Work Smart without Getting Carpal Tunnel: ShortKeys

In this article

In this tech post, I’d like to share a piece of software that I’ve been using for a few years now.  I used it for years in the corporate world while working in a customer support center and now I use it all the time when responding to CraigsList Ads and composing emails.

The software is called ShortKeys.

What does this software do?  Well the following definition comes straight from the makers of ShortKeys:

It’s a Windows Text Replacement utility.  Type a few characters and ShortKeys will replace them with up to 3000 keystrokes.  Great for repetitive text needs.

So basically, if there’s a block of text that you find yourself repeatedly using in Blog posts, CraigsList Ads, Facebook comments, email replies, you name it…ShortKeys can save you the effort of manually typing your redundant text.

How to use it in your real estate business:

When scouring CraigsList, since I don’t have a CraigsList auto-poster software (extremely pricey for me at the moment), I manually reply to ads to inquire about properties that pique my interest.  I have a specific ShortKey for ads listed by brokers and I also have a specific ShortKey for ads listed by owners.  So instead of typing the same text over and over again, or even copy/pasting different text using the clip board.

All I do is type…

//broker

and the following text appears

I was taking a look at your CraigsList posting for the property at [address] and I’m interested in offering on it.  I’m an investor and am looking to buy 3 houses/month for the remainder of this year in St. Louis.  Please give me some more information about the property and the situation of it’s owner…etc

For an Owner listing, I type

//owner

and the following text appears

I invest in real estate in St. Louis.  And because I’m an investor I can purchase properties as-is with cash, no contingencies, and can close very quickly.  Frankly, for me to offer such fast action, it is only feasible for me to purchase property at a fraction of what it can be sold with a Realtor for…etc

With ShortKeys, you can setup your own prefix key sequence, it doesn’t have to be “//”, it could be “#@” or whatever you want.  The reason for the prefix, is so that every time you happen to type the word broker…your specified block of text doesn’t appear.  You can try out the lite version for free and you’re allotted 15 ShortKeys indefinitely or you can purchase the full version and have an unlimited amount.

Using ShortKeys, you will save yourself a lot of time and keystrokes throughout your workday.

Note By BiggerPockets: These are opinions written by the author and do not necessarily represent the opinions of BiggerPockets.