(Disclaimer: While I use these tools I have no financial relationship with any of these companies.)

1. Basecamp (starts at $24/mo with free 30-day trial)

We’ve been using Basecamp for years and are a big fan. Essentially Basecamp is an online project management tool that’s super powerful & easy to use. Basecamp allows you to set up, manage & collaborate with others in a secure & easy to use online account. Why is this good for real estate? Well, Basecamp could be the perfect environment to work with clients on a sale or purchase. You can add multiple parties such as the lender, interior designer, contractor, etc and keep everyone in the loop. It allows for document sharing & storage, milestones, communications and what might be best of all, templated To-Do lists.

To-Do lists can be setup in advance & rolled out on a project-by-project basis. For example, set up a to-do list for the 50 things needed to do before closing, or the 10 things needed to do before an open house. Your client stays in the loop, can track progress and I guarantee will appreciate the added level of service & communication.

Basecamp Screens(click to zoom)

Basecamp Dashboard

Basecamp To-Do

www.basecamphq.com

2. Gist (Free)

Gist is a new service that’s a hybrid contact manager & customer relationship manager but does so much more. With almost zero setup time, Gist is a powerful tool that will help you stay on top of your communications & relationships with those who matter most. Gist works by scanning your email & creating a database of contacts within your account. Then, for each contact, Gist will scour the web to find any available information about your contacts. Twitter, Linked-in, Facebook, company news, websites, etc, Gist finds it all. But then it does one better; Gist can rank your contacts & companies based on importance while giving you visual cues on who you need to contact.

Haven’t talked to that hot prospect in 2 weeks?
Gist will display a red icon in your list of names next to that contact signaling you should get in touch.

Having a big meeting with a client?
Gist will create a really nice dossier for you. Print this before the meeting and you’ll have a nice profile piece complete with your recent communications, meetings and any news or google results Gist finds.

Why Real Estate?

So much of success in real estate is predicated upon maintaining excellent communications & growing relationships. But a growing list of contacts can quickly become difficult to manage. Gist is invaluable in staying in touch with and on top of information of those who matter most.

Gist Screens (click to zoom)

Gist Profile

Gist Contacts

www.Gist.com

3. Evernote (Free & paid premium versions)

Evernote is a catch-all for all kinds of information you collect. You can use it for research projects, client information, article storage, document & file storage. While you can create separate notebooks for specific projects EverNote goes way beyond that. You see all your data syncs up with your online account so anything you save is searchable & available from any computer. And, if you have a compatible phone, like an iPhone, the Evernote app gives you access to your information anywhere. The search function is truly amazing and it will even do OCR on images you add to Evernote. For example, you see a product in a store or a yard sign that you need to remember. Snap a pic with your camera phone, send it to Evernote and you’ll be able to find it later just by typing in a few words from the photo.

Why Real Estate?

The amount of data we need to keep up with, remember or store keeps increasing. Evernote is a solid solution to not only keeping all that info organized but available where ever you are. Helping a client find a home? Create a notebook in Evernote to capture all the possible solutions you find during the project. You can even share all the contents of that notebook with the client.

Evernote Screens (click to zoom)

Everenote Desktop Application

EverNote Online Screen

EverNote iPhone App

www.EverNote.com

4. Jott (Free & paid plans)

Jott is an invaluable tool for capturing, communicating & scheduling. Essentially Jott is a voice-to-text service that allows you to do so many things just by speaking into your phone. How often have you been driving down the road and you suddenly remember something urgent? Jott it. You use your phone to call a toll-free number & record your voice note. A few minutes later, you’ll get an email with the voice note transcribed into text. Cool!

But there’s so much more. Do the same thing (or use the iPhone app) and you can send a text message to anyone on your contact list or a group of people. With Google calendar integration you can Jott an appointment. Just call the service (or use the iPhone app), speak the day, time and name of the appointment and you’ve got a new entry on your calendar. You can Jott to social networks like Twitter & Facebook and you can schedule your Jott to appear (text message or email) at a later date & time (like a reminder).

Why Real Estate?

When you’ve got a million things going on you need help communicating & juggling all the info flowing around. Jott allows for hands free communication, scheduling & reminders and is a tool we use extensively. Give it a try.

Jott Screen (click to zoom):

Jott Screen

www.Jott.com

5. Rezora (Paid Service)

Email is such a huge part of real estate marketing & communications. The number 2 question I get asked is “What’s the best way to create an email newsletter?” Until Rezora systems like Constant Contact were the only options. And while they are fine for generic, one-size-fits-all newsletters, they don’t fit the personal nature of real estate. It makes no sense to send an email promoting a $2mm property to someone whose budget is $500k. That’s where Rezora comes in. You can easily create customized newsletters from your MLS with drag-&-drop ease. You can segment your database so the right properties go to the right prospects. Add to that you can easily add local & national news of interest & you have one killer tool that directly addresses the needs of real estate professionals. One of the coolest features is the option for your brokerage to send newsletters on your behalf. Your database is not accessible by the brokerage but they create the content & send the newsletter for all their brokers but the from the recipient’s point of view, it looks like the newsletter came from you.

