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1. Zillow Premier Agent (Lead Generation)Zillow Premier Agent is incredibly powerful real estate software. More Americans search “Zillow” on Google than “real estate” or “realtor.” Zillow.com is by far the largest real estate website in the US. It’s the go-to resource for more than 70 million buyers and sellers each month. In order to be competitive, you NEED to be on Zillow.Here’s how it works. As a free user, you can submit new rental and sales listings to Zillow. You can also “claim” listings you created that were uploaded to Zillow straight from your MLS. What this does is place your contact information in the upper right corner of the listings page. However, as a free user, as many as 3 other buyer’s agents will also appear on the list.As a Zillow Premier Agent, your name will appear exclusively on your listings. Thus, when a buyer encounters your listing from Zillow or Trulia, you have a much greater chance of receiving their inquiry and earning the full commission.For an additional cost, Zillow Premier Agents can also advertise on the listings of other agents. You can choose which zip codes you want to advertise in and set your own budget. The key benefit here is you can find more leads in your local area.2. Contactually (Customer Relationship Management)Let’s face it. Choosing a CRM is up there with root canal for most Realtors. There are dozens and dozens of options on the market and very little to differentiate them all. Contactually on the other hand is a different animal entirely. Instead of just managing your contacts and leads (which it does very well), Contactually goes one step further and helps you manage your relationships. Contactually offers users automated follow up reminders, advanced automation and pipeline management, a letter grade to tell you how well you’re doing with your follow up, and manages to do all in a lovely to look at and easy to use package.Want to learn more? Check out our showdown of the top three real estate CRM platforms on the market today here.3. Placester (IDX Website Builder)An IDX real estate website automatically pulls listing data from your MLS, so your visitors can search for properties on your site. A lot of the IDX web builders we’ve come across in the past have either been expensive (at least $150/month) or crudely designed on outdated platforms. That’s why we were excited to come across Placester. Placester not only uses WordPress, a best-in-class website platform, but if you’re a Realtor you can get a fully featured IDX website from Placester for as low as $69 per year. Click here to check it out or see our full review of the best real estate website builders.4. DocuSign (Electronic Signature/Transaction Management)DocuSign, the world’s most popular and trusted electronic signature software, is used by an astonishing 250,000 companies worldwide. Not only do they offer best-in-class electronic signatures and management, but they also offer Realtors the best platform for getting documents signed and deals tamed.DocuSign is the only electronic signature platform to offer an edition especially for Realtors that offers Realtor branding and ZipForm Plus integration. Teams and brokerages that already use ZipForm Plus will find a true plug and play partner with DocuSign. That means seamless integration with all your NAR documents straight out of the box. This is something no other electronic signature platform offers.Best of all, DocuSign offers a powerful transaction management platform. Agents can keep track of all documents in a transaction from agency disclosure to contracts. Brokers can set up advanced approval processes and workflows to be as hands off, or hands on, as they need to be.5. Dotloop (Transaction Management Software)Dotloop lets you create, capture and store all the paperwork required to close even the most convoluted deal with ease. You can create custom templates, send documents out for esignature, and track, collaborate, and store documents for review and compliance all on one platform. Dotloop cuts down the paperwork, faxing, and in-person signings in your average deal to pretty much zero. Dotloop will become the cornerstone of your collection of the best real estate software.If you’re curious how Dotloop stands up to the competition, check out our in-depth transaction management software buyer’s guide here.6. Showing Suite (Showing Software)If you’re anything like me, you have a few notebooks kicking around somewhere in your office or your car stuffed full of notes from showings, email addresses, phone numbers, and lockbox codes. Showing Suite lets you finally toss them in the recycling bin where they belong.Showing Suite integrates and automates showing schedules, buyer agent feedback, and any notes, pictures, and videos that you want to store along with your listing. It even syncs with your Supra EKey or Sentrilock lockbox software. If you write regular showing reports for your seller (you should), having it all in one place is a god send.7. Real Scout (Lead Nurturing)Real Scout is a game changer. If you have a busy schedule and a lot of leads to nurture, it can mean the difference between a good year and an outstanding year. Real Scout scours your MLS for new listings that match any of up to 400 criteria your leads select, such as waterfront location, high ceilings, number of bedrooms, etc. and automatically sends them the listings in an email. Best of all, the emails it generates look like they came directly from you. All while you’re out showing…or on the beach.Currently used by Sotheby’s, Climb, Berkshire Hathaway and Seven Gables, I think realscout is poised to take off in a big way. Remember, you heard it here first.8. Home Value Leads (Home Valuation Websites)Home Value Leads offers a turnkey seller lead generation system by offering agents a customizable home value estimator that you can use on your IDX website, or even better, on your