Two of My Favorite Tech Tools
Bob Stewart has invited us to talk about our 2 favorite technology tools in the February challenge “What Tools or Systems Do You Love – An ActiveRain Challenge.”
Easy, right?
Nope, it was hard to decide which 2 to talk about, although 1 was an easy one to select.
I don’t recall for sure when I first started using Docusign, but it wasn’t a hard decision to implement it…I’m guessing 2006…and I‘ve been a fan ever since. There have been a couple other electronic signature systems available from various sources but I found they just did not compare in terms of ease of use (for me at least).
I love using Docusign and the fact that I can send and receive documents to be signed wherever I have phone service. So I don’t have to be sitting in my office at my laptop to send things, or to sign where I need to as a Carlsbad Realtor. Indeed I have signed at home, on the train, in Ubers, at the airport, in cabs, sitting in restaurants, at the gym, and just about any place I take my phone and ipad and allow myself to be interrupted!
On the other side, of course, buyers or sellers can be anywhere they can access email and can sign offers, listing contracts, counter offers and disclosures quickly, without the need to print out, sign, scan and email…how archaic and time consuming is that?! I’ve had multiple transactions with several people involved where we were all in different places and time zones, including internationally (a recent trustee for both a listing and a purchase lives in Portugal), and within minutes needed documents were signed and sent where they needed to be.
I’ve only had 2 transactions in the last few years where the sellers did not have a computer so we did things the old fashioned way with live signatures – 1 was local, 1 was not. There have been plenty of sellers and buyers who have never used Docusign, or any electronic signing application, but once I have explained how it works and what they need to do with their email, it’s pretty easy and people love the efficiency.
Docusign has certainly made life in our business with regard to contracts, and all the ancillary documents, more efficient. And since I use a Transaction Coordinator she does a good bit of the Docusigning, after first providing the necessary documents as PDFs to buyers and sellers to review and ask questions before they sign electronically.
The second tool I really like is Animoto. It’s not something I use with each transaction but is part of my blogging and marketing strategy.
Animoto (there is a free and a pro version) allows you to create slideshows with a wide range of formats, including not only lots of great photos but short video clips. You can add text slides and select from a wide range of music (there are hundreds of choices). While Animoto refers to them as videos, and you can upload them to YouTube, they aren’t really “videos” in the traditional sense. But with being able to share them on Facebook, Twitter, Google+ and other social media sites (and you can hide the Animoto branding), embed them in blog posts, or simply share links in an email or text to consumers, there’s plenty of way for your Animoto creations to be used.
I use them in a number of ways. I like them for sharing community photos (communities I service and particular neighborhoods) as I can share a community slideshow of 30 photos or more and capture a broad perspective of what the community is like to live in. And with them being uploaded to YouTube they get plenty of attention as any traditional video would. I’ve used them for showcasing community events I have attended, illustrating things to do in the area (e.g., The Museum of Making Music in Carlsbad), tours of model homes and new condo communities, and sharing our trips (e.g., Hawaii, Italy, Cape Cod). And I often share certain Animoto videos in my posts, on Facebook, and with buyers and sellers. Here’s an example:
One thing to mention is that Animoto has permission from lots of different artists to share their music, and as users we have permission to use that music in our videos. That’s good! But I have found that when you upload them to YouTube you will get a copyright notice regarding using 3rd party music. It doesn’t prevent the video from being viewed but ads may appear. And perhaps there could be other issues I am not aware of.
However, there IS a cure, thanks to a terrific post by Tammy Lankford where she describes the process for disputing the copyright claim – it’s easy to do and quick, and the dispute may be removed fairly quickly.
I will tell you that I have had dozens of these resolved within a day or two of filing the dispute, but that in a few cases the musician, or rather the music company, still felt their claim was valid and would not remove the copyright claim on YouTube. So I just edited the video and used different music. Plus you can delete the soundtrack while on YouTube and add one of theirs as another option.
So there you have it, just 2 of my many favorite tech tools.
