Be connected to your clients wherever you are.

Our systems are accesible right from the palm of your hand. With a handheld PDA you are able to access all the software needed to run your business...and you can take it with you anywhere.

Always have live data by syncing with Outlook on our servers. Your contact data can always be a live version, so you never have to enter data twice, ever!

A PDa device is the perfect in-the-field tool for today’s agent-on-the-go. It holds all of your contacts’ names, addresses and phone numbers, plus appointments and a to-do list. The pda is very powerful — and the key to its power is understanding how to maximize its use in real estate transactions.

Do you know what people mean when they refer to a “Palm” or PDA? Palm is a brand name but it is also the operating system used by Palm, HandSpring Visor and HandEra. Several other handheld computers, such as the Sony Clié, use the Pocet PC operating platform. As a group, these devices are often called PDAs (personal digital assistants).

Most agents use their desktop computers as glorified date books. Just like many of us have Microsoft Word on our computers but only know how to use its basic functions, thousands of agents have contact management software and use it mostly for name-and-address in-formation. The bottom line is that most agents want a computer so they can keep track of their customers in a database; print mailing labels; watch their calendars for appointments, birthdays and anniversaries; and use the Internet for e-mail, MLS and browsing.

A PDA will handle these things very well and at a price that most agents consider acceptable. Plus, it’s much more portable than a notebook computer.

Here are some suggestions about how to tailor your PDA to real estate transactions.

Customizing the Address Book Feature
The basic address book application that comes with most PDAs does most of what typical agents want done: tracks names, addresses and phone numbers, and records notes.

On a PDA for example, there are four custom fields that can be used as desired. Consider renaming the fields: Spouse, His Birthday, Her Birthday and Anniversary, choosing either the clients’ wedding anniversary or the anniversary of their home purchase.

The PDA address book also allows you to categorize each contact. Consider renaming the categories: Past customer, Friends, Relatives, Neighbors, Best agents in town, Out of town agents, Allied professionals and Contractors.

Most contact management programs allow you to keep notes for each client. The note field on a PDA is one large area and doesn’t allow for separate notes. But a good way to manage notes is to put the date next to the note and always append the note from the top. This way you’ll be able to look at the latest entry without scrolling.

Never Double-Book Again
How many times have you promised your spouse you’d be somewhere and recorded it on the “home” calendar without realizing you were already committed at the office? With a PDA, you have the ability to transfer appointments from device to device, such as from a Palm to your computer, and vice versa, so you will never double-book again.

The date book also allows for over-lapping appointments, which sometimes is necessary, and recurring appointments, such as weekly sales meetings, monthly board meetings or annual birthdays and anniversaries.

One of my favorite features of the date book is the “Phone lookup” that automatically inserts the name and telephone number from the address book. One step further...the new Pocket PC Phones...auto recognize incoming names and numers of your contacts.

Synchronizing with Your Desktop Computer
All of the different PDA devices come with desktop sync for your computer. This allows you to write data to your computer and then synchronize it with your Palm device through the cradle that links to the two devices.

I prefer to synchronize with my e-mail program, Microsoft Outlook. It is an application called a Personal Information Manager but it does many of the things that a Palm does, which is why it makes perfect sense to synchronize the two. If you use Outlook, you should synchronize with Outlook instead of the Palm desktop. This will consolidate your information into one address book, one calendar, one “to do” list and one set of memos.

The Importance of a To-Do List
During the Industrial Revolution, Andrew Carnegie, president of Bethlehem Steel, hired a young management consultant named Ivy Lee to help him increase the productivity of his office employees. After observing them for a month, Lee had just one recommendation.

He said most people wasted time in the morning getting started. They weren’t sure what needed to be done and in what order. Lee produced a simple piece of paper with lines numbered one to 10. He suggested that before employees went home each evening they should write down what needed to be done the next day in order of priority.

Carnegie didn’t expect such a simple solution and really questioned its value. Lee was so confident that it would work that he told Carnegie to try it for a month and to send him a check for whatever he thought the idea was worth. Carnegie sent Lee a check for $25,000 — really big money 100 years ago.

REALTORS® can waste whole days putting out fires and can easily get distracted. A to-do list helps you stay on track, and PDAs are ideal tools for managing to-do lists.

Writing Memos
Think of memos as sticky notes that can be little or really big. We use them because there is something that we need to remember and we “stick” them where they can be easily found.

All of the memos on your Palm and Outlook will be in one place, alphabetized so that you can find what you are looking for with minimal searching.

Another real estate use might be to take notes at a seminar or make notes about the features of a listing.

Add a Financial Calculator
For real estate professionals, the Palm falls short in one important area: It comes with only a basic four-function calculator. Fortunately, you can add an application to take care of this. PZCalc includes a series of the most common and powerful calculations needed for residential transactions.

Experienced agents know the advantages of using an 80 percent mortgage with a 10 percent second to avoid private mortgage insurance that will result in savings of up-front and monthly fees. The PZCalc figures the payments and the blended rate in less time than it takes to calculate a single mortgage payment on a conventional calculator.

PZCalc quickly shows buyers what can happen if the interest rate goes up and how much more they’ll pay monthly and over the life of the mortgage.

Whip out your Palm and use PZCalc to show a person the tax savings they’ll get by owning a home as well as how their down payment will grow based on leverage, appreciation and amortization. You’ll never have to worry about which buttons to push because PZCalc is fill-in-the-blank.

PZCalc will help you tell owners whether to refinance based on how long it will take to recapture their refinancing costs instead of inaccurate rules-of-thumb. You can show a homeowner that making additional principal payments will save thousands in interest and shorten the loan term. All of the calculations are similar to the ones that have been taught in the CRS 205 course, “Using Today’s Technology to Capture Your Market.”

Accessing MLS
The convenience of having all or part of your MLS on your Palm device is apparent. You could be driving past a home with a sign on it and immediately have the facts at your fingertips.

Supra, the manufacturer of the lockboxes most associations use, has an application that provides the MLS data as well as who has shown your listings with the electronic lockboxes. To use this system, your association needs to subscribe to it.

An alternative to this that is available in most areas is PocketRealEstate. There is no monthly fee and you can download the MLS information that you want as often as you want.

Learning More About PDAs
There is more technology in a Palm device than most agents use in their desktop computers. But you must make a commitment to learn it. More tools — both software and hardware — for PDAs are coming on the market every day. Did you know you can buy a folding keyboard or power adapter to plug into your car? Software currently on the market for the Palm allows you to transfer MS Access, Excel, Filemaker Pro 5 and other data files (check out www.igo.com).

Real estate agents must continue learning to be successful. Make learning how to effectively use your PDA a priority for 2005.

Money-Making Habits

1. Synchronize daily or when you recharge batteries.

2. Always verify you have a person’s correct e-mail address.

3. Beam your business card to every person with a Palm device.

4. Identify a category when accepting a “beamed card.”

5. Record what you talk to people about in your notes.

6. Always schedule another contact after talking to someone.

7. Record a person’s birthday or anniversary.

8. For time management, put all your activities on your calendar.

9. Prioritize a “To Do” list for tomorrow before you go home tonight.

10. Together with all your phone numbers, street, e-mail and Web site addresses, your Palm business card should contain a note with the services you offer and areas you specialize in.

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