Real Estate Techie

I recently started using the Gmail feature “chat to text”, and believe you would find it useful as well.  When you’re on your computer it’s much easier to type on a full keyboard as opposed to your cell or smart phone text entry.  And if you don’t have “unlimited texts/sms”, then this can help save you money as well.  It works great to send a text message to one of your contact’s cell phone.

You have to tweak a few settings within your gmail account, but it only takes just a few minutes to set up.  The video below will help you get it set up and going. I spent about a half hour or more trying to figure this out, because I was certain you could do it.  It was just a matter of finding the instructions.  Hopefully, this post and video will help save you some time.

Most of us have multiple computers or devices we check email on, and most of us use a standard POP email account.  One problem with POP email you encounter is when you open an email on one machine and then check email on a different device.  The email on the second or additional devices looks unopened.  Same thing with deleting emails.  Just because you delete an email on one doesn’t mean it will be deleted on the others.   It can be annoying and time consuming to go through and open/delete emails on multiple machines.  So, I began looking into ways to sync my emails in order to save a little time and be more productive.

The other choices for email is IMAP or using a web based service like Yahoo or Gmail.  IMAP is good for syncing your email account, but you still have to use an email client like Outlook, Windows Mail, Mac Mail, Thunderbird, etc.  I’ve tried all of the clients listed previously, and I just got tired of having problems with them (mostly with Windows Mail – arrgh!).

Web based clients are great for syncing, but most people use them for personal email.  But I like the web based clients better than an ISP email (like AT&T, Road Runner, etc), because if you change internet service providers, then you have to change your email address.  Using web based email like Gmail, Yahoo, etc for personal email means you will never have to change your email unless you just want a new email address.  I’ve been using Gmail on my personal email every since “gmail invitations” went out, and love all of the functionality it gives you with “Google Docs”, etc.

So, what if you have your own web site, like many Realtors and real estate investors, and you want to be more professional with your email delivery?  An email from your own domain is much more professional than “yourname@gmail.com”.  After doing a little research, I found out you can use Gmail to send email from any other email address or domain.  I’ve been doing this now for about 6 months, and I love it.  Gmail claims you can also import your contacts and emails from another address, but I couldn’t get that to work (I just left my old emails on the my Godaddy web mail account).  The link below will help you set it up.  It takes about 15 minutes.

Sync your email and use Gmail to send email from another address

You may have read my earlier review of Dropbox, and know that I’m a firm believer in the functionality, ease of use, and increased productivity it offers.  I have been using another cloud based sync service called SugarSync.  Both SugarSync and Dropbox allow you to sync files across multiple computers, mobile devices and platforms, which allows you to access those files most anywhere.

I’m using SugarSync in our real estate firm to go paperless.  We scan a contract, and then shred the paper.  The files are backed up in multiple locations, so why keep a paper file?  It allows our brokerage to be more green.

It works basically like a “My Documents” folder.

1. You install the SugarSync free software manager on each computer or mobile device you want to sync files with.
2. Then, you add your files to the “Magic Briefcase” folder.  The next time you turn on your other device, the SugarSync servers will add the file/files by syncing with that device.

Easy peasy lemon squeezy.  SugarSync also allows you to sync multiple folders across multiple systems.  To add folders other than your “Magic Briefcase”, you just open up the software and “add folders”.

What’s even better about SugarSync is that it’s more than twice the storage of the free Dropbox account giving you 5 gigabyte for free (If you sign up for the free account through the following link, you’ll get an additional 500 MB of storage for FREE – Sign up for FREE File Storage with SugarSync).

SugarSync is available on all of the major mobile platforms.

• iPad, iPhone, iTouch
• Android
• Blackberry
• Windows Mobile
• Symbian

You can also access your account from any web browser.  Being able to access your important files while you’re out of the office anytime is priceless to me.  If you have tried Dropbox, I believe you’ll like SugarSync even more.