QuickLists that speed data entry by eliminating repetitive retyping, take voice and text notes, and add photos.

“DaVinci for Android speeds up appraisers’ turn times on home inspections. They can fill out an entire 1004 form by simply tapping on the screen,” Spoonemore said. “And, we’ll save them even more time when we release the sketcher in an update later this year.”

DaVinci for Android can now be downloaded in the Android Market. For more information, visit www.alamode.com/Labs/projects/DaVinciForAndroid.

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

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Guest post by Holly Schwartz, Realtor and Marketing Director at Torelli Realty

(Can’t view the video about? Click here!)

Agent Reboot is coming to Orange County on March 30, 2011 and that’s a beautiful thing for real estate agents in the area. Orange County is one of the largest markets for real estate agents and now the event is right in our own backyard!

Call me a Groupie…

Yes, I have been to 4 agent reboots over the last year and there’s good reason for that… Agent Reboot is educational! It’s motivational! It’s technological! And it’s great for networking! In one day real estate agents have the opportunity to hear from some of the best resource providers and experts in the industry. Inman News is on the cutting edge of technologies that are defining and monopolizing the real estate workplace. Learning about how to maximize these products is priceless. One day conferences with this caliber of talent and information can’t be overlooked. For under $50 your expectations will be surpassed for sure!

Bring It!

Orange County and SoCal agents, don’t be left behind. Sign up, bring a notebook (or better yet an iPad!) and get ready to get schooled in Real Estate Tech 101. And make sure to visit me before the day is over so i can get you on video sharing a tip or two! (I am proud to be an official ambassador for Agent Reboot OC, AKA Agent Reboot Cheerleader!!!)

Contact Holly on Twitter @hollyschwartzOC or on Facebook – 365 Things to Do in Costa Mesa

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Note: I asked Joseph Walla, cofounder of HelloFax to write a guest blog for FOREM. Why? Isn’t faxing a thing of the past?  The reality is that even in 2011, trying to send and receive a fax can be a still be a royal pain – special equipment, special paper, special phone line, and the list goes on. And whether you like it or not, many real estate agents and brokers still rely on faxing for transmitting documents. Joseph and his business partner launched HelloFax about a month ago, and have recently been written up by TechCrunch, Read Write Web, and Slate Magazine. Although there are many online fax products, I love the super simplicity of HelloFax. I would love your feedback on this product especially if you are using it – please leave me a comment below. Thanks! – Katie

Faxing documents is a hassle. You may already subscribe to an online faxing service, hoping that it would solve the problem. But what happens when you have to sign a document? Before you can fax it, you first have to print it, sign it and scan it. Another hassle.

HelloFax solves that problem. We’ve built a web-based replacement for your fax machine, with real world scenarios in mind. The main reason people still need fax machines is to fill out and sign documents. Using HelloFax, you can do it all in your browser.

Here’s how it works:

1. Enter a fax number or email address

Enter in recipient’s fax number, and that’s it. Another feature that’s been getting a lot of use is the email option. Instead of putting in a fax number, you can put in an email address – and we deliver your document via email. About a third of all our documents are sent this way.

2. Upload your documents (of almost any type)

We accept most file types, including PDFs, Word documents, and image files.  Just click on “Edit & Sign” to fill out and sign your document. Don’t need to edit it? Click “Send it now”.

3. Fill it out.

To make it simpler, we actually removed features. You can add text by clicking anywhere on the screen. You can also add check-marks by clicking that option on the toolbar.

4. Add your signature.

We have 3 different ways to add your signature. You can draw it with your mouse, upload an image file of your signature, or take a picture of your signature with your smart phone and email it in. We’re building a tool that can work independently of fax machines, printers and scanners – and are constantly looking to improve the signing flow.

Note: IE 7 and IE 8 don’t allow you to draw your signature. But, for those browsers, you can still upload a signature image or use your smartphone.

Okay, that’s great, but how do I receive faxes? That was our most requested feature. Select your state and area code; then choose from the available fax numbers.. You can also select a toll free number:

Why it is great for Realtors:

• Sign & fax on the go. You’re never tied to your fax machine, printer or scanner.
• Paperless office.  Realtors go through a tremendous amount of paperwork and it’s a hassle to manage.
• With HelloFax, you can stay digital, even with clients who need faxes. For your records, we also email you a PDF copy of every document you send or receive.
• Receive faxes in real time. We forward all faxes to your email account, as they come in.

Special Offer for 48 Hours:

We’re giving away our basic account (usually $4.99 / month) for free to FOREM readers. Here’s the special part. You don’t need a credit card for this free trial. All you need is your email address (so we can send you confirmation emails) and to select a password (to protect your documents).

You can access this offer by signing up for the basic plan through this link: http://www.hellofax.com/content/pricing?promo_code=FOREM.

After 2 months, if you like us, you can continue as a paid member. If not, we’re glad you tried it out.

