GAR Tech Guide

Placester – https://placester.com/ 

• Approximate cost: NAR member discount: $99/month ($99 set up fee) for agents or $199/mo ($199 set up fee) for Brokers  
• Pros: Easy to set up and add content to. Good templates and generally very easy set up and maintenance of the site.
• Cons: Not a lot of customizations available
• Notes or things to consider: Placester offers a simple site that you can setup without being a very techie person.

Sierra Interactive – https://www.sierrainteractive.com/

• Approximate cost: $399/month
• Pros: Powerful backend for follow up and action plans, can be used as CRM or syncs with other CRM platforms. Works great for team or small brokerages.
• Cons: none to mention
• Notes or things to consider: Sierra Interactive is a really straight-ahead platform that works well right “out of the box” – meaning even the stock content that comes on the site is pretty good. It does allow pretty substantial customizations and also integrates with a multitude of other tools.

RealSavvy – http://realsavvy.com/

• Approximate cost: not listed
• Pros: Easy to use for anyone
• Cons: Not a lot of design options or customizations
• Notes or things to consider: RealSavvy is a great, simple platform for a real estate website. It does include a basic CRM that is great for starters and has integrations with other CRMs that are good.

BoomTown – https://boomtownroi.com/

• Approximate cost: $1000/mo + additional PPC cost
• Pros: Great all-in-one system for CRM, website and lead follow up.
• Cons: Doesn’t integrate as well with other tools since designed as all-in-one. You’ll need to help create some of the content and set up of the site.
• Notes or things to consider: BoomTown is a great platform to help run and lead generate for a team or small brokerage.

CINC – https://www.cincpro.com/

• Approximate cost: not listed
• Pros: Really good all-in-one platform – similar to BoomTown in platform – website/CRM/lead generation.
• Cons: Doesn’t integrate as well with other tools since designed as all-in-one. You’ll need to help create some of the content and set up of the site
• Notes or things to consider: CINC is a good platform for a team or small brokerage – worth taking a demo if you’re shopping for an all-in-one.

Follow Up Boss – https://www.followupboss.com/

• Approximate cost: Starts at $49/mo for a single user
• Pros: Very robust contact management, lots of integrations, easy action plans and lead distribution tools
• Cons: Only does contact management and basic deals
• Notes or things to consider: Follow Up Boss is a powerful, yet simple to set up and use platform. It really handles the people management part (what a CRM is really for) well and integrates with lots of the most commonly used software tools.

Top Producer – https://www.topproducer.com/

• Approximate cost: $40/user/month
• Pros: Fairly easy to use, integrates with other Move products like 5Street and Market Snapshot
• Cons: Antiquated platform, doesn’t integrate well with outside tools 
• Notes or things to consider: Top Producer is a long-lived CRM that has lots of features and integrations with other Move products. It’s easy to use, but not super intuitive and doesn’t integrate with other outside tools. There is some content provided for emails and drip campaigns, but – like any company provided content – you should make the investment of time to edit more in your voice.

RealVolve – https://www.realvolve.com/ 

• Approximate cost: Starts $41/user/month
• Pros: Fairly easy to use, comes with good stock content (you should still personalize it!). Really good system for “‘Workflows” – any set of tasks or automations you want. From lead follow up to contract to close management.
• Cons: Not as many integrations as some other CRMs, but better designed to be more of an all-in-one
• Notes or things to consider: Great for teams and especially with staff members – checklists to assign to various users for different stages (or just tasks) in a transaction and marketing.

Contactually – https://www.contactually.com/

• Approximate cost: $60/month
• Pros: Great categorization system (buckets) and easy to set up and use
• Cons: Owned by a National real estate brokerage
• Notes or things to consider: Contactually is a pretty simple CRM to set up and use. It uses buckets to help you categorize people and is a pretty intuitive system.

MailChimp – www.mailchimp.com 

• Approximate cost: Free up to 2000 contacts, various pricing plans starting at $10/mo
• Pros: Sync with lots of CRMs (like FUB), 
• Cons: No major cons to mention.
• Notes or things to consider: MailChimp is a solid platform to send attractive, visual/HTML emails. It can be used by itself, but also integrates with most major tools and has really good templates for emails as well. Very easy to create your email layout and easily pop in new content and send each month. The reporting tools are excellent and many of the CRM integrations also show opens and clicks.

BombBomb – http://bombbomb.com/

• Approximate cost: $468/year for one user
• Pros: Easy to record and distribute video (videos generally play IN recipient’s email inbox – vs. taking them to another site or YouTube)
• Cons: Can be expensive if you sync a lot of contacts, but you can sync portions of your lists to manage contact count.
• Notes or things to consider: Don’t buy BombBomb thinking it will make you do video. Record and send some videos, THEN look for a platform with which to send them.

