Trulia iPhone App Review from Realtor Perspective

This is the second posting in my series on iPhone apps for real estate searches.

The Trulia iPhone app is one that at first I wasn’t impressed with, but the more I used it, the more I liked it, and it became my favorite real estate search tool app.

The Trulia app only brings up 6 houses to begin with. Once you hit “refresh”, though, it does bring up many more. If you hit Refine, you can add price range, property type, beds & baths information as well.

What I really like about this one is that it pulls data DIRECTLY from the MULTIPLE LIST. So if there are 27 photos in the MLS, you can view all 27 photos on your phone if you choose. It tells you how much of a price drop there has been and when it happened. The MLS remarks are right there to read. The listing agent’s name, phone number, and email address are written there clearly for a consumer to be able to contact. When you touch the phone number, it immediately calls.

The bad: One downfall is that the only # listed is the office number, and many busy agents are mobile and rarely at the office. The other issue I have is that the actual Brokerage name is not listed. That should be a required field for Trulia to have entered, and I am not sure why it is not on there. We as agents must have our brokerage clearly displayed on any advertising, and find that when it is not there, and we do not have any control over this to be somewhat disturbing.

This app is much better than the Realtor.com iPhone app to view more photos and details of a property. I really like this app except for the lack of cell phone # and brokerage name. Two very important details that should not be left out.

*Also, another update, I did research on a street where I knew there were two listings for sale. Only one came up, but both did on the Realtor.com app, somewhat changing my theory. I am getting to the point where I believe you need to check multiple apps to have a true view of the market.*

Real Estate Agent Social Media Networking Presentation for Women’s Council of Realtors in Baltimore

Thursday was a wonderful day — great weather, great people, and I had a blast presenting at the Greater Baltimore Board of Realtors (GBBR) to the Women’s Council of Realtors (WCR) on social media networking for real estate agents.

I was asked to present based on my experience and success using social media to enhance my Towson real estate business.

The four networks I discussed were Facebook, ActiveRain, Linkedin, and Twitter.

Although I also actively participate on Trulia and Zillow, I only had 20 minutes to present! On May 21, 2009, I have been asked to present a follow up because there was so much interest from the Baltimore realtors.

I met some fantastic people, and enjoyed speaking with many of the attendees afterwards. I am looking forward to the next presentation, and will also be teaching another 1.5 CE credit course on the same topic for GBBR on May 28, 2009.