facebook ads. The system also provides lead follow up via built in drip campaigns, instant lead notification, as well as access to the Real Estate Masterminds Facebook group.9. Citymaps (Custom Mapping App)Citymaps has made answering the perennial client question “where are the best _________________ in this neighborhood?” infinitely easier. With Citymaps I can send my clients custom maps of a neighborhood tailored to their interests. It makes anyone an instant neighborhood expert.Work commercial listings? Citymaps is the perfect real estate software to help plan locations for retail stores.10. Matterport (3d Virtual Tours)Sometimes your vendors are the ones using the best real estate software. While you may never use Matterport real estate software yourself, it’s the engine that makes all those cool 3D walkthroughs possible.These days, it seems like many clients, especially relocation clients, not only want, but expect 3D tours for high-end properties. Why not give them what they want? Ask your photographer about Matterport or look for a 3D tour company in your area. If you want to go all in, you can buy your own matterport camera for around $4,500. If you’re good, you might find yourself with a lucrative side business on your hands.11. Mojo Dialer (Auto Dialer)Coffee is for closers only! Here’s one for all the For Sale By Owner (FSBO) cold callers out there. Like everything else in this industry, calling FSBOs and Expireds is a numbers game. Even the smoothest broker isn’t going to land every single call. You need to build up momentum to get appointments.Squinting at a list of names and numbers, and then punching them into your phone slows you down and kills that momentum. That’s where auto dialer software like Mojo Dialer comes in handy. It integrates with your FSBO lists and dials numbers automatically while pulling up pertinent information on your screen. While it’s not free, the ROI is immediate. If you spend a lot of time cold calling, you’ll wonder how you lived without it.12. RPR Mobile (Property Reports)We’re fairly certain that almost every realtor has this app on their phone right now. If you don’t, you should. RPR Mobile is the fastest, easiest way to look up property information and send branded property reports to buyers or sellers on the go. Best of all, RPR let’s you send “mini reports” that have just the right amount of information for sending information to new leads.13. Zumper (Rental Listings)Here’s one for the rental agents. Zumper combines all the great features of Padmapper, Naked Apartments, Trulia, and half a dozen other rental apps into one. Zumper not only presents your listing on a lovely, easy-to-search site, but they will also run Experian credit reports and rental applications for your prospective tenants. It makes the rental process so easy, you might feel guilty collecting a broker fee. Zumper is definitely the best real estate software on the market today for rental agents.14. BombBomb (Video Email)BombBomb is one of those ideas that sound gimmicky until you actually try it for yourself. One of the biggest problems with email marketing is that it’s still a bit impersonal compared to other social media. In lieu of face-to-face communication, video is the next best thing for delivering a personal message. BombBomb lets you record, send, and track video email.15. Area Pulse (Market Data)Area Pulse automates the often laborious task of pulling together market data to send to leads or current clients. Not only that, the reports it generates and sends are highly detailed and professional looking. No more screenshots from your dated back-end, excel spreadsheet, or MLS website.16. Waze (Crowd Sourced Traffic App)Okay, it’s not technically real estate software, but if you’re stuck in traffic you’re not selling houses. Waze gives you up-to-the-minute traffic condition reports from other Waze users. It saves you time, frustration, and best of all, gas money. Waze is a must have on any realtor’s smartphone.17. Key.me (Key Copying Software)Key.me elegantly solves one of the more furstrating logisitcal hurdles for listing agent and rental agents. Keys!! With Copy Keys, Solve Lockouts, instead of borrowing a homeowner’s keys while you rush off to Home Depot, you simply have to snap a picture of the key and head to your local Copy Keys, Solve Lockouts kiosk to make a copy.The best part is that if you happen to lose a key, all you need to make a new copy is the photo you have saved in the app. No more lockouts. Ever.18. Open Home Pro (Open House Management Software)Open Home Pro will help take the “pen” out of your next open house with their feature-packed paperless open house app. You get digital sign in sheets that integrate with more than a dozen real estate CRMs (Insightly, Top Producer, etc.), automated seller reports, and automated email and text messaging to your open house attendees. No more smudged sign in sheets or tedious data entry. Open Home Pro is a must for property managers, seller’s agents. or anyone who runs a lot of open houses.Want to learn more about Open House Apps? Check out our in-depth buyer’s guide comparing the top three players in the market here.19. Zurple (Lead Generation/Nurturing)I came across Zurple late last year and was immediately intrigued by what it offered realtors. For one, it uses incredibly smart email automation that puts its competitors to shame. Secondly, it can be used in combination with Zillow/Trulia for a very reasonable price.So what does Zurple do? Its primary purpose is a lead generation service. Zurple builds you an IDX website to capture leads as they browse for properties (example below). Once in your system, Zurple monitors their browsing activity and gets to know their profile: What’s their budget? What types of properties are they looking for? What amenities do they need? All of this information goes into your system.The next part, however, is where the real magic happens. Zurple sends automated