Dropbox, a cross-platform file-syncing tool, has now made it’s way to the iPhone and iPod touch, complete with offline file viewing for professionals who need access to files on the run. This will be a wonderful advancement for the real estate industry to use for documents and listing information.

Once installed on your device, Dropbox for iPhone provides access to all your Dropbox files, allows you to view any file supported by your iPhone (including documents, photos, music, and video), uploads any photo or video you’ve taken on your device to your Dropbox account, and lets you save any file as a favorite for offline viewing. If you want to share a file in your Dropbox with someone else, the application can generate an email with a link directly to the file.

I tested this on my iPhone last night with a sellers price change form and it worked fantastic. I can see how this will really be a benefit to Realtors who are already taking advantage to forms online. You can use it for sharing photos, forwarding a disclosure form, or line side to a prospective purchaser, and many, many other ways to go green and paperless.

Dropbox is revolutionizing the way that people think about and access their files. In particular, they make it easy to securely share files with other people, sync them across multiple computers, access them from anywhere, and keep them safe.

Drop Box has been featured in publications like the New York Times and TechCrunch, and have won awards from places like PC Magazine.

As you discover new ways for Realtors, and real estate ancillary businesses to use this program, send me your thoughts to share with others. I can see Dropbox for the iPhone being a great collaboration here for title companies, mortgage, and home inspectors, as well as appraisers and Realtors.

Worried about security? Dropbox uses secure servers. Put your files into your Dropbox on one computer, and they’ll be instantly available on any of your other computers that you’ve installed Dropbox on (Windows, Mac, and Linux too!) Because a copy of your files are stored on Dropbox’s secure servers, you can also access them from any computer or mobile device using the Dropbox website.

Well, I need to go organize my fies on my desktop, so I can start using this great new program on my iPhone today, while on the run.

“Expect the Best” Mike

Chopin, Nocturne, opus 27 #2, solo piano is a wonderful piece to listen to with my headphones on, as I write this post this morning. I like great music and this is very relaxing. You might be asking yourself, what all this has to do with real estate, Blogs, social networking for business, or anything else for that matter.

I would have never discovered this masterpiece without Twitter. You see, one of my tweets recommended listening to it, so I took a look and now, I have something I can bookmark to listen to again. (It's a small gift for someone I don't know for nothing in return. However, by thanking them for the link and recommendation, I have discovered that they were also interested in real estate investing, and their hometown happens to be East Lansing, Michigan (Home of the mighty MSU Spartans).

That's how Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook, and many other social networking sites work. I have sent a tweet back, thanking this party for the wonderful link of beautiful music, told them I noticed they were from East Lansing, and included a link on the current real estate market for their information. I also took the time to RT (retweet their post to share with my followers).

Within five minutes, I had someone tweeting me back with a mention that they thought this was a beautiful piece of music, and thanks for sharing. They also indicated that while reading my profile, they discovered, I sell real estate. (Now isn't that cool)

Last month, about 45 Lansing area Tweeters had a Tweetup at Biggby's in East Lansing at 9 a.m. in the morning. It was kind of neat to put a face and personality to what we have normally pickup in 140 character or less on Twitter. This was only the 3rd event that I have taken time to attend in the greater Lansing area, however, I have met some womderful people from all walks of life.

Is Twitter a fad?  Some people think so. I happen to believe it's the next dial tone of communication and will continue to evolve the way we exchange ideas, network, and develop friendships. By the way, it's a great marketing tool for real estate also in addition to the other tools, portals, websites and social networking sites I use for marketing homes.

A Real Estate Professional must meet the needs and expectations of the Connected Consumer. The rules of business are changing in our industry, with nearly 90% of all buyers searching the Internet prior to contacting an agent. It is imperative that practitioners of our business become savvy on what is available to them for marketing real estate.  This applies to all businesses in today's world, don't you think?

"Expect the Best Mike

I have witnessed many changes in the real estate industry over the past 31 years and have always embraced them as good for our industry. What we are experiencing right now with Web2, social networking for business, and micro blogging is not a fad. These are exciting times, and I see opportunity for those who buy into it and get re-educated to relate to the e-consumer.

I threw this question out on LinkedIn last week and had so many excellent answers that I had to select “No Best Answer” I selected 8 as good of the 13. I would like to share a few points from each answer for you to ponder.

Alex Romanovich a Sr. International Marketing and Technology Executive focused on Demand Generation, Online and Social Media Marketing said in reference to social media: The need to listen, communicate, engage, and educate is there and RE Professionals can deliver if they start using the same tools that a consumer is using already.

Simon Ackland who is an Entrepreneur, Business Developer, Marketing and Digital Marketing, Wine Industry said: There is no doubt about it, the advent of web based marketplaces saves a lot of time, fuel and rubber. And a social network can allow an agent to communicate more quickly and effectively, giving more people the opportunity to take advantage of an offering than the old “hours on the phone” approach.

Mark Spiveya Provider of cost-effective streaming media and email marketing tools indicated: The Real Estate agent of the future will need to become far more Internet aware then ever before and will use all the tools mentioned above in order to gain a foothold in a highly competitive market.

Jose I. Perez, Jr. an Innovative Leader and Real Estate Industry Expert said: Those that “get it” will move forward and succeed. Those who don’t will eventually struggle.

MAJ Jamie Huggins, Space Operations Officer / Real Estate Broker said: I believe that real estate online is going to become “Googlefied”. I can see open source real estate listings online where clients post their own stuff and prospects comment and blog about specific properties. Customers will tell real state professionals what they need. It’s happening on the social networks right now.

Pat Soltysan owner at Soltys Inc. is a business and technology consulting company said: In real estate it is not only the agents who must change but also the leadership of all companies. At the brokerage level, this will be a defining point in the growth, dynamics, operations and philosophy that drive the bottom line.

Marcus Cage Business Management Consultant said: There will be a diminishing of real estate companies, due to a lack of effective marketing, service and structure.

Rose Hart, Realtor with Coldwell Banker Burnet said: The market has numerous variables for clients to consider other than just the style and price of the home. I think the web is extremely important now and in the future of real estate, because clients need and want as much information as possible to make informed decisions on pricing their properties for sale and also those looking to buy.

As you can see, all the above professionals have one thing in common which is the consumer. This is still a people business, however we are experiencing a paradigm shift with the tools and services that we provide. You can read the answers of all respondents in there entirety on LinkedIn.

What are your thoughts? More important than that, what are you doing to be better prepared? By the way, are you LinkedIn?

“Expect the Best” Mike

As a real estate trainer and consultant, I am available to assist you in all your marketing plans, technology, in addition to helping you take your real estate career to the next level. Contact me if you’re interested in hiring a personal coach and consultant to help develop your business.

Google has plenty to offer any Realtor looking to get property exposure, save time, prospect, organize, and not spend any money doing it.  Here are a few of my favorites:

Google Base is a place where you can easily submit all your listings, which you can make searchable on Google (if your content isn't online yet, you can put it there). Here’s an example of a Goggle Base ad you can run for 14 days Free. When it expires, just renew it for another 14 days.

• Monitoring a developing news story
• Keeping current on a competitor or industry
• Tracking an event, sports team or hobby