I was working yesterday using a couple of my favorite technology tools, and my client seemed interested in them, so I thought it might be a good idea to share them here at Active Rain. They have both become second nature to me, and since this forum is full of tech-savvy agents, you may already be using them. If not, I hope you find this helpful.
I started my own brokerage three years ago, and I was trying to manage my incoming and outgoing faxes better. I didn't like the fact that I had to receive them at home OR at the office. Why couldn't I just get them on my email? Well, I can with eFax. I think it costs about $20/month for the eFax Pro, and it works really well. If you give out your eFax number, all of the faxes will come straight to your email. My business partner and I share an account, and all of the faxes to this number go to both of our email addresses. eFax comes with its own proprietary reader, or you can set it up to send in PDF format (which I did).
This has been invaluable to me when I am sending or receiving offers. I sometimes fax it to myself via eFax, then I can easily email it to buyers, sellers, or other agents. It is not a big deal, but everyone usually seems happy and impressed that I can email rather than requiring them to have a fax machine available. I would highly recommend this service.
The other "tech tool" that I LOVE (and it's free) is CutePDF. This is an awesome program with a quick download that enables you to easily convert documents into PDF. I have used this for property flyers, Word documents, and contracts. CutePDF sets up a "virtual printer" on your system, so when you want to convert the document, you just print it to the CutePDF printer, and it will ask you to name it. At that point, you have successfully created a PDF. Yes, it is that easy!
As a side note, I made the switch back in June or July to a web-based email program, and I have no idea why I waited so long. Actually, I do know why. I didn't realize that I could retain the same email address (which I have had for nine years now) but still use one of these handy services. Once I realized that I can keep the same address, this was a very easy decision to make.
I am using Gmail and my wife uses Yahoo mail. I have been pleased with the spam filter and it saves me a lot of time; Gmail doesn't allow me to sort by sender name, but Yahoo does. so I may switch to Yahoo soon. Either way, I love having the ability to log on anywhere and get my messages. For many of you, this is probably old hat by now, but for me, it was a revelation.
I have suggested these items to the people I work with, and you guys are my buddies, so I hope you find this useful as well.
If you have any questions, please feel free to call or email me and I can probably walk you through it. Have a great day, and thanks for reading! You may have some great tools of your own that you would like to share below.
Copyright 2007 Jason Crouch Austin Real Estate
If you enjoyed this post, why not connect with me elsewhere or subscribe via email?
If you're looking for a home in the Austin area, you can also visit my primary Austin real estate website at www.austintexashomes.com. If you're interested in social media training, visit 210 Consulting. Thanks!
Jason,
Some great tips. You can read some other added benefits from e-faxing at http://activerain.com/blogsview/209159/Save-a-Tree-and
Mike Lewis
Hi Jason. I am a bit of a techie from my background, and have used efax for many years both for personal and business use. It was one of the best services to come about for years. When I wasn't sending or receiving faxes regularly, I had a free efax account. Now that I am faxing frequently, I have a paid account. For what you pay, you certainly get your money's worth. Your other tips are quite good as well.
Jim
Jason:
Great Job!
And I thought I would click on this blog to read about your money clip and new toaster.
McMuggin: McMuggin
MIKE - Thanks for reading and commenting. I will take a look at your link.
JIM - Thanks for your comments. As I recall, we also started with the free version, but the paid is better, in my opinion. Glad you liked these tips -
Jason
Great stuff, I have been told about efax and think I will be trying it shortly. Thanks for the info.
Jason, I'm a technophobe, so when I read your lead-in about "tech savvy" I thought "uh ho" but then I got into your post and I realized I'm Ok. I have eFax and I have Adobe Acrobat (not CutePDF but what the hey) and I also email docs and I have web based email.
Does this mean that I am tech savvy? Not quite yet, but I appreciate your implication. Thank you.
Bill Roberts
SALLY - I used Outlook for many years, and I was not an easy convert, but I have never wanted to look at it again after making the switch. Just my two cents on this. My toaster oven is getting a workout today, as I mentioned to Alan (Belgian waffles).
GARY - If you have any questions that I can help with, please let me know. Have a good one -
SARDI - You should get CutePDF and use it. It might help with loan affidavits or GFE's in your case. It's free, so there is literally no risk. If you have any questions, let me know!
LS..... Get a Mac and you won't need anything more. If I could wear my laptop, I would. It's better than jewelry :)
For Macusers... I love PDF Clerk, since I can implode or explode documents, reorder and reorient pages, etc. Very slick.
Love my efax.
But I won't let go of my Outlook. My whole life is in there.
I use myFax.... $10.month!
www.myfax.com
Jason- I had heard of efax, but never have taken the time to really look at.... CUTEPDF is a new one for me! Thanks, I will check them both out.
BEFORE you switch to Yahoo, you might want to look at the post I wrote last night!! "Who's messing with my Yahoo mail?" (or something like that!)
Efax is the absolute bomb. As a mortgag guy, it's awesome to get the Purchase Agreement or other faxes and send them in a couple clicks to my underwriter, escrow and appraiser. Plus, how much of what we are faxed gets illegible from repeat faxing. Kudos.
TOM - If you are using Outlook to schedule stuff, that is understandable. I never did this, so it was an easier move for me. Give CutePDF a try if you need a program like this.
