If there's one thing in common regarding owners of Palm-based Personal Digital Assistants (PDAs) it is that they are always looking for new software that will enhance the value of their portable computing capabilities.

With that in mind, I was pleased to find a Web site, Ouisoft.com that provides six separate real estate specific utilities, and priced at just $7.50 each.

A quick review of each utility should help you determine which of these programs might be just what you're looking for:

• Com Track 3 - A simple tool to keep track of your sales commissions, both past and future. This program also totals and averages Sales Price, Gross and Net commissions, which might be handy for your future business planning.

• LockBox DataBase - A great program for storing all of your lock box serial numbers and codes! Best used by those who password protect their PDAs.

• House Keeper - A handy database module designed for carrying detailed property information. While it's fairly comprehensive, you have to manually enter property information so keep in mind that it is not an MLS solution. However, this is a great tool for tracking information for either your personal listings or perhaps even for available FSBOs in your area.

• Continuing Ed. Tracker - For agents who are used to accumulating "Con Ed" hours throughout the year, this utility will help you remember how far you have come, and how many hours you still need to complete for your license renewal.

• RECheck - Quite a thoughtful way to keep track of comments and problems that arise during property inspections. Simple "check-boxes" make this software very easy to use. Additionally, the ability to render drawings and add comments makes this a sophisticated program that would be handy for agents, inspectors, property managers and appraisers as well.

• RE Expense - A real estate-specific utility for keeping track of client and tax expenses that may appeal to those who want to use their PDAs for just about everything.

With such a broad range of utilities, odds are that just about anyone will find a use for at least one of these programs.

What's even better is that OUISoft.com offers these utilities on a "shareware" basis, meaning that you can try the software for 30 days before you have to commit to purchasing.

Published: December 10, 2002

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