Real Estate To Go: Mobile Technology for Brokers

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For Brokers

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6 REALTOR® JULY I AUGUST 2011

Real Estate to GoMobile technology gives brokers freedom to

run their companies and stay in touch with

salespeople from just about anywhere.

By Pat Curry

David Hicks, owner of Amery, W i s . ~ b a s e d Century

21 Premier Group, has been a broker since 1975- well

before the digital age.

Until earlier this year, his brokerage included

nine offices in western Wisconsin with about 100

~ - - l l i l f i l l l l , _ 1salespeople. Then, in mid-January, he heard about

a prime opportunity to buy a ZipRealty office in

nearby St. Louis Park, Minn., which would help him

expand into the Twin Cities metropoli tan area.

That cold wintryweek, rather than drive to Min

nesota, he hopped on a plane for a three-week trip

to Hawaii. And soon after he got back, he was of f

to Phoenix, where he's spent his winters for the past

six years. In the meantime, he managed

to buy the brokerage and grow his

sales force .by roughly 6o percent.

"At my age - I'm 58-I'm thinking

it's time to relax," Hicks says. "I've known

too many brokers who retire and die within two or

three years. They waited too long. I don't want to be

one of those people. I'm trying to do some things I

like to do and position myself so I can oversee the

business."With the use of several tech tools, he's managed

to do both. He stays in touch via phone and e-mail

and logs in to the company's computers using a

remote desktop connection that is a feature of

its Microsoft server. Documents that need his

signature are done "the old-fashioned way," Hicks

notes, but that doesn't mean sending faxes or FedEx

envelopes from Hawaii. PDFs of documents are

www.REALIOR.org/reaftormag



e-mailed to him; he prints and signs them, scans

them, and e-mails them back. He prefers scanning

documents to faxing them. "We lost so much quality

with faxes." Hicks says he felt comfortable leaving

town during the acquisition because he knew

he'd be available to his team working on the deal.

"Since this acquisition took place, I've pu t in full

days every day," he says. "I just do it from Hawaii or

Phoenix."

SEEKING INSTANT GRATIFICATION

Over the past decade, working remotely has become

common in many industries-especially real estate,

an inherently mobile profession. For broker-owners,

iving al)sociates a way to be productive away from

the office is a way to cut costs on everything from

rinter paper to office space as well as to improve

esponse times to clients and agents.

In Pottsville, Pa., broker-owner Erica Ramus

f Realty Executives has essentially replaced

edEx with ZipForms and DocuSign-electronic

ocument services that have saved time and money.

e five-person brokerage does a lot of estate and

work, and many clients are from out of town.

used to mean high shipping costs and delay

but not anymore, Ramus says.

In addition, all of their real estate documents

through Google Docs and a Google-based

don't have to constantly go to the

office to check on things," Ramus says. "Someone

the other day needed an invoice for a

rental property .She was 30 miles

away. Boom, she had it."

Technology makes it possibleto streamline operations and still

provide a high level of service and

support to agents and clients,

says Jo e Adkins, broker-owner

of Altamonte Springs, Fla.-based

The Realty Factor and The Rental

Factor. The company has 50 agents in

offices in Jacksonville, Orlando, and Fort

but most of them work from home.

much everything is online," he says. "It's

If we get audited or a client calls us

years later and needs a HUD-1 statement, we

That has happened."Agents use a portal on the company's Web site to

scanned contracts. Adkins is notified

e-mail "as soon as they click submit," he says,

helps him stay on top of the transactions. All

databases are backed up nightly to

to a remote location. This

of set-up is becoming the new standard for real

, Adk ins says. "I fyou don't go » >

w.REALTOR.org/realtormag

8 Ways to Run YourOffice RemotelyIf you want to get more done when you're away from the office, you need to have

the right combination of tools, says Jonathan Nicholas, founder and president of

The Company CEO, avirtual consulting company.

1. Use a virtual phone system.

With products such as Phone.com and Grasshopper, every salesperson within

the company can have an assigned direct-dial extension. Agents can choose to

have calls forwarded to the numbers of their choice. Other useful features includee-fax technology (faxes are converted into PDFs and attached toe-mails), property

information hotlines, call reporting with Caller ID tracking, and management

access to voice mails of staff.

2. Create virtual desktop environments.

Aproduct called Desktone allows you to set up as many as 10 virtual Windows 7

desktop computers with all the software that agents or staffers need. Agents can

access the desktops from their mobile device, tablet PC, laptop, or home desktop.

If you prefer to use your own computers, services such as LogMeln allow you to

see and control any computer to which you have remote access, access files, use

applications, and more.

3. Get on board with video conferencing.

Are you using Skype yet? It's great for mentoring, coaching, small-group training,

and collaborating on negotiations.

4. Host educational webinars.

Offer online weekly sales meetings, training sessions, or webinars using aservice

such as Join.Me, an offering from LogMeln. Participants can join using their

desktop or laptop PC, iPhone or Android phone, or other devices.

