Top real estate tech tools and apps

This is my top list of technology tools that real estate agents should be using. Below I cover free music for your videos, design & marketing tools, outsourcing and more!!!

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Company: StockUnlimited
Service: Stock Photography

This is my go to place for royalty free stock photography. Mostly used for your social media, real estate blogs, website and online ads for buyers and sellers.

This is a onetime fee and you get a lifetime membership of unlimited downloading. Just search the type of image you need and download in HD. Perfect for print or web. 90% of my images come from StockUnlimited. Other websites charge you $5-$10 per image (sometimes more).

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Company: Stocksnap.io
Service: Stock Photography

This is a great option for free. You actually don't need to pay anything... but you kinda get what you pay for. Not much.

The selection and quality VS StockUnlimited isn't even a comparison. This is more for testing the waters.

Who knows you might find some hidden gold.

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Company: Pixabay.com
Service: Stock Photography

This one is also 100% free. The quality and number of images is amazing for the price. It not only has photos, but video too! The video clips could be added to your virtual tours.

StockUnlimited is still going to beat it when it comes to searching royalty free images, but it's a free option to try.

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Company: Canva.com
Service: Design and Layout

Canva is a free "drag & drop" design program that agents are using to make feature sheets, Facebook ads & more. Basically anything you need designed could be created using Canva.

They even have templates already done for you and you just switch out the photos with your own. It's 100% free if using your own images. If you use any images from Canva it's $1 per photo. So most of the time I use one of the stock photography sites mentioned above for the images and Canva to put it all together.

It also works on your phone (Apple or Android). Just search the store for the "Canva app"

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Company: Typorama
Service: Social Media - Text to Images

*This only works on iPhone, if you are Android I suggest just using the free Canva app. However if you are a iPhone user... Typorama is like having a graphic designer in your pocket!

Most of you are posting on Instagram and Facebook from your phone. So creating and saving images directly on your mobile device makes a lot of sense. 

Typorama allows you to choose different layouts (like a square Instagram post, or a Facebook rectangle for page posts), it also has unique fonts and layouts that turn you into a real estate marketing wizard - using just your fingers and the touch of a screen!

Canva is free. Typorama you pay for. I use both on my iPhone. Have fun playing :-)

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Company: YouTube section for royalty free music
Service: Popular (FREE) music you can use in your videos

If you use YouTube for your videos you'll notice they get taken down if you use popular music. One way around this is to download music created specifically for you to use on Youtube with these royalty free soundtracks and sound effects: https://www.youtube.com/audiolibrary/music

That section is ok... but if you want current hits go to this link: www.youtube.com/music_policies?show_audio_revshare_guide=yes

Here you'll find a list of popular songs that YouTube will allow you to use! Read the terms for each to make sure it'll work but 90% of the time it will. Just keep the lyrics clean and neutral. Remember you are making the video for the audience... not you + it reflects you and the brand.

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Company: FMA - Free Music Archive
Service: Royalty Free Music for Facebook & YouTube

Having good music in your real estate videos is critical. Finding them and paying for the rights can be costly and time consuming. The good news is I found a free source of royalty free music you can download today!

Like anything 80% will not fit your taste and style... but this link has the top free songs you can use today: freemusicarchive.org/music/charts/all

Always give the artist credit in the description of your videos and read the terms. Not all can be used for commercial purposes. This list however is a good start.

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Company: PowToon.com
Service: Animated Videos

Most of my real estate videos are created using www.powtoon.com 

It makes it easy to make animated videos, explainer videos and those trendy whiteboard videos - especially for real estate agents! Think of your house value page... You could make a animated video explaining "when they fill in the form you'll get back to them with a free home evaluation" :-)

You can try it for free but to remove the powtoon branding and get full features you'll need a subscription. Most agents don't need a monthly subscription so what I suggest is make as many videos as you can in the 1st month and unsubscribe. 4 months later you might need more videos. Just subscribe for another month, make the videos and put the subscription on hold again. You can always downgrade and upgrade as you need.  *Just make sure you are paying monthly and not for the full year up front.

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Company: BombBomb.com - click for free trial
Service: Creating Video & Delivering Video

The biggest frustration REALTORs face with video is the creation and delivery. Many have tried the native camera app but the files turn out to be too big! You also need to upload the videos and attach them. This causes most to avoid the tool all together.

This app allows you to easily create a video & send it with the press of a few buttons. I actually have a 90 day challenge showing agents how to use it for referrals... but you can also use it on the fly for following up with leads or prospecting.

It not only makes video, but you can also make landing pages with it, email drip plans for long term lead conversion or direct prospecting. This is my most used app. Nothing beats it for following up and getting referrals. It's a must for most agents.

​Try it out for free + get the 90 day referral challenge here: www.bombbomb.com/?bbref=BROKERAGENATION

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Company: Upwork.com
Service: Outsourcing, Virtual Assistants & Freelancing

The biggest lesson I learned when hiring my first virtual assistant was: NOT TO HIRE THEM TO DO EVERYTHING!

We all fall in this trap. You hire your first admin (real or virtual) and it becomes like a full time job just keeping them busy... so you end up dumping everything onto them from loading listings to social media, blogs, database, marketing and more!

What I've learned is that it's better to hire specific people with specific strengths and outsource the smaller task. For example I have a video editor who can take 4-6 hours of editing off my plate and I only pay $20. I just send the raw videos and pictures and he edits it to go with my preferred music.

Same thing for my design. When we get a new listing I send the photos and MLS description a different designer (one who specializes in print media) and 24 hours later I have all my marketing done (just listed, just sold, social media, blog, feature sheets, etc).