ERICA - Thanks for the idea.
PAUL - I had that problem once, but it was isolated. Overall, I have been pleased with the service. You might also consider Erica's idea (myfax.com).
ADAM - Somehow, I am not surprised that you already use eFax. Give CutePDF a try - you won't be disappointed.
SANDI - Actually, I did read that post of yours. Thanks for the reminder. My wife has been happy with hers, but your experience gives me pause.
JOEY - I figured a cutting-edge guy like you would already know about eFax. Thanks for your comments!
Jason,
These are some great suggestions for people to use. I especially like the switch to digital format, which will allow you to burn all of your clients' files to a CD and give it to them at closing. They are very impressed and it really takes a low level of tech savvy to pull off. Thanks for the post!
Jason:
I have found that a good paper clip and a rubber band are indespensible no matter what field you are in.
MARGARET - I hadn't heard of mangofax before. Thanks for mentioning it. As for the PDF converter, this is a MUST now for me. It seems like I use it every other day or so. Thanks for your comments!
CANDACE - Thanks for enthusiastic comments! You are so bubbly. As for writing fast, I guess I just think of something then let it flow. I am a pretty fast typist, but I don't know my words per minute speed. You are not the first person to ask me this question. I wish I had a better answer, but I suppose I just think sort of fast and it comes out onto the page (screen?). Either way, I appreciate your continued support and your faithful commenting on my blogs.
Jason:
I also like the bow and arrow. Not so new tech wise but still effective when you take the rubber tip off.
Only if one of those sticks is a match. I may be tech challenged but I am not stupid.
pistachio: Ice Cream
CANDACE - If I broke a finger, that could definitely be a problem. I guess I would have to get voice recognition software to dictate posts. Putting in graphics might be a bit of a challenge, though. Thanks for the loveseat tribute photo. I may have to take Jason Sardi's advice and create a weekly column called "A Sit Down with the Loveseat". What do you think?
I am in for the ice cream. This diet is killing me on the sweets side. I need sweets God made them for me.
che: as in che that is great!
ALAN - I haven't had ice cream in a good while. I forgot you were dieting. Sorry to mention that -
sparkleberry: as in sparkleberry pie or sparkleberry ice cream
thanks for the information. I already use the email fax but I use Kall8.com for my fax it's pretty cheap. I didn't know about cutePDF so thank you for that information. That's why I love activerain all our information pooled is just invaluable. I also have two yahoo accounts and a hotmail account. You can forward your accounts to one if needed.
Thanks again for all the information.
jASON-- YESSSS DO A COLUMN!! i LOVE THAT TITLE--- VERY GOOD - JUST LIKE THAT CONE IS LOOKING ABOUT RIGHT NOW! lol
chincopin - a mechanism that pins back your double chin after too much ice cream!
CANDACE - That's hilarious! I like the "chinopin" as well. Thanks for your encouragement on the column! I need to give this one some thought.
NANCY - Go for it. There are some other services mentioned in the comments above, so you might want to compare them and see what you think.
SHANNON - I have missed you in my comments. Thanks for bringing your lively self here. I know that you are more of a "RIGHT NOW" type of girl, but these are some good tools to check out. I actually use the eFax to save trips to the fax machine. By the way, I think you would like my latest post:
Family Time is the Best Time for Me! No Real Estate Allowed Today
The end of it mentions some music, and I still haven't forgotten about the other post we discussed, although it may need to be in sections to work properly.
RAY - Thanks for your comments. I am glad that you like my blog. I have a new post from today that you may enjoy:
Family Time is the Best Time for Me! No Real Estate Allowed Today
Jason, I chased you all the way to this thread just so I could share a funny moment with my son. It has absolutely no bearing on your blog (which is excellent, by the way), but it was a great tie-in to our earlier "Flight of the Conchords" discussion. My son doesn't watch that show with us for obvious reason, but he happened to run through the family room when I had it on (via Tivo) last night. It was the episode where they form separate bands (with the bongo player and keytar player). If you recall that episode, Brett dances (Footloose style) when he is angry. Classic. Anyway, my toddler stopped in his tracks and starts cracking up at Brett dancing. And then starts dancing! When it ended, he kept insisting "Mo!" (more). I must have played the scene 8 times while he danced and laughed hysterically. You would have died.
To keep some semblance of order to your blog, the cutepdf is a great tip!
The Mac has the ability to create PDF's from any software package built right into the OS. Nothing else to load or install. Another great reason to switch to the Mac from a PC!
Much $uccess!
The Mac is Unix, so if you are considering a move, you've got the best of both worlds. I switched to a Mac a while back and will never buy (I know, never say never) a Windows machine again, unless it's for playing games on. But hey, you can run Linux in the PS3 as well and it's a great game machine.
Much $uccess!
ELLEN - Thanks for your remarks. Do you work for 101Fax? Just kidding. I will check it out.
great. my company uses 101fax too!
(pretty much everything you need in an online fax system)
The Pdf is so important in my business. The clean copies that don't get reduced is a great advantage. I have been using g-mail for a couple of years and the only thing I detest is all the adds. I enjoyed your blog keep up the good work...
Regards Paul
I dumped by fax machine a few months ago. If do a web search for free internet faxes, there a number of free services that fax to your email.