The real estate investing game can be competitive. Motivated sellers, buyers and renters are easily swayed to go with your competition instead of you. Some of the business requirements you have to track and act on include:
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Keeping in touch with your prospects
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Being on time for meetings
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Submitting paperwork quickly to allow time for the bureaucracy
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Following up with contractors to make sure your outsourced work is completed in a timely manner
Not all of us have personal assistants to nag us about the day’s activities. And, well, after reading this lesson, you might find you don’t even need one.
Technology is built to make your life easier. In this day and age, there are numerous calendar apps that help you manage your to-do list. An excellent calendar app equates to an excellent personal assistant that keeps your day flowing smoothly and effectively, eliminating one task at a time.
Just like a personal assistant, not all apps are created equally.
There is no one-size-fits-all when it comes to choosing the right app for you. Each person has a different workflow, preference and style. So, scheduling needs would most likely vary.
Some people would prefer a minimalist, simple and classic black-and-white look, while others prefer colourful, customizable calendar apps.
The default calendar app on your phone or computer works great if you solely need to know your activities for the day. Apart from that, it won’t do much.
But the good news is that there are tons of calendar apps that give you more than just your simple, boring default calendar.
Out of the hundreds of scheduling apps, we like these 7 scheduling apps that efficiently track your events, organize your day and remind you of deadlines.
1. TimeBridge (free)
This is a web app that manages and coordinates your meetings. TimeBridge is compatible with other apps including Outlook, Google Calendar and iCloud, and even syncs other calendars to your scheduling app.
Here are some of the features we really like about this app:
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Text messages can be sent to your phone to remind you of upcoming meetings.
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In the “Daily Brief” email, the app sends you significant details about your day, complete with maps, directions and even a weather forecast for the day’s meetings.
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The ability to offer several time options when sending out meetings. Invitees can then pick times that work for them so it’s easy to get everyone to attend.
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A free conference call number if you need it for your meetings.
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The ability to share your calendar with people so they can set up meetings with you. You don’t have to do anything except attend.
2. Calendly
Just like TimeBridge, Calendly is a web-based app that is easy to use and very unambiguous. It is primarily designed to allow people to schedule appointments with you.
Calendly gives you a buffer (if you want) by prohibiting invitees from scheduling an appointment for a specified time period before or after a scheduled event. That way, you can review your notes from your phone call with a motivated seller, for instance, before you have to hop on the phone with your contractor.
There are 3 pricing levels for Calendly as of the writing of this lesson: a Free version; an $8/month Premium version; and a $12/month Pro version.
Here are some of the differences:
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Premium and Pro let you set up different types of appointments or ‘Events’ such as a 15-minute phone call here or a 60-minute meeting there
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Premium and Pro don’t have the ‘Powered by Calendly’ branding that is on the Free version
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Premium and Pro have more features for collaboration among teams
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Premium and Pro give you group event capabilities (open houses, webinars, virtual tours)
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The Pro also gives you sales force integration and support
3. Doodle
Doodle is not only a web-based app, but it’s also mobile based. This app is perfect for people who like to organize appointments that involve a team of people. If your wholesaling business includes bird dogs, for instance, you can coordinate their routes during a beginning-of-the-week meeting.
The schedules of the users are displayed when you plan for an event. This helps avoid errors in scheduling and encourages collaboration. It’s similar to Microsoft Outlook, but everyone must be using Outlook for it to work.
The scheduling feature of Doodle is free, but you can also upgrade to a premium version where you can sync your Google and iCloud calendars, send automatic updates to participants and more.
Doodle’s free version has ads and the premium version costs $39 per year.
4. Blotter
It is no denying that Blotter is aesthetically pleasing, as are most of the Apple products. The app blends in with your Mac’s background. It gives you a clear view of the day’s schedule and the upcoming week’s schedule, and a bunch of daily activities you need to be reminded of.
Blotter displays on top of your desktop wallpaper. But unlike other calendar apps, Blotter is not as customizable – with limited calendar views and settings.
The web-based app costs $9.99.
5. Cal (free)
Another beautiful app on the list is Cal. With a minimalist design, this app has various colorful backgrounds that liven up your mundane calendar and its tedious tasks. The app pulls photos from the web to make your events stand out.
When you click on the app, it automatically shows you all of your meetings, to-dos and other important appointments in a day, all in one view. Plus, it is also easy to use. The only downside is that there is no weekly view of your tasks, so you would have to tap each day to see what’s happening.
If you connect your Facebook account, then you can see all your friend’s birthdays in the app and easily send a text, email or post on their wall. This can come in handy for sending birthday wishes to (good) tenants and people on your buyer’s list if you need a reason to stay in touch with them – other than just business.
6. Acuity Scheduling
Business people, freelancers and other professionals swear by Acuity Scheduling. This is both a mobile-based and a web-based app, and it allows your clients or prospects to schedule a time with you and pay for your services. At the same time. This may be a great way for property managers to collect rent.
Here is Acuity’s latest pricing. The higher-priced versions are for multiple calendars to coordinate among different team members.
Acuity Scheduling is also fun to work with. With the app’s engaging and humorous ‘voice,’ working alone or at home will never be lonely or boring with Acuity.
7. SolCalendar (free)
SolCalendar has all of the features you need such as the monthly view and agenda, plus other extra features to jazz up your scheduling experience.
Some of the app’s extra features include a weather forecast for the day or the upcoming week. This serves as a guide to help you schedule your meeting without having to worry about heavy rains and the like. There are also several stickers – which you can download, much like Facebook – that give your calendar a personality and a dose of color. And the app can also integrate with your Google tasks.
What Say You?
Have you tried using one of these apps? Let us know in the comment section below.
Try out these calendar apps one by one. If you still can’t decide which app to use after reading all the info in this lesson, the best option is to try them out and see what works for you.
Get organized. These apps help you declutter your mind, and help you organize and prioritize pending tasks.
Try free versions before upgrading. Some of the apps offer free versions and premium versions. It is wise to assess whether you need to upgrade to premium or not by using the free version or trying out other calendar apps.