Rezora Screen (click to zoom):

Rezora Screen

www.Rezora.com

I recently did an interview with Paul Reinarz, co-founder of Rezora. Give it a listen:

Press the green button to play:

Podcast: Play in new window
| Download (Duration: 25:31 — 11.7MB)

Steamboat School District

The recent theft of a laptop from the school district finance administrator really brings home how vulnerable we all are. Since my wife works for the school district we are now having to implement identity theft protection. Yeah the school is paying for it for a year but its still a pain. All they had to do was take a few simple, free measures and this could have been avoided.

So what would it mean to you if your laptop/computer were stolen? How much client data (contracts, social security#’s, financial data) would be at risk? Could you imagine the phone call to ALL your clients to tell them that their identity may be compromised because your laptop was stolen? How’d that be for your reputation?

With increased mobility we are at a much higher risk of theft  and therefore have an increased responsibility to protect the data and information of our clients, contacts & families. The good news is that it’s very easy and free. In today’s world you have to encrypt sensitive data on your computers. Period, no exceptions.

You have to encrypt sensitive data on your computers. Period, no exceptions.

The Windows login password is NOT encryption. When someone steals your laptop they simply remove the hard drive, put it in a USB enclosure, plug it into their computer and they have total access to ALL your data. So here’s a quick tutorial on how to secure data on Windows.

First you need to decide what need to be secured. Here’s a few things to think about at a minimum:

• Financial information of any kind – credit info, SSN, bank records, Quickbooks, etc
• Confidential client information
• Business plans & other sensitive proprietary information
• Email – especially if you email sensitive information (which you should not do unencrypted)

Second, you need to create a secure place on your hard drive to store all this data. This is called a “virtual drive” or “volume.” So just like you have a “C:” drive (in windows) encryption software creates and encrypted container and when given the correct password will mount as a drive that can store all your sensitive data. There are a lot of encryption programs to do this and if you’re in Windows I recommend TrueCrypt. It’s FREE, easy to use and has a strong community that keeps it up to date. Macs have built in encryption that can do the same thing (yay Mac!).

How to Install (Windows)

Ok, this may look like  lot of steps but it will take you less than 15 minutes to do. First, download and install TrueCrypt from

www.truecrypt.org.

Then you need to set up the container for the virtual drive. You’ll need to figure out how big it needs to be and that will depend on how much data you have. In this example we’ll make a 1 gig encrypted drive which is really small. You’ll probably want to make some thing on the order of 10gig or more.

So start TrueCrypt and select “Create Volume.” The volume is going to be our protected container to store the sensitive stuff.

Click to enlarge

Next we want to create a “Standard Volume:”

Click to enlarge

Ok, now we have to create the file name. This is kind of confusing because Truecrypt says “Select File.” Actually you just need to browse to the place on your hard drive where you want the file to be. Keep in mind you’ll need to find a place that has enough room for the file. In this example, we’ll use the c: drive.

Click to enlarge

As you can see, I called the file “MySensitiveData” with no file extension. and it’s in the root of C:

Click to enlarge

On the next screen you can simply accept the default encryption method. Click Next.

Click to enlarge

Now you need to specify the size of your encrypted drive. For this example we’ll use 1gig. 1000 mb = 1gig do we’ll put in 1000 and select the mb size. If you wanted a 15gig  drive you’d need to put in 15 thousand mb or 15000. Click next.

Click to enlarge

Carefully read the info for the password and be sure to choose a secure password. Enter the password twice then click next.

click to enlarge

On the next screen you’ll have to choose the file system. I’d recommend NTFS because it can hold larger files than FAT. In this example we’ll choose FAT. Then click “Format”

Click to enlarge

Depending on how big your volume will be this will take some time to create.

Click to enlarge

You’ll finally get the confirmation screen that your volume has been created. Click “Exit.”

Click to enlarge

OK, now we have to mount the drive. In other words we have to get Windows to recognize the drive and give us access its contents. So we go back to the main TrueCrypt screen and select the file we just created.

Click to enlarge

Click to enlarge

Enter the password and select a drive letter from the list. It can be any drive letter but I tend to choose a letter that’s “M” or higher. That way it’s less likely to conflict with other devices I might add later like another external drive. In this example I choose “O:”

Click to enlarge

Click to enlarge

If you now open Windows Explorer you’ll see the drive is there and ready.