So now I keep things lean. I have one full-time administrative assistant and outsource the rest. Upwork is a perfect place to find people who specialize on one thing and going forward I just hire them as needed. Per project. I've hired people from Canada, Australia, India and the Philippines.

This is a blog article on outsourcing and the specific tools I use to communicate with people all over the world: www.brokeragenation.com/blog-for-real-estate-agents/full-webinar-recording-virtual-assistants-for-real-estate-agents

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Company: fiverr.com
Service: Outsourcing & Freelancing

Fiverr is like the ghetto cousin of upwork.com - you can get things done for extra cheap but many times you get what you pay for. Both services are a buyer beware situation but fiverr is like the wild-west.

A good example of using this service would be to crop out your photo and remove the background. Something that would take you over a hour to do can be turned around on fiverr for $5. I've personally never been burned on fiverr but I know plenty of people who have. How I look at it is like this: fiverr is for one off jobs and upwork is more for ongoing things.

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Company: SumoMe
Service: List Building & Lead Generation

*Caution: SumoMe is amazing and a must have... but only if you already have traffic. If you don't have any traffic skip this part. However if you do have traffic this is a magic trick that gets us 8% of all traffic to provide contact info!

The two main features we use are called: the list builder and the smart bar.

If I had to only choose one it would be the list builder. It's a handy pop-up that only pops up when the people are already leaving your site. So you might as well try one last time to convert them.

The smart bar has been working for us too. It's a simple email subscription bar that is at the top of every page (including your real estate listings). The two together get us an average of 8% every week. So for every 100 visitors to our website we are adding 8 new people to the database.

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Company: Boomerang for Gmail
Service: Email Follow Up & Scheduling

* Boomerang only works for gmail, so if you aren't using gmail for your work email, get a Google apps for work here. Trust me it makes integrating so much easier in the future. Everything works with Gmail. This tool alone should convince you...

Nothing helps me manage the flood of emails like Boomerang for Gmail. I can remove emails on the go and have them appear tomorrow, or I can type the email now and set it to go out at a future date. You can even set reoccurring messages. Like automated reminders, etc.

A simple example is this: You get a home buyer internet lead from your MLS. It comes to you as a email. That person isn't yet added to your database. You call the lead and they don't answer. You can simply Boomerang it to get it out of your inbox and it'll reappear 3 days later as a reminder. You call the buyer and finally connect. Now you can add them to your database and delete the email... or keep boomeranging them till you connect :-)

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Company: Google Forms
Service: Landing Pages & Lead Generation

Need a landing page that is simple and free? Ideally you should be using your own website or blog, but for many even that isn't simple. Good new: Google Forms are super simple to set up and you can use them as landing pages for things like seller leads (house values) or buyer leads (condos for sale in your city).

It's mobile friendly, free & easy. Other service you pay for should be better but for a free option? It's worth a shot. We tested and it worked for us. Just make sure to watch the video in this article to show how to turn on notifications of the leads.

If you want someone setting up your landing pages and helping with the marketing you might be interested in a real estate seller leads program found here.

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Company: Zapier
Service: Automation & Data

Do you "copy & paste" data from your email to add contacts to your database?

Zapier (zpr.io/WYq) allows you to create rules and automate what happens when people fill in your contact forms.

For example you could sync all your inbound leads into one database!.. or automatically put people on the right follow up plans.

​It works with hundreds of programs and integrates them. I've been using it for years to automate my business and it easily frees up a few hours a week ot things I now have automated. Using this link gets you 100 free tasks a month!

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Company: Trello
Service: Project Management & Cloud Storage

Trello is a free tool I use for managing my team and any active projects on the go. Each member has his/her own board. It's like a to-do list on steroids.

For example you could start a "just listed" folder (called a card in trello) and upload all the photos, virtual tour, listing details, paperwork, etc. Move the card over to your admin who loads it on the MLS, design the marketing and attach for future use.

For repetitive projects you can even have templates. Like a "just listed checklist" that has the same actions taking place with each new client (order sign, install lock box, book open house, ads, direct mail ,etc).

Once a project is done you can simply archive it. This saves all the files into the cloud allowing your team 247 access from any PC, tablet or smart phone!

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Company: Lastpass
Service: Password Protection and Team Access

Lastpass is one of the few things you'll actually need to pay for. Most of tools we use are free but you'll want to pay the yearly fee (it's only $24 a year).

You'll need one account for you & one for your staff. This tool saves ALL your passwords and keeps them safe. Your admin will get ONE master password that works with all your accounts... and should they ever leave you??? You just need to change the master password and it keep all your other passwords active.

It has a team dashboard allowing you full control. *Never email or skype anyone your passwords because they are too easily compromised.

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Company: Jing
Service: Screencasting (recording your computer screen)

Jing allows you to record your computer screen. Capturing both video and images (screen shots).

It's a great tool because it's free, but it you want to make videos for YouTube you'll need to upgrade to Snagit.

I mostly use it when explaining something to someone. It basically makes a mini tutorial. We do weekly seller feedback / reports (showing them how many views they had online, reviews of new listings and sold, explaining paperwork, etc).

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Company: Join.me
Service: Screen Sharing and Webinars

Join.me allows you to instantly share your computer screen with others. 100% free.

Just share your link and anyone with that link can see your screen (if you run the program).

Ideas:

• Do virtual home value updates with your database.
• Set up your buyers on the MLS prospect match and have them watch.
• Go over paperwork.
• Do a live presentation using powerpoint.
• Live tech support. 

They have a paid version but most agents don't need it. I've been using it for years.