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How Checking In To Properties Can Deliver Your Next Deal

By Molly on February 8th, 2012

9 Comments

GUEST POST BY HEATHER ELIAS, Agent/Trainer at CENTURY 21 Redwood Realty, blogger at LoCoMusings.com and contributor to WashingtonPost.com.

As a confessed social media addict, I love the location based Foursquare app that lets me check into places and businesses in my area. (Becoming the mayor at the Cajun Experience was a great thrill for me!) However, having a business reason for spending time ‘checking in’ online was tougher to figure out.  But leave it to the developers at Trulia.com to find a way to combine real estate with the fun part of location based marketing: you can now ‘check in’ at listings using their new iPhone/iPad app!

How it works:

Once you’ve installed the app, when you are out viewing properties with clients (or previewing ahead of your appointments) you can bring up ‘nearby homes’ based on your phone’s location. With one click, you can ‘check in’ at the property you are showing, and it’s added to your profile at Trulia.com.  Consumers that view your profile can see all the homes that you’ve visited . . . pretty easy to establish yourself as a market expert when you’ve clearly viewed all the homes in a particular neighborhood, eh?

First impressions:

When Trulia launched this product, my first thought was that as a buyers’ agent, it makes it very easy for me to demonstrate market expertise. From a consumer’s standpoint, they can see where I’ve been, and even ask me questions about homes I’ve already been through. (And it can help me keep track of my showings, so I can make sure I don’t miss a listing in an area.)

Testing it out:

The first day I was testing the app out, I checked in at the first two properties I showed. As I was leaving the second home, an email popped up via Trulia, from the listing agent of the first property, who thanked me for showing it and left a bit more detail on the listing for me. Pretty responsive of the listing agent! As it turns out, the listing agent is notified IMMEDIATELY via email when a buyers agent checks in at their listing . . . which is faster than our lockbox notification system here. How powerful is that, for the agent to be able to thank me and send extra information to my hands, all while I was still with my clients?

The verdict:

In addition to checking into listings and receiving notifications, the app also allows you to keep up with your Trulia.com leads directly from your phone, and view nearby property information on a map based interface. The app is brand new and I’m sure there will be additions and refinements along the way. You can find it by searching for “Trulia for Agents” in the app store. Share your stories and let us know how it’s worked for you!

Post Author

avatar Molly
Molly is a member of the @C21 social media team. When she's not live blogging from conferences or interviewing System members, you can find her reading about interior design, writing restaurant reviews, and imagining what the kitchen will look like in her Parisian dream home.
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9 Responses to "How Checking In To Properties Can Deliver Your Next Deal"

  1. avatar Dena Stevens says:
    February 8, 2012 at 10:12 am

    I have to be honest I have mixed feelings about this app. Like many apps, it feels a little “big brother is watching” to me. I can see the benefits to a buyer, buyer agent even the listing agent. Want to know which agent was last in the property and let the cat out – the app knows. Good or bad? Guess time will tell.

    Reply
  2. avatar Heather Elias says:
    February 8, 2012 at 2:03 pm

    Dena,
    As with all apps and sites, you can use or not use based on your level of comfort. As a buyers agent you can certainly opt to not use the app to check into properties. You control your level of transparency online, and if this doesn’t suit the way that you do business, that’s okay, too. :)

    ~Heather

    Reply
  3. avatar Greg Fischer says:
    February 8, 2012 at 2:27 pm

    Can someone post a screenshot of what a consumer would see if you had previously checked into a property they are viewing on Trulia?

    Reply
  4. avatar Kelly Mitchell says:
    February 8, 2012 at 2:45 pm

    Curious if this is actually generating leads for anyone?

    Reply
  5. avatar Jeff Gingerich says:
    February 8, 2012 at 5:23 pm

    Sounds like it has great potential for generating leads by establishing yourself as the Neighbourhoods expert. Unfortunately, it looks like Trulia has no presence in Canada yet.

    Reply
  6. avatar Matt says:
    February 13, 2012 at 4:57 pm

    Matt from Trulia here.

    Thanks for the response and to Heather for such a great article. We are excited to bring this product to you and are seeing agents connecting with consumers and with other agents by checking into a home.

    I would say its very unlikely that the scenario Dana describes would happen as it would take a bit of work to see which agents have been where and when.

    It does help agents show consumers that they aren’t just sitting around all day but are working very hard to know every bit of local inventory – experience that will help their clients find the best home for the best price.

    Reply

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  1. avatar Talking Blogging And Buying With Heather Elias | Century 21 Blog says:
    February 22, 2012 at 10:00 am

    [...] this month we shared a guest post from agent, trainer and blogger extraordinaire Heather Elias of CENTURY 21 Redwood. Today in our [...]

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