The Future of Realtor Data Management

by James Hsu

Realtor, Real Estate Investor

Author website

Following on the heels of Greg’s write-up on web technology for blogging, I thought I’d share with everyone a relatively recent technology discovery of mine…one that is quickly transforming how I as Realtor organize and manage all the information I come across with in my work.

For whatever reason, going to college in Microsoft’s backyard made me very anti-Microsoft. Perhaps in my youthful, idealistic mindset I didn’t like their apparent lack of innovation. Instead, they just bought everyone else’s ideas (think Powerpoint, Hotmail, Frontpage, Visio) or copied the idea and threw a ton of money at it until they overtook their competitor (think IE vs Netscape). This mindset of mine has gradually changed over the years as I realized that’s just what businesses do (why re-invent the wheel) and also Google has shown that a small player can challenge and beat the big MS. But anyway, I was introduced to a relatively new product from Microsoft by a client of mine who works for them: Microsoft Office OneNote. Probably, in the consumer market, the first really innovative product I’ve seen in a long time from MS…and it’s really not all that complicated…just really smart!

I don’t know how other people manage their data but I’ve been basically using a combination of my computer, a binder, folders and lots of tree-killing paper. I don’t like this system since the data is not centralized anywhere. Some of it is on my computer, some of it is loose sheets in folders or my binder. However, it’s been working for the most part. All of that has changed in the few weeks I’ve been using (or learning to use) OneNote.

Think of OneNote as a spiral-bound, tabbed notebook, where each page is as long and wide as you want and you can have an unlimited number of pages. It’s free-form so there is no set way to organize your tabs or pages. You’re given 3+ layers of organization: Notebooks, Sections and Pages. (I say 3+ because within Sections you can create another layer called Section Groups and in Pages you can have a regular page or a sub-page). I know…you’re probably going …HUH? Essentially, I have everything for each client stored within one application and organized how I want to organize it. For a seller, I have all the contact info for them, a copy of my CMA, copy of the listing, copy of the old listing from when they bought their house a few years ago, copy of the tax record printout, a free-form page where I can keep random notes, copies of a weekly status report I give them, and so on. For buyers, I can save every single listing we’ve seen, copy of the purchase and sale contract, copy of the inspection report, etc.

Well, that’s all dandy, but all this can be already done in a basic file structure and lots of PDF files. True, but in OneNote all the data is accessible from one application and you can type notes directly onto a page overlaying what was already on that page. You can type anywhere. I can have a copy of a listing and type notes directly onto that listing or circle things I need to follow up on.

The glue to bring this all together is a convertible notebook/tablet computer. A convertible notebook is a regular laptop where the screen can flip around and lay back down flat to operate as a tablet computer. Everything you can do in OneNote with a keyboard can be done with a tablet pen. Jot down notes while you’re looking at a house directly onto the copy of the listing you have. Everything at your finger tips wherever you go. No more paper folders stuffed with print-outs to tote around in your car. Many business laptops have built-in finger print readers to help secure your laptop should you lose it. A word should be said about data synchronization. You can sync your OneNote data between your desktop and laptop without any other software.

So how do you get all the information into OneNote? Listing print-outs, CMA’s, etc. Besides manually typing or writing them in, OneNote installs itself as a printer. Many of you are probably familiar with printing to a PDF file. This is the same concept. Take anything you can print, and you just print it into OneNote. If anything else, …it’s a way to save the trees.

Is it really the future of Realtor data management? In my business…most definitely yes.