emails to your leads based on their interests and any updates on the market. For example, if a visitor named Suzi comes to your website and spends a while looking at properties, the system may send her an email that reads, “Hi Suzi, I know you are looking for a home greater than 1500 square feet and prefer 924 5th Street. Would you like to see it in person?” She may also receive updates of new listings that match her criteria, or be asked to set up a meeting when her browsing activity spikes.20. Smarter Agent Mobile (Customized Listings app)Smarter Agent Mobile offers custom branded real estate apps for a monthly fee that wouldn’t even get a software developer to pick up the phone. Here’s how it works. Instead of paying a developer to make you a custom app, you pay Smarter Agent a low monthly fee for a rock solid, pre-designed app customized with your branding, agents, and listings.Your clients and potential clients can download your app from the app store like any other. As far as your clients know, you spent tens of thousands developing the app. Through the IDX enabled Smarter Agent App, clients can search active and recently sold listings from the MLS with all leads going to you.21. Videolicious (Video Editing Software)Videolicious makes professional video editing a snap. Agents can add watermarks, logos, and automatically edit together smaller videos into one presentation. If you’ve ever tried to shoot an entire large home in one take, you know how useful this will be. Your clients will love the professional looking video walkthroughs. Best of all it’s EASY. That’s why David Marine, Vice President of Brand Engagement at Coldwell Banker calls it “The easiest video app out there.”22. Prempoint (Lockbox Replacement)Tired of finicky lockboxes and using wonky software to grant access to your listings? Try Prempoint. Prempoint eliminates the needs for lockboxes and manual keys and gives agents a digital all-in-one access management system. Users can download shared documents, leave feedback, and most importantly, open a growing list of networked smartlocks with bluetooth-enabled smartphones.23. MagicPlan (Floor Plan Creator)MagicPlan is real estate software that reminds you that we live in the future. With MagicPlan you use your phone or tablet to quickly and easily map out a room. The software then turns that map into a detailed floorplan. While the floor plans may not be up to your architect’s standards, they’re perfect for helping show off the gracious dimensions of one of your listings. Even better, you can use magic plan to help buyers plan out where their furniture will fit in their new home. They’ll think you’re a genius.24. RealtyMX (Rental Listings Management)An enterprise class listings management system, RealtyMX offers the brokerages that use it a turnkey listing database solution. Designed for New York City based brokerages, RealtyMX offers MANAR, RLS, IDX, and VOW support. The system also syndicates listings, and has integrated CRM and document management systems. Best of all, it provides gorgeous custom websites for agents.25. CSS (Centralized Showing Service) (Showing Coordination)Most buyers never realize the complicated dance that some agents have to do in order to schedule a day of showings. They call listing agents, listing agents call homeowners, rinse and repeat then repeat 3 more times at the last second.CSS takes all the stress and chaos out of scheduling appointments. Agents can call one phone number or use one app to schedule multiple showings with multiple listing agents. Homeowners can approve or decline each showing right from their phone. Truly amazing.26. Cloud CMA (CMA Generation)Cloud CMA produces slick, professional looking CMA’s (Comparative Market Analysis) that you’ll be proud to send to your clients. Best of all, you can brand your CMA’s with your headshot and logo for a personalized touch. To learn more check out our showdown of the top three CMA creation software platforms on the market today here.Source: http://fitsmallbusiness.com/best-real-estate-software/You Might Like: Sell your house fast in Markham, Residential Properties for sale

Legally required:Pay your taxesIncome tax: Understand the tax effects of allocation of purchase price, plus ordinary income, capital gains, tax free reorganizations, etc.Bulk sale doctrineAcquire the legal right to sell your business: (a) provide proof of ownership, (b) obtain valid consent from shareholders/partners/LLC members in company resolutions, documents or agreements.Obtain third party approval (e.g., landlord, clients, vendors, etc.)Advise government, officials or agencies (if necessary)Here’s what is not legally required, but very smart and common to implement:Advise your insurance agent, accountant, lawyer, banker, professionalsNegotiate the terms of purchase in the form of a letter of intent or term sheet.Due DiligenceDocument the TransactionClose the F*ing Deal (and most importantly, get paid)Let’s review from the perspective of the seller (“you”):Negotiate Terms of PurchaseYou should prepare your business for sale and get an idea of the fair market valuation of the company, what the terms of sale will look like, and how you want to go about selling the company. You can list it with a broker or use some other form of advertisement to communicate to potential buyers that it is for sale. Interested buyers and brokers will want to discuss a variety of terms that will eventually be a part of any sales transaction. Here are some of the terms you will have to consider:Purchase price. You can anticipate that potential buyers will want to negotiate a lower price from the price at which you advertise your business. Keep in mind that negotiated items can affect the purchase price, so if you have a hold-back account or earn out, this can lower the purchase price. The asking price should be flexible enough to accommodate a healthy negotiation process. Having an independent business appraisal will