By now, you should know there’s probably an app for almost any situation or purpose.
Need an app to tell you if it’s dark outside? Done.
What about one that helps you hunt for ghosts? Easy.
If these apps exist, surely there are some useful ones that can make your day-to-day life as a REALTOR® easier to navigate, especially as the COVID-19 pandemic pushes more of your business online and into a virtual environment.
Your smartphone can help you stay organized, get you places, keep you connected and can even translate what your cat is saying (See, what did I say? An app for everything!), so it’s best to keep current on what apps can turn your smartphone into your most handy assistant.
We break down a list of apps all REALTORS® should have at the ready.
BUSINESS
Calendly – $10 a month
With more than five million monthly users, it’s been described as the “world’s No. 1 scheduling tool,” so that should immediately get your attention. Calendly works with Google, Outlook, Office 365 or iCloud calendars and creates simple, timesaving rules to help you schedule meetings without the back-and-forth emails.
Agent Success App – Free
This real estate activity tracker from Surge, LLC, acts like a fitness app for your business. You can set goals, fine-tune your business strategy and the app can even be used to calculate lead conversions, average commission, list-to-sell ratios and so much more.
Canadian Mortgage App – Free, with paid options
Used by more than 14,000 real estate professionals and even more prospective home buyers, this app puts some Canadian homeownership rules and guidelines in the palm of your hands. You can also get a list of going rates from lenders, and let your clients know specific details about closing and land transfer costs.
REALTOR.ca app – Free
No real estate app list would be complete without the app that goes with Canada’s No. 1 real estate platform*, REALTOR.ca. On top of browsing the largest database of properties for sale in the country, the REALTOR.ca app lets you create profiles, mark favourites, keeps agents connected to their clients, lets you gain neighbourhood insights and so much more.
BONUS
Make sure to check out the various 3D tour and video providers that work well with REALTOR.ca. Several of them, including Matterport, immoviewer and iStaging, have slick apps to help you show off your listing in a more immersive way.
REALTOR.ca Listing Stats app – Free
Available exclusively for REALTORS®, the app gives you access to your listing stats, notifies you when your listings go live and when you get new leads, and helps you connect with clients. New features are constantly added.
SOCIAL MEDIA
The Big Five – Facebook, Instagram, YouTube, LinkedIn, Twitter
OK, it seems like a lot to put on your plate, but you don’t have to be an expert on every single social media app out there. Unless you have teen home buyers, TikTok probably isn’t going to attract you many clients (yet), but social media companies are constantly evolving and figuring out ways to attract new audiences.
Facebook and Instagram remain a real estate professional’s most powerful social media apps when it comes to generating leads and advertising yourself, but LinkedIn is an excellent way to connect with other REALTORS® and build your skills.
You can search and join conversations on Twitter to become more visible in the real estate community, not to mention promote your listings to a large audience. YouTube is great if you plan on doing a lot of multimedia projects with your listings, but also as an invaluable learning resource with thousands of tutorial and how-to videos out there.
Facebook Ads Manager – Free
With a few clicks, you can run ads across Facebook, Instagram, Audience Network and Messenger. By making a single campaign, you can reach people on all their favourite apps and websites. According to Facebook, 1.6 billion people worldwide are connected to a small business on the world’s most popular social media platform—you should be leveraging its power properly.
Hootsuite – Prices vary (starting from $29 a month)
Used by more than 18 million people, this app serves as a one-stop shop to manage multiple social networks, connect with customers, and grow your brand on social media. You can also dive into analytics reports to learn what’s working and what isn’t.
Bonus
Think outside of the box when trying to market yourself. Did you know Reddit has an active home buying community in Canada? Check out the Personal Finance Canada or Real Estate Canada subreddits to join in on real estate conversations. The Reddit app is free to download on all devices.
DAY-TO-DAY
Canva – Free, with paid options
This app gives you everything you need to design like a pro, on the go. Using thousands of pre-made templates and images, Canva is great for sprucing up your ads or social media posts. Take a picture from your phone, put it in a template, save it, schedule it or post it—right from the app.
Animoto – Free, with paid options
This super easy app lets you create your own personally branded videos right to your Instagram and Facebook stories or newsfeeds.
Password Manager
There are many options out there, from paid ones that use high-end encryption such as 1Password, to secure free options like BitWarden, but having all of your passwords together in one place can be a timesaver and lifesaver when it comes to remembering how to log into everything from Amazon to Zoom.
CamScanner – Free, with paid options
This app turns your smartphone or tablet’s camera lens into an on-the-go scanner. From there, you can annotate, edit, sign and send out documents electronically. No more needing to be at the office to send your client those closing documents or contracts.
Bonus
While it may not be an app per se, you can use CREA WEBForms® from anywhere, on any device. The complete end-to-end document and transaction management solution seamlessly integrates with your favourite e-signature apps, such as DocuSign®, Authentisign®, TransactionDesk®, NEXONE and eZmax. From offer to close, CREA WEBForms® is all you need to access and share the most up-to-date forms from boards or associations including commercial, FINTRAC and international referral forms.
Waze – Free
Sure, every smartphone comes with its own preloaded maps system, but Waze takes things a step further. It’s a real-time, crowd-sourced social network maps app. Users can alert fellow drivers to crashes, hazards, road closures, police presence or other issues that may change the route you had planned to take. It also integrates well with Spotify to help keep your eyes on the road and your ears tuned into your favourite podcast or playlist.
EverNote
This app is perfect for the person who needs to digitize their sticky notes. All your notes can be safely stored in one location, and it’s easy to add links, images or to collaborate with your team. Find a website you want to read later or have a PDF you want to show a client? Add it to Evernote and it’s accessible at the tap of a finger.
DESIGN & DÉCOR
ColorSnap Visualizer – Free
Not sure what that fixer-upper could look like? Snap some pics and see what a new coat of paint could do. This app from Sherwin Williams lets you change the colours of a room virtually, before getting your hands dirty. It also tells you how much paint you’ll need to finish the job and can save your favourite colours.
Homestyler – Free, with paid options
You just used the ColorSnap app and you’ve got the interior design vibes flowing. Build on that energy by downloading the Homestyler app, which lets you take photos of your home, add measurements and place furniture wherever you want to get a sense of what works best where.
*Comscore, 2020
