Angela Bryant - The Complete Guide to Property Strategies

The list below is just a selection of some of the new era of technology and apps that can help in property, sometimes known as prop-tech. Many of them are free, or at least have a free trial available. I have also included a couple of sites that offer virtual business addresses and virtual PAs.

There are always new technologies and apps coming to market which are worth a look. Many of these are based around the idea that its good to be mobile: cloud-based apps that allow you to access your information from any device, and they also help you to share information with teams where you may work with others remotely. While not exhaustive, I hope the list includes some of your current or future favourites:

Airtable: www.airtable.com. Airtable makes it easy to organise stuff, people, ideas and anything else you can imagine with your team. Ryan described Airtable as like a spreadsheet on steroids.

All Day PA: www.alldaypa.com. Offers 24/7 telephone answering service.

Arthur Property Management: www.arthuronline.co.uk. Property management software with a suite of apps that connects you with tenants, agents, owners, contractors and accountants.

Asana: www.asana.com. Asana promises to be the easiest way to get teams to track their work and get results. Track projects from start to finish, make responsibilities and next steps clear.

Base Point: www.basepoint.co.uk. Offers a virtual office address.

BillHub: www.billhub.io. Bill Hub says it is the simple, more secure way to send, spend and manage your money between housemates. It can also help to find the best deals on utilities.

Citibase: www.citbase.com. Also offers a virtual office address.

Blogger: www.blogger.com. You can set up your own property blog (or blog on any subject) easily and free at Googles Blogger. It allows multi-user blogs with time-stamped entries.

Fiverr: www.fiverr.com. Fiverr is a marketplace where interested people competitively quote for jobs you need doing. Useful for help with website design and graphics, writing projects, music or voice-overs, programming, tech, and more.

Fixflo: www.fixflo.com. Provides a system for reporting and managing property repairs and maintenance. Most helpful for agents or landlords with larger portfolios, to be cost-effective.

Go Cardless: www.gocardless.com. Enables organisations to take card payments and set up direct debits simply and electronically. Ability to integrate with your existing accounting software such as QuickBooks or Sage.

Google Drive: www.google.com/drive. Google Drive is a cloud storage and file management programme which allows you to sync and upload files from your desktop, and lets you access your stuff on every computer and mobile device.

Hello Sign: www.hellosign.com. Allows electronic signature, useful when contracts need to be signed remotely without delay.

Homeit: www.homeit.io/en. System for keyless entry to short-term lets and Airbnb lets, holiday homes (even overseas in certain counties), etc.

Inbox by Google: www.inbox.google.com. Aims to improve email productivity and organisation. It can gather emails of the same topic together, highlights key details from messages, and has reminders, assists, and snooze functionality. It seems similar to Outlook, but more mobile.

Land Insight: www.landinsight.io. Site sourcing and deal management made simple. Acquire off-market opportunities using game-changing technology. (More on this in Development chapter.)

Live Home 3D: www.livehome3d.com. This interior design software can be used with Windows 10, to assist both homeowners planning some home renovations and interior design professionals visualizing their projects.

Magic Plan: www.magic-plan.com. For developers. Create floorplans. Estimate materials and costs. Order your materials.

MessageBird: www.messagebird.com. Communication software that enables you to use text, voice, chat and video over multiple channels.

No Agent: www.noagent.co.uk. Paid for service. You choose the extent to which No Agent fully manages. Add-ons can include all stages of the lettings process or just some.

People Per Hour: www.peopleperhour.com. Hire freelance or virtual assistants and other skilled roles.

Podio: www.podio.com. Includes a CRM (customer relationship management) package and offers tighter collaboration for greater durability: clearly defined roles and a custom tool fitted to how your team works best will help improve delivery time, effectiveness and relationships.

Slack: www.slack.com. Slack is a system that unifies your entire teams communications, making your workflow flow a lot better. It can be especially useful for teams that may not physically work from the same location. Use for sharing photos, receipts, etc. You can do video calls from there too.

SnapInspect: www.snapinspect.com. For inventories and property inspections, SnapInspect lets you inspect properties, create beautiful reports and deliver them using your smartphone or tablet.

Spareroom: www.spareroom.co.uk. Advertise rooms to let in shared housing, HMOs.

Trello: www.trello.com. Trello lets you work more collaboratively and get more done. Trellos boards, lists and cards enable you to organise and prioritise your projects in a fun, flexible and rewarding way.

Xero: www.xero.com/uk. Accounting software that claims to help small businesses to thrive. Helps with bookkeeping and can reconcile with your bank account.

Note that this was the questionnaire I used when calling back clients who had already made initial contact with the call centre at A Quick Sale and left their details, after it was established that they want to engage in the process. If it is the first contact from your marketing, you need to have that initial conversation first to make sure they understand your offer will not be at the retail value but that you buy at a discount in return for offering a quick sale to solve their property problems.

Adapt the Telephone Questionnaire to suit your style and purposes, as you wish. (For example, if you have a rent-to-rent lead or wish to discuss an Option Agreement, the questions will vary.)