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2 Must-Have (Free) Smartphone Apps To Use out in the Field

Ken Corsini
2 min read
2 Must-Have (Free) Smartphone Apps To Use out in the Field

There are 10 individuals that comprise my core team here in Atlanta.

Of the 10, I’ve got a general manager who spends a lot of time in the field as well as a project manager who spends a TON of time in the field.

Regardless of what you call them, most real estate businesses have an individual(s) who spends a good portion of their time inspecting properties and/or interfacing with buyers, sellers, tenants, etc.

In our business, the project manager spends a good portion of his time screening new potential purchases and writing up detailed rehab estimates. On an average day, he will easily drive 100 miles around Metro Atlanta looking at properties we get under contract and managing rehabs currently underway.

With the enormous amount of competition in our market, it’s critical that we move quickly when trying to get properties under contract. As such, we’ve had to find tools and develop systems that enable us to make quick buying decisions throughout the course of each day. Here are 2 of the apps that we’ve adapted into our business that allow us analyze properties extremely efficiently:

Dropbox:

Screen Shot 2013-11-25 at 9.39.19 AMI realize that most people know about Dropbox and probably wouldn’t consider this a “must-have” tool. However, in our business it’s been a phenomenal way to exchange real time information from the field to our office. Our project manager has the dropbox app installed on his iPhone. When he gets to a property, he immediately begins taking pictures of the neighborhood, the property and any potential problem areas or issues that may be deal breakers for us. These pictures are then instantaneously uploaded into a specific property folder within dropbox so that we have access to the pictures in our office within minutes and can evaluate the property ourselves. This functionality has enabled us to make very quick buying decisions without blindly accepting a verbal description of the property over the phone … as was the case just a few years ago.

Genius Scan:

Screen Shot 2013-11-25 at 9.39.37 AMGenius Scan is a great tool that enables you to take a picture of a document with your iPhone and convert it to a pdf. In most cases, the pdf document is as clean and legible as if it had been scanned in an office. In our business, we use this tool to scan a written scope of work. We have a one page template that our project manager uses to estimate the repairs on a given property. Once the estimate is written up, he uses genius scan to convert it to a pdf … and similar to the pictures, the estimate also gets loaded into a specific property folder on dropbox so that we have immediate access to this information as well.

The great thing about Genius Scan and Dropbox is the fact that you can use them for any number of purposes. Perhaps you are writing up contracts in the field and want to instantly file them in electronic format – these tools can help you do that. And I’m not necessarily saying these are the best two apps for this functionality … there are other apps like Google Drive for cloud storage or Turbo Scan, Scanner Pro and Prizmo for scanning documents on your phone. Perhaps you may find one of these other apps more user friendly.

The bottom line is that these types of apps can make your business so much more efficient if you take the time to implement them. Whether you are taking pictures, writing up work estimates, scanning signed contracts, etc., having the ability to immediately share and store this information can give you a great leg up in your business.

Related:6 Killer iOS Apps That Will Revolutionize Your Investing Business

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