Click to enlarge

Ok, now to make life easy, we want this drive to mount automatically every time we start windows. When windows starts the only thing we’ll need to do is enter the password. This is what keeps the bad guys out & our data safe. So, click on the volume we just created and from the “Volume” menu above click “Save Current Volume as Favorite.”

Click to enlarge

Now select Tools-then settings and make sure you have the boxes checked just like the screenshot:

Click to enlarge

You’re now done creating the encrypted volume. Now move your sensitive files to the drive and you’ll be set. If you want to move your email to the drive you’ll need to move the email DB and  update your email program to point to the new location. Be sure to update your backup program to include the files in the new drive. Next time you start Windows you’ll be asked to enter a password and the drive will automatically mount. One note of caution: You should give someone else you trust the password or store it in a safe place that can be found if something should happen to you. This data is locked down and can never be retrieved if something happens to you and no one else has access to the password.

Here are 5.5 apps that I highly recommend for real estate professionals (only one is real estate specific).

1. Evernote – Free (with a paid option)

Evernote for the iPhone is part of a larger system of applications for managing all the digital information in your life. From research to notes to the great bottle of wine you want to remember, Evernote can handle it. You can set up different notebooks in Evernote to organize your stuff. So for example I have a notebook of iphone pics I’ve taken of wines I like and another notebook for some project research. Evernote even has OCR to recognize text in a picture. That means that photos are now searchable via a simple text search. Evernote has a desktop component for Mac or PC and a cloud component so your data is always available. The iPhone app is really well done and allows you to enter data into your account via text, voice notes (that you can listen to later) or by taking a snapshot with the iphone camera. The real benefit with this app is that your data/info is always with you, searchable and you have the ability to add to your stuff at anytime.

www.evernote.com

2. Easy wifi – Free

iPhone users get free wifi access at all at&t wifi hotspots which is great. But logging on at said hotspots is pretty difficult. You have to jump through several hoops and it can take a bit to connect. Easy wifi does all the logging in for you. Just set up your account once and launch the app when you want to get online. In a matter of seconds, you’re in. This isn’t a huge deal but it’s one of those small things that makes your life a little easier.

Easy WiFi (iTunes App Store)

3. Twitterific – Free

If you’re on twitter you know that one of the keys is tweeting in a timely manner. Twitterific has an easy to use interface and allows you to use the iPhone camera to attach photos to your tweets.

Twitterific (via App Store)

4. Camerabag – $1.99

Camerabag is an iPhoto photo enhancer. Snap a photo with the iPhone and you can choose from 9 different filters to jazz up your iPhone photos. You’re iPhone snaps will look better and more unique than just the standard pic.

CameraBag Site

5. Trulia Real Estate Search – Free

Wanna see the future of real estate search? Get the Trulia app. The online real estate portal Trulia has created a great app for the iPhone that allows you to search in a numberof ways including by using the phone’s GPS location. In another city and curious what’s for sale around you? Fire up the app and you’ll get all the listings within a radius you specify. Plus you can save searches and save favorite properties. It has integrated google maps to see your favorites on a map.

Tulia Real Estate Search for the iPhone

5.5 Google Earth for the iPhone - Free

You’ll hold the world in the palm of your hand with this app. It is surprisingly powerful and the resolution is incredible. It even has the ability to tilt just like it’s desktop counterpart. The app takes advantage of the GPS function so you can zoom inn on your exact location.

Google Earth for the iPhone

Have any apps you can’t live without? Post em in the comments!

So take some of that Christmas cash and go get an iPhone.

UPDATE: Walmart is now selling the iPhone. Not sure if it’s available here yet.

Click to enlarge

And for you RSS gurus you can subscribe here:

Stuff you might like

Why?

Because the internet has moved way beyond what IE6 can handle. You’re not seeing the full picture, kind of like watching black & white TV when you can get color for free. A full 40% of visitors to this blog are still using IE 6. This is too bad because they’re not seeing a lot of cool things that are going on on the web and they’re causing developers to dumb down their apps to accommodate the IE 6 users.

Ever wanted to know how search engine values your site? Ever wanted to know how a search engine values your competition’s site? This cool tool will give you an answer.

Website Grader is a free tool that evaluates your website or any site you enter in the form and returns some really useful information. It doesn’t give you a super in-depth analysis but it does provide a nice overview with easy to understand explanations of what the issues mean and how to fix them.

Check it out at www.websitegrader.com

Steamboat Springs

The skies cleared, the grass turned green and my email became an obedient servant giving me the right information when I needed it. If you’re using Microsoft Outlook to manage email take a look at these applications. They’re designed to help make your email workflow easier and help manage the incredible volume of email we accumulate.

NEO has a number of features that real estate professionals will love.

For example NEO tracks all correspondence to and from all your contacts. Click a contact and you’ll see all the correspondence you’ve ever had to and from that contact. Add them to a Hot List and the info is even easier to find. NEO runs on top of Outlook and simply reads & interprets your Outlook file. If you don’t like it, your Outlook data is as it always was.

