RealTown's RealTalk

Tablet Computers Does anyone have one and what do you think? Would love to
hear your feed back.

I have a gateway tablet. When I bought mine, it was around $2300.00. If I
was buying a new laptop today, I'd probably not get one unless the price has
fallen a good bit. I just purchased a gateway laptop for my assistant and
it's a great laptop and only ran $500.00. The tablet feature is fantastic
when I use it. I found myself using it a good bit in the beginning, but
stopped over time. It does come in handy for those times you need something
signed quick. So I guess my opinion is, depends on price. I'd pick a new
$500.00 laptop every year over a $2000.00 tablet!

Check out the Real Talk archives, there are all kinds of discussions on
tablets.

Jim Clauser
Your Real Estate Consultant For Life
RE/MAX Associates Athens, Inc.
Athens, Ga
706-714-1181 Direct
706-433-0542 Fax
http://www.JimClauser.com to view over 3000 homes!
mailto:Jim@JimClauser.com
Check out my Blog at
http://www.VisitJimsBlog.com

Jim,

I saw the Gateway tablet PC advertised earlier this year for college students at $650. I paid just over $1,200 for mine almost two years ago. Love it, but it's kinda heavy and I can't get a lot of people to sign on the pooter -- they still want the same old paper! But I know I've gotten deals with it by writing an offer and sending it right there at the prospective property rather than later.

I have a Gateway Tablet and love it. I take it everywhere with me. Some clients do not feel comfortable signing on the screen so in those cases I just print out the form on my battery operated printer, then have them sign. If they sign on the screen, I also sign then immediately e-mail them a copy of all the paperwork, or just print it out for them.

I also take the tablet when I am previewing properties. I walk through the home and take notes right on the listing. If I need to make a lot of notes I just add a blank page at the end of the listing and add notes. Then if for example I have previewed all the properties a client from New York is coming to see, I can say property A needs new carpeting in these rooms, new paint in these rooms, etc., and on property B the home was newly painted, and I can keep going through the properties with detailed notes.

I will also often send clients photos I take of properties I preview, then take the photos and make a PDF of all of them with notes next to each photo. Often when the buyer who has picked more properties than they can possibly see when they come to Tampa, sees my photos and notes they will narrow down which homes they actually want to see.

The tablet is an invaluable tool if you use it to its fullest extent. The only thing I will do next time is to likely buy a Motion Tablet PC next time as the Gateway is not all that heavy, but when you carry it around for awhile it does get cumbersome. The Motion Tablet PC is quite a bit more expensive but it is much lighter as it is just the screen with no weight from a keyboard. When you are in the office or in the car you then can connect the keyboard if you want to type.

Jeff Launiere, P.A.
Keller Williams Realty
Tampa, FL

I agree it is important to strike while the iron is hot. I can do this without a tablet PC.

John: we have been buying HP Deskjet 460 portable printers for the past few
years... we have 9 now, and all work wonderfully... they connect USB, so I
assume your Mac can use one... great battery life, and less life from a set
of ink cartridges, but still quite nice, small, easily carried and set up,
and robust... great print quality.

Have a great day!

Best regards,

Paul Silver
Focus Professionals, Inc.

I run with an HP TC4400 Tablet. Good system, 4Gb ram (you want this to either run Vista or upgrade later on)

External DVD

External Hard drive for back-up

Docking station

I keep all my docs in folders then copy the folder to either Buyer or Seller section and rename to Customer. After closing, I burn everything to CD and drop to company files and one for customer.

Danny Shaw

GRI, GREEN, Eco-Broker, EPRO

Keller Williams, Atlantic Partners

(904) 553-0355