Many real estate professionals think Blackberrys are just for email, but a lot more can be done with them than that.  There are a lot of programs you can get for a Blackberry that will help you with your day-to-day operations as a real estate professional, and most of them are free too.  Here are some of the best programs you can download for your Blackberry:

Google Maps

The Blackberry is specifically designed to work with the Google Maps application.  It’s not one of these applications lacking the full functionality of the PC based version.  With this app you can use all the searching and mapping functions available in the PC version.  It’s great for sending emails to your buyer clients on how to find their way to a listing you want to show them.  If you’re out of town or on vacation, Google Maps is an excellent tool for finding what you need: hotels, restaurants, gas stations, local attractions, and so on.  You can find it here.

Opera Mini

Internet web pages are designed first and foremost for PCs.  So many website pages won’t look right when viewed on a Blackberry.  Some pages won’t render at all.  Opera Mini is a great backup browser to have for these sorts of pages.  A key feature is it allows you to zoom in and out anywhere on a page so that you can see page details not readable with the Blackberry browser.  Find it here.

Facebook

Facebook is one of the top five visited sites in the world, so it’s a good idea to have separate accounts for your personal and business relations.  That way, you can control who receives message blasts you send to your entire lists of friends.  You don’t want your clients reading comments your friends write on your Wall or on your photos.  With a clients only account you can also join the real estate related communities and share information from them with your clients.   Find it here.

Homes for Sale

This great application uses your Blackberry’s GPS to track your present geographic location and send you information on listings nearest you.  This program tells you the home price, square footage, tax information, photos and other information for each listing.  Imagine how impressed your clients will be when you show them this app!  This is especially great if you’re driving around a buyer and they tell you about an area they’re interested in they hadn’t mentioned before.  You won’t be caught flatfooted about what listings to show them with this very handy application.  Get it for free here.

Learn more about the many ways you can build your real estate business online by taking my Building Your Ecommerce Business course.  This course has been approved by the Registrar, REBBA 2002 to qualify for 6 credits.