Technology & You: After 10,000 Years, Tablets Are Back (November 5th, 2005) Tim Kinzler hadn't looked forward to calling his customers with the news that they had been outbid on their dream home. "It was a rainy, dismal day," he says, "and I could hear the wife's [disappointment] in the background." Fortunately, Kinzler, a salesperson with Coldwell Banker in Delray Beach, had already found another listing that fit the buyers' criteria. But there was just one hitch: they had only 45 minutes to make an offer! There was no way Kinzler, who had just finished his gym workout, had enough time to drive back to the office, print out all the forms and meet the buyers at the property.
Instead, he handled everything from his parked car using his Tablet PC. "I began to prepare a contract, pulling up all the information they needed for that property, so that if they liked it we would be prepared to take it to the next level," he says.
The customers signed a contract that afternoon, and the total transaction — the purchase of the new home plus the sale of the buyers' former home — brought Kinzler a solid five-figure commission.
About the size of a clipboard, a Tablet PC is a lightweight version (in size, not productivity) of a laptop computer with many of the same features as a personal digital assistant (PDA). Unlike a laptop, the device has a swiveling display screen — ideal for showing the screen to other people — and a detachable keyboard, plus the added functionality of digital-pen computing via an EMR (electromagnetic resonance) stylus that lets users write directly on the screen (no mouse).
There are several Tablet PCs on the market, but Kinzler decided to buy VREO's RED (Real Estate Dashboard) Tablet PC after he heard about it through a group of tech-savvy real estate professionals. He paid $3,800 for it, including accessories, which sounds a bit pricey, but he says it was well worth it. "If you ask the typical sales associate if he or she would spend that much on a computer, the answer would be no, yet that same associate would spend $35,000 on a car," says Kinzler. "If they apply that rationale to their computer purchase, they would be buying a piece of equipment that would help them buy a car."
Here are some of the benefits Kinzler derives from this handy device:
1. Mobility Beyond Compare "My Tablet PC lets me control my destiny and get out of the office and be face to face [with people] instead of stuck behind a desk," says Kinzler, adding that he keeps his Tablet with him at all times. "I can access the Internet from a client's home, open houses, turnpike plaza parking lots, Starbucks, conference rooms, hotel lobbies."
Lots of people were interested in a house that one of Kinzler's customers, a married man, was touring and wanted to buy. While the husband phoned his wife, Kinzler took digital photos of the property and e-mailed them to her. She pulled them up on her computer, liked what she saw and agreed to buy it. "We knew we could [proceed] to writing a contract," says Kinzler. "So, I went to PlanetRealtor.com and pulled up the forms, had the customer sign the contract on the Tablet screen, e-faxed it to the wife to print, sign and fax back to me and forwarded it to the listing agent." All of this was done without ever leaving the property.
2. Better Customer Service Enhanced response time is one of the biggest benefits of the Tablet PC, Kinzler finds. "Statistics prove that if an inquiry is responded to within 30 minutes there's a greater chance of [converting] someone into a customer. Every day out, the lead becomes [colder]. My average home [sale] is $450,000, so if I don't effectively reply, it's a potential loss of [a significant income] opportunity."
At listing presentations, Kinzler takes about 30 digital photos of the house and uploads them to his Tablet PC so he can review them with the seller on the spot. "Oftentimes, there are things that need attention, or [repairs]," he says. The seller can also help select which photos to use in marketing the home, and Kinzler can instantly upload those to the Internet.
The Tablet PC also comes in handy when Kinzler works with buyers. He can print out details on properties via his portable printer so his customers can go see them and get back to him later.
3. Paperless Note Taking "If there's part of a meeting that I don't need to participate in, I take notes [on my Tablet] and do some behind-the-scenes searching, [responding to] MLS inquiries, [responding] to e-mails, etc., and I don't have to re-enter my notes later." And Kinzler says his Tablet is spillproof, unlike notepads or laptops. "I've [even] set coffee on top of the screen," he says.
4. Send Faxes on the Road One day a real estate investor-client called Kinzler and asked him to fax her a copy of the lease to one of her properties. Although he was out of town, he simply turned on his Tablet PC, pulled up the 13-page file and e-faxed it to her. "I store every document for every client in the Tablet PC," says Kinzler. "She got the document within 10 minutes."
5. Portable GPS Kinzler recently bought a portable GPS (Global Positioning System) for $125 from Garmin® (www.garmin.com) to use with his Tablet PC.
"Males, especially, get lost and won't ask for directions," Kinzler laughs. "This program helps me find my way."
The circular, hockey puck-shaped device is attached to a long USB cable that plugs into the Tablet PC. "When I open up the software, it shows me the lay of the land and precisely where I am," says Kinzler.
"One client was always asking, 'How close are we to my kids' house?' and I could say exactly how far away we were," he explains. "Another customer, looking at waterfront homes, wanted to know how close we were to the inlets. I could zoom in to the area and show him, and empower him by letting him hold [the Tablet]." Kinzler can also plot a map of homes he's going to show a customer on any given day. "It's better than unfolding a paper map," he says.
"The Tablet PC is the most revolutionary piece of technology for our business besides the cell phone," says Kinzler. "The typical response the day after [someone] buys their Tablet is 'Why did I wait so long?'"
This column, designed to offer examples of how salespeople and brokers are using the software in their offices, won the Best Regular Column from the Florida Magazine Association for the past two years. The column is for general information only. Opinions expressed here do not necessarily reflect an endorsement of the views by Florida Realtor® magazine or the Florida Association of Realtors (FAR).
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