ConstantContact – http://constantcontact.com/

• Approximate cost: Plans start at $20/month (varies by number of contacts)
• Pros: Easy to use, graphical interface. Pre-created templates are pretty good. Has some other tools such as social posting and marketing automation that are simple to use.
• Cons: Not as robust as other platforms and not as many direct integrations for contact management
• Notes or things to consider: Constant Contact is a solid platform, but a little less robust than MailChimp. Choice of email marketing platform is often just a personal one or comparison of features that you need for your business.

G Suite – https://gsuite.google.com/

• Approximate cost: Starts at $6/month/user
• Pros: A great way to run your team or brokerage on the same platform for email, documents, calendars and other apps
• Cons: none to mention
• Notes or things to consider: G Suite is really easy to use – as a user or an admin. Their support is excellent once you become a paid (or trial) user.

Office365 – https://www.office.com/

• Approximate cost: Starts at $5/month/user
• Pros: A good platform for email, documents, and calendars
• Cons: none to mention
• Notes or things to consider: Office365 is a good platform for managing your business. The cloud-based tools work well together and are pretty seamless.

Quickbooks – https://quickbooks.intuit.com/

Approximate cost: Starts at $8/month for basic version

• Pros: Links easily to bank accounts and credit cards for transaction import and categorization. Good reporting on your sources of income and expenses.
• Cons: Easy to add features and move to more expensive plans (maybe also a pro as you grow)
• Notes or things to consider: You should have some means of tracking your income and expenses. Quickbooks is an industry standard and also makes it easy to export data for a booking or tax professional.

WaveApps – https://www.waveapps.com/

• Approximate cost: Free for basic version
• Pros: Free and easy to use and set up
• Cons: Categories don’t always seem to auto-apply once defined
• Notes or things to consider: You should have some means of tracking your income and expenses. WaveApps is pretty simple to set up and use, the fast that it doesn’t always “remember” categories on recurring transactions is a little frustrating but it’s also a free tool – or has a free version.

Hootsuite – http://hootsuite.com/

• Approximate cost: Free version limited to 3 accounts, plans start at $29/mo
• Pros: Easy interface to set and forget social media posting.
• Cons: none to mention
• Notes or things to consider: A great way to plan out your social posts and schedule them to go out when you want them to. Please still engage with comments and likes on your posts – this isn’t autopilot for your social.

Buffer – https://buffer.com/

• Approximate cost: Free version limited to 3 accounts, plans start at $15/mo
• Pros: Easy scheduling system – recurring schedule or schedule each post. Easy to navigate backend.
• Cons: none to mention
• Notes or things to consider: A great way to plan out your social posts and schedule them to go out when you want them to. Please still engage with comments and likes on your posts – this isn’t autopilot for your social.

BrokerFlow – http://brokerflow.io/

• Approximate cost: $300/month
• Pros: Excellent at tracking transactions and broker/team metrics. Great checklist-style system for facilitating transaction management. Easy platform to set goals and monitor progress on agent and company goals.
• Cons: Doesn’t integrate with all e-signature platforms yet, but that is in the works
• Notes or things to consider: A great overall system for tracking transactions and agent productivity. The platform is new, but built by 3 boutique brokerages looking for a better solution. They are open to user feedback and constantly improving the platform.

Transaction Desk – https://www.instanetsolutions.com/products/transactiondesk/ 

• Approximate cost: not listed, offered as an association or MLS benefit in many markets including Georgia/GAMLS
• Pros: May be included in your Association or MLS member benefits
• Cons: n/a
• Notes or things to consider: A pretty straightforward system for transaction management

SkySlope – https://skyslope.com/

• Approximate cost: not listed
• Pros: Really good, modern platform. Integrates with a good amount of other software. Good for use with compliance or other transaction management. Good analytics.
• Cons: n/a
• Notes or things to consider: From a starter plan to enterprise-level brokerage plan, SkySlope is a solid, modern platform.

BackAgent – https://www.backagent.com/

• Approximate cost: Starts around $100/month (based on a per agent cost)
• Pros: Easy to use platform.
• Cons: A bit antiquated in look, but functionality is good.
• Notes or things to consider: BackAgent provides both an Intranet (internal) offering and a transaction management offering (or both together).

DotLoop – https://www.dotloop.com/

• Approximate cost: Starts at $29/month for single agents 
• Pros: Easy to use and adopt.
• Cons: Can get expensive for team version.
• Notes or things to consider: Often e-signature platforms are about ease of use and integrations with other tools you use.

DocuSign Transaction Rooms – https://www.docusign.com/industries/real-estate

• Approximate cost: Starts at $10/mo for single user (limited use)
• Pros: Very easy to use, easy for clients to use. Transaction Rooms are easy to manage or use with a transaction coordinator or 3rd party.
• Cons: Support is mediocre. Can get expensive for large groups.
• Notes or things to consider: Often e-signature platforms are about ease of use and integrations with other tools you use.