Ths article about 10 Free or Cheap Tools For Realtors from Inc. Magazine is actually meant for startups, but as independent contractors real estate agents are often in the same boat as other entrepreneurs: limited funds, not much time, and the eternal love of free things.  They have several great tools, many of which I use myself including Mozy, a great free online backup service. I strongly suggest checking their ten picks out!

1. Under $300
2. Must have wide angle (28mm or better) lens
3. Able to to double duty as my personal camera

I did some searching, and ended up purchasing the “Canon PowerShot SD870IS 8MP Digital Camera with 3.8x Wide Angle Optical Image Stabilized Zoom (Silver)” for $249 at Amazon.com:

I purchased a new but slightly older model, which I would strongly recommend as the newest version can be in the $400′s, which was more than I needed to spend for a camera.  So far, I’ve been very happy with it, and it’s small enough that I can take it pretty unobtrusively when I’m with clients, to snap photos for them in case they want them later and also to kill two birds with one stone by taking photos for my local real estate blog.

A few highlights:

Point 4, using free/ low cost online crm software:

Most Customer Relationship Management software, especially that made for the real estate industry, is notoriously hard to use. Are a few custom fields worth hundreds of dollars and hours of syncing and tech headaches? If you don’t think so either, try Highrise, an online CRM that lets you manage up to 250 contacts for free, with more powerful plans available for only a few dollars a month.

Point 7, picking up the phone instead of spending more on advertising:

I learned this idea from the course “Ninja Selling” by Larry Kendall. His great advice: make 50 brief calls to people you know every week and offer them real estate information of value (sales in their neighborhood, market update, etc.). This costs you nothing, and is probably the single most effective thing you can do to generate more business. Try it for a month.

I learned this idea from the course “Ninja Selling” by Larry Kendall. His great advice: make 50 brief calls to people you know every week and offer them real estate information of value (sales in their neighborhood, market update, etc.). This costs you nothing, and is probably the single most effective thing you can do to generate more business. Try it for a month.

Point 2, using free or low cost real estate transaction management software:

If you’re looking for a quick way to differentiate yourself and offer great service to your clients, try using free/ low cost online transaction management software such as Basecamp. You can add tasks, milestones, messages, upload documents, and best of all your client can login and view his listing or purchase status at anytime. You save money by not needing a transaction coordinator, your clients love the transparency, and you’ll save time because there will be less emails and calls back and forth.

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