Real estate offices are bustling places. Agents are in and out and on the road most of the day showing homes to buyers, meeting with sellers, and coordinating closings with attorneys and mortgage lenders. Real estate office IT support needs to keep up with their unique mobile demands so agents can stay connected.
Thirty years ago, you would have a hard time finding someone that knew what a “virtual home tour” was. There are a number of ways that technology helps a real estate agent every day.
While offices in every industry rely heavily on technology these days, real estate companies can lose thousands of dollars from a missed call or missed website contact. And when there are multiple offers being made for one house, quick communication is vital, as well as IT that can get paperwork signed and back to a seller no matter where the parties are at the time.
Technology such as lead management software and automated nurturing emails have also helped agents do more than ever before and stay in contact with clients. According to Hubspot, companies that automate lead management with IT can see a 10% or greater increase in their revenue.
How Technology Compliments the Real Estate Agent
Thirty years ago, you would have a hard time finding someone that knew what a “virtual home tour” was. There are a number of ways that technology helps a real estate agent every day.
- Access to computerized multiple listing service (MLS) from anywhere
- Documents, like property records, that used to be buried in files are now electronic
- School and neighborhood assessments can easily be emailed or texted to clients
- Tablets, mobile scanners, and smartphone apps let an agent do everything from the field
- Lead management systems to keep track of clients and appointments more easily
- Ability to do a virtual tour and easily take home photos with smartphones
- Communication with buyers in other states is much more fluid with video conferencing
- Google Street View allows a virtual walk around a neighborhood
- Mortgage lending process has been streamlined by new online loan applications
Technology has definitely helped an already busy real estate office become even more productive. That also means that it’s more vital than ever to have reliable IT support that can ensure your systems stay connected and functioning at top speed and get an issue fixed right away.
What to Look for in Real Estate Office IT Support
With over 73 years of combined IT experience, Security First IT knows what it takes to keep today’s tech-savvy real estate offices up and running at the speed of business in the 21st century.
Their real estate clients in the greater Charlotte, NC area trust Security First IT because they focus on their business first, not the technology. While that may sound counterintuitive, it’s what you want in any IT support provider.
Technology is supposed to support the needs of your agents and your company. So you want a tech provider that takes the time to fully understand what you do each day and that focuses on making your technology fit the work you do, instead of the other way around.
Questions to Ask a Real Estate Office IT Support Provider
- Do you service mobile devices?
- Have you worked with real estate offices, and if so can I have some references?
- If we call you, how long will it take for you to make a service call?
- Do you have plans that will provide IT support to our agents in the field?
- Do you provide 24/7 emergency support?
- Can you make any app or software recommendations for my industry?
- Are there limitations to the types of computers, scanners/printers, or mobile devices that you can fix?
- Are you able to secure our wireless network without impeding accessibility?
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Don’t Forget to Do Your Homework
You may like everything you hear when meeting with an IT support provider, but don’t let that stop you from doing your homework by checking references before you sign up. If you can find references in the same industry, even better.
Here are a few ways to check on an IT service provider’s reputation:
- Ask your competitors who they use
- Look for testimonials on their website
- Ask the provider if they have references you can contact
- Ask other types of businesses you work with who does their IT support
- Research them online (sites like BBB, Glassdoor, Google Business Reviews)
Conclusion
Computers, apps, and mobile devices have become automated assistants in today’s modern real estate office. They optimize the entire process of selling homes from the initial customer contact, to the connections with other brokers, mortgage lenders, and home inspectors, to the final paperwork that’s done at closing.
It’s vital that those automated assistants remain reliable and in top working order because when they go down, deals can be lost.
Finding IT support you can rely on to keep your office going doesn’t have to be difficult if you apply some of the same research tactics that you do when helping clients find that perfect home.
Ask questions, research references, and find out who others in your “neighborhood” are using. The money saved by finding someone that keeps your office going, no matter what is well worth it.
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