You know they look at homes when you aren't around. There's no stopping it, but there is a way to keep your name front and center when your buyers sneak off to open houses, builder's models, or FSBOs without you.

A new product by Apthand.com could be just the apron string buyer's agents need to keep in front of buyers.

Apthand.com has just introduced a real estate professional's version of its consumer PDA software "Home Buying for Digerati Limited." The software is customized with your photo, name, and contact information. You can offer the download directly to your customers who use PDAs, and you can keep the customized version available for download from your Website for site visitors to use. This makes a great lead capture tool as consumers visit your Web site, see the customized software and download it to their PDAs for use while looking at homes, even if they aren't yet clients.

Home Buying for Digerati Limited is software that has been available to consumers, but now is turned into a lead generation and lead retention tool for real estate professionals, mortgage professionals, or any service provider to home buyers.

The software is basically a homeviewing organization tool that allows the buyer to input information about each home into fields so that s/he can use it for decision-making. The software also comes with a mortgage calculator, so buyers can know before they walk out the door what the home will cost them to buy. There is also homebuying advice geared for the tech-happy first-time homebuyer.

"Even if you aren't a first-time homebuyer, you tend to forget things like getting a home inspector and how to shop for a loan," says AptHand.com spokesperson Brian Blevins, who got the idea for the software while buying a home. "We know that endusers find value in it. We have people who are willing to pay for the software, so we are confident that the broker, mortgage officer, or inspector will be able to get leads from it."

Blevins says homebuyers have difficulty remembering features and points to check when they view a home. The Home Buying software allows the buyer to remember to check for items such as carpet condition and room sizes. The reminders are good to have even if the buyer is accompanied by the agent.

"It helps you be more thorough," he says. And grateful users are constantly reminded of the real estate professional's generosity, tech-friendliness and professionalism whenever they use the program.

The real estate professional pays for the customization of the software, but it is free to consumers. "Once they have purchased a copy," explains Blevins, "they are free to give it away to as many customers as they want."

While there are many ways to obtain the software, a Windows PC user would download the software to the PC from the real estate professional's site, run the installer, and then synchronize his/her PDA with the PC. Home Buying for Digerati requires Palm OS 3.0 or later and 134 KB of available RAM. It will run on any Palm OS compatible PDA, including the entire Palm PDA line, Handspring Visor, Handspring Treo, Sony Clie and IBM Workpad.

The cost to the real estate professional is about $50 to $200, depending on the options s/he chooses.

The potential for the product is great, as the PDA software becomes sophisticated enough to allow side-by-side comparisons and calculation entries such as homes with the most priority matches. But these enhancements are down the road, until the company launches its first version.

"The interaction between the agents and homebuyers using PDAs is the next big thing for this product," says Blevins. "Most agents can get the MLS data into their PDAs. Now they need to get it to the homebuyers. There should be a way to beam information over to the homebuyer - there's work to be done on the development side."

Blevins says the company is talking to MLSs about coordinating listing information now.

"The whole idea is for the agent to stay in front of the user," says Blevins. "They have the phone number, the agent's picture and it goes with them whatever they are doing."

"Real estate is such a mobile market," says Blevins, "it begs for a computing device that is also mobile."

Published: June 12, 2002

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Blanche is a renowned author of five real estate books. Her newest, Bubbles, Booms and Busts: Make Money In Any Real Estate Market, McGraw-Hill, was rave-reviewed by The New York Times. She was also selected from hundreds of real estate experts to contribute to Donald Trump's book, Trump: The Best Real Estate Advice I Ever Received: 100 Top Experts Share Their Strategies, Rutledge Hill Press, and is featured on page 68. Order Now Review - Honors In 2006, Blanche was selected among scores of candidates to author two consumer real estate guidebooks for the National Association of Realtors: The NAR Guide to Home Buying, and The NAR Guide to Home Selling, Wiley & Sons. She is currently planning two new books for the NAR and its members.       Known for her keen insight into real estate industry issues and for her ability to make complex subjects easy to understand, Blanche is a sought-after keynote and continuing education speaker. Real estate organizations from MLSs, to brokerages, to franchisors, to associations hire her to provide up-to-the-minute analysis of real estate industry news and advice on how to improve revenues. Her passionate delivery, peppered with stinging wit, is a huge hit with audiences and fans. Don Klein, CEO Greater Nashville Association of Realtors, Blanche Evans, Richard Courtney, president 2007, GRAR "The GNAR membership meeting last week featured Blanche Evans as the keynote speaker. Her comments and insights resonated extremely well with those in attendance and we have had many requests for copies of her PowerPoint Presentation. She was a terrific part of the membership meeting and convention program!" - Don Klein, CEO Greater Nashville Association of Realtors Coverage from WSMV, Nashville - 8-14-2007 That Interview Guy - Get Inside The Head Of Today's Generation 2007 AE Institute Session - To purchase 2006 AE Institute Session - Parts 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 HouseValues Mastermind call - Parts 1 2 Blanche's fireside chat with Jeremy Conaway, HAR - Click here. For more articles by Blanche, click here.