.KEYWORD realestate
.FLYINGHEAD PALM IN THE REAL WORLD
.TITLE Improving productivity in the housing industry
.FEATURE
.SPOTLIGHT FIGALT cover.gif
.SUMMARY From construction to final sale, Palm OS handhelds are popping up in all facets of the housing industry. Steve Niles shows how real estate companies, lenders, and homebuilders are improving productivity, customer satisfaction, and bottom lines through the use of wireless Palm OS handhelds.
.AUTHOR Steve Niles
From construction to final sale, Palm OS handhelds are popping up in all facets of the housing industry. Realtors are some of the most inherently mobile professionals around. They’re always moving from one property to the next, and thanks to wireless Palm OS handhelds, they can now access listing databases and schedule appointments on the fly, track walk-through tours, get real-time interest rates, and even calculate loan amounts. Palm OS handhelds are also useful for tracking the status of open houses, pending sales, and new deals. Many real estate companies and lenders, not to mention homebuilders, are improving productivity, customer satisfaction, and bottom lines through the use of wireless Palm OS handhelds.
.H1 Sussex and Reilly
Chicago based real estate company Sussex and Reilly (at http://www.sussexandreilly.com) uses wireless Palm handhelds to manage more than 350 property showings per week. An agent can fill out a survey on client likes or dislikes about the house on the spot while giving a potential homebuyer a tour. Afterwards, the results can be wirelessly transmitted to a Web site where the seller can review them. Meanwhile, the wireless access lets Sussex and Reilly agents access up-to-the-minute property data, allowing them to answer any questions the potential homebuyers may have while still onsite.
Steve Bohn, chief technology officer at Sussex and Reilly, believes their Palm OS solution sets the company above other real estate brokerage companies. "Giving the agents wireless access allows them to do three times as many showings as an old-style brokerage. And in this business, more showings means faster sales and happier clients. The Palm VII handheld, integrated with Sussex and Reilly’s Web site, also provides a seamless, clear-channel communication back to our clients by allowing the agents to enter on-the-spot prospective buyer feedback."
.H1 Countrywide Home Loans
Countrywide Home Loans (at http://www.affiliatecenter.org) is an independent home-loan lender. The company is providing its sales staff, business partners, and realtors a Palm OS solution designed to be a more convenient way to access Countrywide lending rates and calculate home loans. Loan consultants can get interest-rate quotes in real time by connecting to the Countrywide Web site via a wireless Palm handheld. Then, the site emails the consultant the estimated loan amount, monthly payments, principle, interest, taxes, and insurance rates. Thus, potential homeowners know the approximate amount of a loan they would need, and they can also check on the status of their loan approval.
Countrywide is planning to introduce a faster and easier approval application designed to provide qualified borrowers with virtually instant loan approval via a wireless Palm handheld.
.H1 Clark Wilson Homes
In any economy, there’s always a need for new homes. The builders at Clark Wilson Homes (at http://www.clarkwilsonhomes.com) oversee the construction of some 15 homes at any one time. Their job is to coordinate the work of construction team members, such as contractors, subs, construction crews, and suppliers.
Builders must routinely deal with home owners, prospective buyers, subcontractors, and inspectors, and these interactions result in a flow of information that’s more than anyone can remember. Thus, builders used to carry around pads or stacks of sticky notes covered with notes and messages. Clearly, this wasn’t a terribly efficient way to work, so Clark Wilson decided their builders needed a faster and more accurate way to track the projects and communicate instructions to crews, contractors, and suppliers. The company eventually chose Palm OS devices equipped with Punch List software from Strata Systems (at http://www.stratasystems.com/punchlis/index.html).
The Punch List software was created specifically for the construction industry and is designed to let field personnel collect and review issues in the field, then transfer them to the desktop for faxing task lists to project participants. Builders can use the software to enter to do lists, outline details of work in progress, update project timelines, and collect notes and sketches pertaining to an issue. Punch List is pictured in Figure A.
.FIG A Punch List is project tracking software.
This Palm handheld with Punch List software solution is making the job of Clark Wilson Homes’ builders easier to manage. Information exchange is faster and more accurate, and it has helped them to keep projects on time and on budget.
.BEGIN_SIDEBAR
.H1 Product availability and resources
For more information on Sussex and Reilly, visit http://www.sussexandreilly.com.
For more information on Countrywide Home Loans, visit http://www.affiliatecenter.org.
For more information on Clark Wilson Homes, visit http://www.clarkwilsonhomes.com.
For more information on Punch List software from Strata Systems, visit http://www.stratasystems.com/punchlis/index.html.
For more information on Palm handhelds, visit http://www.palm.com.
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.END_SIDEBAR
.BIO
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