What you can do for us:

We love and need feedback. We want to build something that you want, rather than something that we think you want. You’ll notice that we respond to most emails within 10 minutes. So, please write. We’d love to hear from you.

Here is a video to show you how it works: (click here to see the video if you are having problems seeing it below)

About the author: Joseph is the cofounder of HelloFax.You can follow HelloFax on Twitter @hellofax

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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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Guest blog post by Scott Falbo of Front9 Technologies is the developer of ‘iClient for Real Estate Agents.

The iPad has revolutionized the way that many people go about their daily lives – both personally and professionally.  In the business world – cases of doctors, teachers, attorneys, and many other professionals using the iPad have been well documented.  The real estate profession is no different and real estate agents can realize many of the benefits offered by the iPad.

The iPad comes out of the box with many apps that real estate agents can utilize to work more effectively.  With ‘Mail’ you can be in constant contact with your clients and others.  ‘Calendar’ will help you manage your busy schedule.  ‘Contacts’ will give you a way to store all of your important contact information.  ‘Maps’ will give you directions when you’re traveling from one meeting to the next.  ‘Safari’ will give you instant access to the Internet no matter where you are (assuming you have an iPad that supports 3G access and you’ve purchased a data plan).

The release of the iPad 2 today, also introduces the ‘FaceTime’ app for the iPad that will let you make face-to-face calls directly from the iPad.  This can be a great app for real estate agents.  Imagine the power of a showing a client a property from your iPad because their schedule doesn’t allow them travel to the property.  The ‘cool factor’ alone will be a great way to wow clients.

Apple has also released their ‘iWork’ suite of applications for the iPad as three separate iPad apps.  ‘Keynote’ will give you the ability to create presentations for clients.  The ease of use and the great slide transitions in the app will really wow your clients.  ‘Numbers’ can be used to create spreadsheets like mortgage calculators that help when discussing costs with your clients.  Finally, ‘Pages’ is a very helpful word processing app that can be used to write up documents.

Other app developers have also created apps that can be downloaded and used by real estate agents:

• ‘Dropbox’ is a great app that you can use to sync files between your computer and your iPad for essential file access on the go.  ‘Dropbox’ will also allow you to email links to documents rather than emailing very large attachments.
• ‘GoodReader’ is a great app for reading PDFs that also allows you to download PDFs directly from the Internet and into the app.  You can markup the PDF if you’d like and easily share it with a client.
• If you’d like to just jot down some quick notes for yourself ‘Penultimate’ is a great app.  Using your finger or a stylus you can take some quick notes without using the keyboard.

‘iClient for Real Estate Agents’ is a new app that has been designed to help real estate agents manage their client list from their iPad.  With ‘iClient’ you begin by entering basic information about your client.  Once your client has been added to the app, you enter information about their transactions.  For instance, you enter the date (or anticipated date) of the transaction and whether it is a purchase or a sale.  This will allow an agent to keep a historical record of all transactions that a client has made and establish trends over time.

Each transaction provides the ability to add specific information about the transaction: You can enter details about all Properties potentially involved including address, price, MLS number, your client’s feelings regarding the property, and a map (screenshot below).  With the release of the iPad 2, ‘iClient’ will be updated to take advantage of the new cameras so that pictures of the property can also be added within the app.

iClient’ also gives you the ability to create a custom Checklist for each transaction.  You can easily add all of the tasks that you need to accomplish and easily check them off as they are completed.  Since every transaction is different and has unique needs, this feature is fully customizable so you can add any items that you need and reorganize them as you see fit.  You can also email this Checklist directly from the app if you need to send it to an associate or if your client is curious about the progress on their transaction.

The Schedule feature will let you add appointments and reminders that can also be synced with any calendar on your iPad so that you can share them with your associates or clients.  Does your client absolutely need a two-car garage and two bathrooms in their prospective purchase?  Use the Notes page available for each transaction so you can remember these specific details.  All of this information can also be protected with the optional password feature.  If you set a password in the app, no one else can open the app without putting in the 4-digit combination that you’ve set.

FOREM fans – special offer: If you’d like to try ‘iClient’ you can use any of the codes below for a free copy of the app.  Once a code is used though it will no longer be active so these are first come, first servce.

THTTRWAMLXPP
N4R36LR64EEX
YTY43RE6FJAF
H9E74KP7FK44
XMAYYLJJLRR7
TA7NWFTH7TMX
RMTF9KP3PFKJ
WJW6TT3WNHPM
4TH7EYXPWP3E
KPYNR9RKJFHX

The iPad is becoming more and more ubiquitous in our daily lives and new apps are being released every day.  It’s an exciting time to see how this device is changing the way we work and the release of the iPad 2 will bring about the release of even more innovative apps that take advantage of the great features of the device.  It will be interesting to see what new apps are released for the real estate professional.

About the author: Scott Falbo of Front9 Technologies is the developer of ‘iClient for Real Estate Agents’ and other apps for professionals including ‘iJuror’ and ‘iClient for Attorneys’.  You can follow Scott on Twitter @front9tech.

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