When I was first licensed in 1981, tech tools weren’t something on the minds of most real estate professionals hoping for assistance in navigating our business. The MLS in those days, wasn’t a computer, it was a book the size of a phone directory, published once a week and left at our office door on Saturday mornings. Agents didn’t have cellphones, or even a pager. The term, "Internet," wasn't even part of our day to day vocabulary or lexicon!
With the advent of the Internet, we not only access forms to list property or write offers, we have the ability to have clients e-sign from their location! Gone are the days when agents were required to log countless hours traveling by car to deliver offers, or acquire signatures!
Things dramatically changed quickly however, and in the early months of 1982, our office added a computer to access the MLS. And, soon after a fax machine! I was among the first to get a pager, if not the very first in Sacramento. By the end of the 1980s, I had my first cell phone. It was a large cumbersome thing that had a long cord, and weighed a few pounds.
In today’s real estate realm, things are dramatically different. A sizable variety of tech tools are increasingly emerging and being used. They not only include computers, laptops, iPads, and other forms of tech gee-wizzery, there are photo editing tools, which are used to enhance listing photos or marketing materials.
Among my favorite photo editing tools, is iPiccy, a FREE on-line photo editor. There are other photo editors out there either on-line or available on program diskette. But, I always seem to tap into iPiccy first! This editing tool not only allows for basic edits like croping, adjustment of contrast and sharpening. It has a wide variety of artistic photo effects which can be added to your photos. It's fun to explore!
In recent years, I have increasingly noticed how diverse our nation is becoming. That is especially true in California. I began thinking it would be valuable to learn a second language to aid some of my clients. As a New Year’s resolution for 2017, I vowed to learn Spanish.
From a friend, I learned great things about the FREE on-line language learning website, DuoLingo. When, I first accessed DuoLingo and began my journey, I was only 1% fluent in Spanish. However, I have found the website to be exceptionally put together, and learning has been as a really fun game, as it is an excellent learning tool. I am currently 17% fluent in Spanish. That isn’t much, but it has been only a few short weeks. This is a fun adventure which hopefully by the end of the year will find me fluent. DuoLingo offers several languages. Once fluent in Spanish, I hope to learn Italian!
One thing I want to mention is that not all tools are created equal! It is important to keep an ear to the ground for those aps, tools and newly developed products which seem to work best for others in our realm. Feel free to explore the free on-line photo editors. There are many, and each of us has personal preferences!
Real estate professionals have seen many changes to our working landscape over the years! It's been interesting to see, and I've enjoyed the process!
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