Real Estate + Technology

Contributing Author: Raj Qsar – Principal | Owner The Boutique Real Estate Group

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Real Estate + Technology. Not really two words that go hand in hand. Two words that usually do not embrace each other. Two words that scare off the most seasoned real estate professional.

Our story goes a little something like this: We love tech. We love real estate. So why not marry the two? Why not have a “forever relationship” with these two words? Why not incorporate technology into every aspect of the real estate experience? Our clients do not need to be tech savvy to use these products, but our agents need to understand how this technology is a benefit.

We have embraced every aspect of technology at The Boutique Real Estate Group here in Orange County, California, and we feel we have successfully digitized the real estate experience for our clientele. Most of our clients are finding us online. Most of our clients are seeing our listings online. So, it only makes sense that we need technology for real estate to survive. If our clients have instant access to data on their mobile devices, so should our agents. Everyone is head down and focused on their phones and tablets. Everyone is in the moment, and we are now able to step into that moment and grab his or her attention.

You won’t find our clients running to a fax machine to fax something to us. We don’t ask our clients to print, fill out, scan, and then save and email anything to us. It’s not how we roll. We sign digitally with DocuSign. Got mobile? No problem. Got a tablet? No problem. DocuSign allows our clients to sign on the go with ease from any device they carry.

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Furthermore, our in-transaction platform of choice is Cartavi, which seamlessly has integrated the DocuSign platform for electronic signatures. Our agents have their own personal Transaction Concierge (TC) who is trained on DocuSign and Cartavi. It only makes sense to be able to store our clients’ documents digitally, have access to them on our mobile devices, and then share the documents with all parties involved in the transaction. Our agents and TCs not only communicate digitally via DocuSign and Caravi, but we are able to manage the most complicated of transactions with these two platforms. No more emailing huge files between escrow, lenders, title, buyers, sellers, and agents. We share our files through Cartavi.

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Several members of our team are heading to Inman Real Estate Connect NYC this week. This gathering is tech real estate heaven! If you’re looking for the best and the brightest in our industry, then Connect is where you should be.

Have a question for Raj and team? Contact them here: http//www.TheBoutiqueRE.com | @RajQsar | @TheBoutiqueRE

 

 

 

 

 

Getting Business Done. Everywhere.

Customer Story: Jeremy Lehman

Jeremy-Lehman
You always hear about how technology can solve this problem or that problem, or help you do something better or more efficiently. While it might seem like there are endless possibilities – sometimes knowing how to leverage technology or “use it” can be more of a challenge than finding the right solutions.

Meet Jeremy Lehman – he really “gets it.”

Jeremy is a technology enthusiast turned real estate agent in Orange County, California who is always on the go. I gave Jeremy a call the other day as he was in-between a quick stop at the Apple store and picking up his kids from school. “I would say that I am on my mobile devices ninety plus percent of the time,” Jeremy told me.

 

Having his phone on him 15 hours a day  is not uncommon for Jeremy. “I am rarely on a computer and it’s not that my mobile devices have completely replaced my computer because it is necessary, but it’s because I am on the go so much it makes sense to use my mobile devices to get things done rather than waiting until I get back home or wherever,” Jeremy said, adding with a chuckle “I spend almost no time in the office, almost to the dismay of my team.”

The Boutique Real Estate Group

Jeremy is a Realtor and CTO of The Boutique Real Estate Group in Orange County, California.

However, just because Jeremy’s not in the office doesn’t mean he isn’t working, in fact he sees it as just the opposite. “I don’t believe that someone who’s always in the office is doing incredibly well, because the reality is business gets done everywhere but the office these days,” Jeremy said. He still prefers doing business “belly to belly” with his clients because after all real estate is a service-based business. Being mobile allows him to be more efficient with his time and proactive with his clients. “If I am driving my car and I get a call from my assistant, client or another agent who needs a specific document for a deal, I need to be able to access any document from the road at any given time,” Jeremy said. He added that it doesn’t matter if he is on vacation or on the golf course – he never has to tell a client he is too busy doing personal things to get back to them. “I don’t think those sort of answers are acceptable these days,” Jeremy said, adding it’s okay if he’s using his time for personal reasons because he can still get the job done and is not delaying transactions.

Boutique-Property

I asked Jeremy what sort of mobile tools he uses while on the go and he said he uses an iPhone, iPad and a stable of core apps that included Cartavi and DocuSign. He also said his group, The Boutique Real Estate Group, uses mobile forms that are tablet compatible and that he uses DocuSign Ink as a signing solution for his iPhone and PDF Expert for his iPad. He said PDF Expert allows him to write on the contract through his iPad to add additional terminology. He also uses MLS Touch, which allows him to access MLS listing at all times. Jeremy’s suite of mobile solutions is pretty impressive and allows him to do everything on the go, which is what I meant when I said “he really gets it!”

Jeremy does not just use technology to stay on the road though; he also uses it to get more business. He maintains a significant web presence and uses social media to market his offerings. “I think it is important that we have profiles on any place that a client is going, so if clients are going to Zillow then you need a presence on Zillow, if they are going to Realtor.com – then you need a presence there.”

Jeremy said most of the people in his group also have personal websites and are very searchable. His personal website is http://about.me/jeremylehman and came up immediately when I searched his name on Google.

Boutique-Property

Jeremy also said he is doing mostly listings now even though his business used to be more 50/50 buyers and sellers. “We are in an extreme sellers market,” Jeremy said. He also added that shifting business models’ is difficult but he has used the internet to establish himself and develop a steady stream of listings. “I guess it is marketing the whole negotiating dynamic, using technology, but also offering a high personal level of customer service,” Jeremy said. I asked Jeremy how he got into real estate and he said was actually working with a title company but a Senate bill would have gotten rid of the services that he offered so in 2007 he decided to get his real estate license and become an agent, and as he puts it, “I always sort of ‘got’ real estate.”

Jeremy is also very involved in leadership and serves on the Board of Directors at the Pacific West Association of Realtors and the California Association of Realtors. He is also a technology trainer and mentor, and occasionally does real estate technology workshops for Apple. He will tell you though, for as savvy as he is with technology, “I’m not nearly as technical as people think I am. I just sort of understand technology and how to use it.” Even though Jeremy has figured out how to use leverage technology to his advantage, he still prides himself on providing “likable” customer service, fast response times and doing a very professional job.

If you are thinking about listing a property in Orange County, just look-up ‘Jeremy Lehman’ and you’ll find him at his Personal WebsiteFacebookTwitterLinkedinTrulia,YourSoCalAgentInstagram… the list goes on and on. He is not hard to find, trust me.