5. Keep important documents online.

There are many providers that let you collaborate and share documents online,

including SherWeb and Google Apps for Business. Maintain central shared .

contact lists, public folders, company-branded e-mail for each agent, and multiplecalendars.

6. Sign forms electronically.

Products such as DocuSign (a REALTOR Benefits® Program Partner) or LifeForms

allow you to complete and sign documents online rather than rushing across town

for signatures or spending money and time on overnighting documents to out-of

town clients.

7. Use Web-based software.Instead of purchasing and installing software on your computers, you subscr ibe

to applications and access them on the "cloud," or Internet-based storage. Check

out solutions such as Zoho.com, Google Apps, or Microsoft Office 365. Files can

be accessed through links on an intra net site, virtual desktop, mobile device, orWindows Live account.

8. Track the deal online.

Systems such as PaperlessPipeline.com, SkySiope.com, SureCiose.com, or

Relay (ziplogix.com) allow agents to upload documents to an online repository

that manages the closing process and workflow. Brokers and transaction

coordinators can check in on transactions and create checklists. The repository

also facilitates paperless offices due to its online document storage and retrieval.

JULY I AUGUST 2011 REALTOR® 87



. ______ ,

»> wireless, you'll be left behind," he says.

Even managers who are sometimes

frustrated by technology can't deny its

benefits. "I want to be right there for my

agents," says Val Hatzelis, SFR, broker-

manager of Oak Lawn, IlL- based RE/MAX

ro. "Because I'm in so many different places, I can't

physically be there for everyone at the exact moment

they need me." She relies on her iPad to stay in touchwith about no agents in four offices.

"I can get to a document in the car, modify it, OK

it, and get it back to them," Hatzelis says. "I t would

be unbelievable if I had to stop, drop everything,

and find a fax machine. That's crazy."

WHAT'S IN YOUR TECH TOOLBOX?

Some tools are a necessity for running a brokerage

remotely. For example, you must have a laptop and

a high-quality multifunction printer. But that's just

the beginning. Luxe Global Inc. in Rancho Santa

Fe, Calif., which sells luxury property in addition to

jets and yachts, relies on Internet-based conferenc

ing through Skype- a very useful solution since bro

ker and CEO Robert L. Mani works with affiliate

agents on several continents.

Like a growing number of broker-owners, Mani

also uses a virtual phone system (his company uses

Grasshopper). It provides a toll-free number with

individual extensions for associates and a voice mail

system that goes right to cell phone numbers. "I t

makes us sound as ifwe're a big corporation," he says.

Callers have the option to dial zero for an operator;

those calls go to the cell phone of his assistant. If

she's "out to lunch or with an agent," he says, the

phone's caller ID will read "Phone Call for Opera

tor," so she knows to answer it instead ofletting it go

to voice mail.

Luxe Global's agents also use an onlinetransaction management system called Relay. Mani

can "see what transactions they're doing, make any

necessary changes, and approve any documents they

send out."

Broker Zach Schabot, with Cary, N.C.-based

Go Realty, says at the very least every practitioner

must have a smartphone. One of the most common

apps his agents use is Yammer, which he describes

REALTOR 00 JULY I AUGUST 2011

as "Twitter for companies." It gives everyone in the

company a simple way to share information on a

private platform.

"I don't see everyone every day, but I get 50 to 6o

messages coming through Yammer," he says. "It's

great for sharing resources. Someone will say, 'I need

a great HVAC guy and I need him quick.'"

Practitioners also use it to share good news, such

as closed sales and new listings. Schabot also usesSkype to talk to both agents and clients, and is a

big fan of LifeForms, an iPad app that allows you

to complete and sign documents.

OUT OF SIGHT,

OUT OF MIND?

Having the ability

to run the office

from anywhere

doesn't mean you

never have to

go to the office.

"There were bro

kerages that jumped

on the virtual move-

ment and realized they

were losing agents because they weren't providing

enough value. The manager wasn't hands-on," says

Jonathan Nicholas, a Winnetka, IlL-based real

estate consultant who specializes in technology

solutions. "Brokerages need to provide service."

Hatzelis agrees, saying in-person time is espe

cially important at a time when salespeople are

struggling to close deals. She makes time every

week to visit each of her offices, coaching agents and

delivering information from continuing education

courses she's attended on hot topics such as short

sales and foreclosures. "I f you don't deliver the

knowledge your agents need, you'll lose them all.

They're floundering. I use all the technology, but it's

no t going to replace me. I need to be there if they

need me.''

Hicks still spends his winters in Phoenix, but he

makes trips back to Wisconsi n about once a month

for meetings and events. He's more relaxed about

the arrangement now than when he first started. At

first, he couldn't stay away for more than a couple of

weeks. "I had initial concerns: 'Goodness, will theyforget who I am? Will everything collapse without

me around?'" he says. "That was a needless worry.''

Still, he feels it's necessary to make in-person ap

pearances regularly. "Otherwise, salespeople lose

touch with who you are," he says. "You still want

to maintain a presence so people see a reason to

associate with you. I don't think it's possible to do it

entirely remotely." •

www.RE:ALTOR.org/realtormag

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