At least two companies are promoting new cellphone software at the NAR's mid-year convention this week in Washington D.C., that can enable mobile Realtors to do property searches and more from their cellphones.

Nokia is entering the real estate software business with two phones that are already on the market that can be enhanced with real estate-specific software designed by the company. One phone, the 3650, is an imaging camera phone, and the other, 9290, is a workhorse enterprise device, says Jake Sagehorn, director and general manager for Nokia's enterprise business unit.

Realtors can carry as many as seven devices with them - a digital camera, PDA, pager, lockbox key, cellphone, calculator, and a laptop to juggle scheduling, calendars, MLS access and more. Nokia hopes to cut many of those devices down to a cellphone.

To find out how Realtors work, Nokia engaged a focus group of Dallas/Fort Worth and Atlanta area agents. Surprisingly, Nokia found that most agents weren't using laptops. Many would download what information they needed from a desktop to take a client out for showings, and listing presentations were often done with Powerpoint printouts.

"There were no real time updates," marveled Sagehorn. "They were still using the brick and mortar approach. They still viewed the office as where they work VS their cars. We are trying to say work is not a place - it's where you need to be to list and sell. One device they never leave home without is a phone."

"We are building different applications about mobility away from the office with access to critical information, such as e-mail," says Sagehorn. "One of the first features is multi-list access. Over the air, you will be able to access the multi-list database and download that information to the device in real time. The second thing is a mortgage calculator to calculate P & I and mortgage interest payments. It will come with a video recorder. We are putting customer care functions, so Realtors can press one button, and it will launch a toll-free call so they can talk about any support issues."

The 3650 cellphone has an easy to use camera, and it will have a real estate graphical user interface. The 9290 cellphone is more of an expansion of a PDA and computer built into one. "It has all PDA functions, and mortgage, word processing and Excel functions," explains Sagehorn. "but it doesn't have the camera. It looks like a tiny laptop - a phone from the outside, but it flips like a full keyboard, so you have imaging on one vs word processing on the other and that gives the user choice in applications."

Costs vary widely for the phones depending on the cellphone carriers and what deals they may be offering, but users can count on the 3650 to be about $349 without the software.

The real estate software is still being tested and applications are in the "final coding," says Sagehorn. Software prices are unavailable, but the software should be ready for sale in about a month.

Competition may come from a company called NaWire which is debuting its new wireless real estate software, Mobilist™, which also enables agents to search for property information, download photo imagery, e-mail digital color “flyers” to clients, and calculate payment options. The software can be used as an application from any Internet-ready palm device or java-enabled cellular phone.

Developed specifically for the real estate industry, Mobilist™ is already available to 3,600 real estate agents in Central Virginia as a result of NaWire’s recent partnership with the Richmond Association of Realtors (RAR) and the Central Virginia Regional Multiple Listing Service (CVRMLS). It is expected to become available to another 35,000 agents in the Philadelphia, Dover, Baltimore, Northern Virginia, and Washington, D.C., areas within the next few months, says the company.

The product features an easy to use “QuickSearch” mechanism that locates properties by neighborhood, street name, elementary school district MLS ID#, or zip code and provides instant color photos to accompany the listings. It also comes equipped with an easy to use payment calculation system to help agents provide on-site financial counseling.

NaWire Vice President of Development, Douglas Payne explains, “We have been developing and tweaking this product for well over a year, working with a number of real estate professionals. The driving force behind the development of the application is that agents and brokers are highly mobile sales people — folks who can’t sit behind a desk all day, pulling up listings on a PC or fumbling through an outdated MLS book. Mobilist™ gives them the speed, power and freedom they need to be out in the field with their clients where they belong, showing and selling homes.”

The software can be purchased from NaWire for $29.95 per month, plus a one-time set-up fee of $49.95. A useful component of the application is that it can be easily downloaded from the Internet for immediate use. Cellular service providers who currently support Mobilist software through PDAs in Central Virginia Are T-Mobile, Alltel, Verizon Wireless, Ntelos and Sprint.

Published: May 19, 2003

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