Clear Context ($89.95) is another application. I have not used this application but I’ve heard good things about it. Clear Context integrates with Outlook. In other words, it adds buttons and additional functionality to the Outlook interface.Here’s a video overview of the application:[FLASH]http://www.clearcontext.com/ims_demo/ims_demo_425px.swf,425,350[/FLASH].They both have free trials so try one of these apps & you’ll love your email again.

Nelson Email Organizer

Clear Context

This video speaks to one of the most important aspects of your real estate business – information and the creation & organization of it.

Understanding that consumers are seeking, creating and organizing useful information is key to the future of your business.

Click here to view the embedded video.

How can you enhance their experience? How can you tap into these rich resources? Others are providing tools for your potential customers. What tools are you providing? Try these links on for size:
http://www.terabitz.com/
http://outside.in/Boulder_CO
http://www.streetadvisor.com/
http://www.iggyshouse.com/default.aspx
http://www.yourstreet.com/steamboat-springs-co

With 80+% of real estate customers looking for answers online what do you have of true, current & relevant value to offer them when they come knockin’ on your site? Are they coming to you way downstream because others are helping them make sense of information upstream and you’re not?

Those who get this video & embrace it will have an excellent chance to succeed.

Those who don’t will simply create more opportunity for those who do.

You owe it to yourself to spend a few uninterrupted minutes watching. Then, I’d watch it again.

Note:

This blog post belongs to 4 categories within this blog (Tech, Web, Info & Video). See that Category Cloud over there on the right? The various categories grow in size relative to the amount of content in them. Information here is flexible, movable and relevant.

Why can’t the MLS be that way? After all it’s just data. Why do I have to search using the same tired criteria (#bedrooms, #bathrooms…). Why can’t I search by elements that are important to me – morning sun, rural road, pine trees, XYZ school? There are companies out there now trying to figure this out – Google Trullia, Zillow. It’s a shame the NAR isn’t among them. That ultimately hurts you.

1. How much does a website cost?

If you get an immediate answer or a ball park answer this may not be the shop for you. The problem with this is there’s no way to know how much a site will cost without an understanding of what your needs are and what you want to accomplish with a site. If you get an answer right off the bat, you’ll probably get a templated site that looks like everyone else and does little to differentiate you to visitors. Ideally they’ll want to know a lot about your business and your clients. So look for and expect deep, probing question.

2. What’s your process?

Many small shops don’t have a process & they wing it. Process is important because it means you’re project is more likely to avoid problems and meet your expectations. If they do have a process, look for elements of “communication” as a key area of their process. Things like “review meetings” are a good sign because you’ll be in the loop upstream in time to make corrections if necessary.

3. How will I be able to update my site?

This is a big one in my mind. Most small businesses should be able to easily update their own site with timely information relevant documents and elements that keep the site fresh. All too often however business owners are at the mercy of a web shop’s schedule. The updates don’t happen fast enough, they often have mistakes and the whole process becomes a big hassle. It becomes easier to ignore the site which then quickly becomes stale.

Instead, make sure that you have a clear method of updating and adding to your site. Insist on tools and/or functionality that’s easy to use, and learn how to use them.

4. How long will it take to finish?

The correct answer here is a site is never finished. An acceptable answer might be something like “Phase 1 will be done in 6 weeks.” There’s always room for improvements, tweaks, value-add-ons and other work to consistently make your site a better experience for your visitors. If they’re a blow-n-go shop you may find you’re abandoned 6 months down the road when you’re ready to revise/add to your site.

5. Are most of your solutions CSS or straight HTML based?

This gets a little technical but a CSS based site will give you much more flexibility than an HTML based site. CSS stands for cascading style sheets. With a CSS based site, the formatting elements for the entire site are controlled within a single file. Why should you care? It makes managing and tweaking a site much easier. Say for example you decide 3 weeks after the site launches you don’t like the font color. You can make a single edit to the CSS style sheet and the whole site changes. With an HTML based site the same change requires manually editing each and every page to make the same change. This blog is CSS based and I can change the ENTIRE look by clicking a button. That’s only possible with CSS.

Tech stuff aside, a shop that’s using CSS indicates they’re committed to the best of breed solutions.

5.5 How many other real estate sites have you done?

Conventional wisdom would say “go with a pro” someone who’s done a ton of real estate sites. But I’d challenge that notion. What you want is fresh thinking not been-there-done-that-so-here’s-your-site thinking. A shop that really understands usability, design and experiences but is light on real estate development could be just the ticket for a stunning fresh site. Remember, at the end of the day it’s not about what you think is great, it’s about what your visitors think is great. Sometimes we’re so in the bottle and can’t read the label that we need this outside perspective.

Happy hunting!