Hypothetical (mostly) Uses for the iPad in Real Estate

Ahh, the iPad.  A game changer for Real Estate?

Not sure about that just yet, but picture this:

You’re out previewing homes.  Using your trusty iPad, you’re able to use an application which allows you to enter notes about the home, add it to your list of recently viewed properties and the interactive map that is displayed on your blog then email that info directly to your clients who are interested in that style property.  OK, so that’s not even a hypothetical.  We could do that now.

How about this:

You’re out showing a home.  Your client says, “let’s make an offer!”.  Within minutes of pulling out your iPad, you’ve got the Docusign application open, and you’re crafting the offer.  Digital signatures entered, the document is sent off to the listing agent.  Yeah, you’re right.  We can already do that too.

Third try’s a charm:

You hand over your iPad, which comes loaded with your brokerages property search application (among a few select others), to your clients (gasp!) and explain that they can use it to search listings from home or while they’re out on the road.  If they want to go view specific listings, they too can enter their thoughts as notes or voice memos into the system using the application which would also be displaying a list of “suggested” properties within the area.  Of course, anything the client views and leaves their thoughts on, can be viewed on the backend of the application. Plus, using the real time chat feature (connected to your iPhone of course) or voice memo system your clients can ask you questions and you can respond appropriately.  Finally, this one is hypothetical.  Mostly.  Probably the hardest part of all this will be getting your clients to give the thing back to you.

Now I know there are some tablet PC users out there saying, hmmph, we’ve been doing this for years.  But, in my opinion, lugging around a 5lb $1500 tablet PC that takes 5 minutes to boot up is once thing and carrying an ultra slim, 1.5 lb work of art that boots in 10 seconds is another.  I don’t know, it could just be me.  But, since the iPad isn’t shipping for a few more months, I’m sure there will be plenty more speculation on how the thing can be used in Real Estate.  If you have any other ideas, feel free to share them here in the comments.

Thanks,

Jeff