give credibility to and context to your asking price.Terms of financing and interest. The purchase price can be paid in a lump sum cash payment or it can be stretched out over time. Often small business owners have to finance a portion of the purchase price. Financing the purchase price typically requires a promissory note along with some form of security agreement with collateral pledged against the future payment of the note. The state you are in may regulate the amount of interest you can charge.Representations and warranties. Both the buyer and the seller will want to make certain representations and warranties to each other. A representation is a true and accurate statement of facts and a warranty is a promise that the facts as presented are true. For example, the seller will represent and warrant that he or she is the legal owner of the business and is authorized to sell it. The buyer will represent and warrant that he or she is authorized to enter into the transaction and that the agreement is enforceable. Sometimes sellers or buyers will try to represent and warrant future promises or facts, but those are not representations or warranties. Those are called “covenants” or promises.Lease. If you have a lease on office space, your buyer will probably want to take over the lease. This can be done through a sub-lease arrangement or by negotiating a new lease with the landlord.Negotiate LOI or Term Sheet. After you have gone through the process of negotiating the basic terms of selling your business, the seller and the buyer will sign a document that briefly outlines those terms. This is called a “letter of intent.” It is usually a non-binding binding contract but not always. For example, you could ask for a Good Faith Deposit (an enforceable covenant) or a confidentiality clause. This helps to keep track of what has already been negotiated. This document makes it easier to produce the final purchase agreement.NDA/Confidentiality. Unless and until a final definitive agreement is signed, there is nothing to prevent the potential buyer from raiding your company secrets. To prevent a potential competitor from stealing your trade secrets, it’s important that you take reasonable steps to keep your secrets protected: By either having them sign an non-disclosure agreement (“NDA”) or confidentiality agreement or giving them only the general nature of your trade secrets or confidential information. However, finances will usually need to be disclosed so you should almost always get an NDA signed that will protect your disclosures.Due DiligenceOnce you have a bona fide buyer who has signed a confidentiality agreement and a letter of intent (or term sheet), they will want some time to inspect your business to make sure everything you have represented checks out. This is called the due diligence period and it gives the buyer the opportunity to inspect the physical and economic state of your business including the building, equipment, inventory, and employees, as well as the financial records, agreements, and company books. In order to ensure a smooth transition for the new buyer, you want to make sure that you disclose everything up front. The following is a list of items you should be prepared to make available to a serious buyer:Company books which include corporate records of organization, meeting minutes, company resolutions, ownership certificates, certificates of good standing, and records of company structureFinancial records and tax returns including profit and loss statements, and balances sheetsMaterial contracts with vendors, suppliers, clients, customers, distributors or any other ongoing business relationship that is a critical part of your businessAccounts receivable reports that detail the future payments the company expects to receive from transactions that have closed prior to the sale of the businessValuation report prepared by a CPA or business appraiser that justifies your offer for the business and gives context to the buyer for understanding how the price was determined.In addition to inspecting records and physical facilities of your business, a prudent buyer will want to contact business partners who have experience doing business with you. This might include speaking with vendors, customers, distributors, or other business partners to assess the strength of the various business relationships. If there are skeletons in the closet of your business it is a good idea to deal with them in a straightforward and honest manner. The more information the buyer has about potential problems the better equipped they will be to handle those problems after you close the transaction.Document the TransactionThe sale agreement is usually called a “Purchase Agreement” or “Purchase and Sale Agreement.” This is the primary legal document used for the acquisition of a business. The purchase agreement outlines all of the details of the sale and mirrors the letter of intent or term sheet. Depending on how you structure this transaction you may also need a bill of sale, promissory note, security agreement, stock transfer certificate, and company resolutions. The purchase agreement should include all of the following:the parties (who is the buyer/seller and the business)whether this is a sale of business assets or an entity salethe purchase price and method of paymentearn out, seller financing or lump sum saleactions that the buyer and seller must take prior to closingthe closing daterepresentations and warranties of the buyerrepresentations and warranties of the sellerindemnificationcovenants (e.g., non-compete and confidentiality)default provisions for sales involving seller financingboilerplate legal provisionsexhibits of other relevant documents such as bill of sale and promissory note.Close the F*ing DealOften times sellers are in a rush to get the sale through and buyers want to take their time. As a seller, you should be diligent but firm. Keep a realistic closing date in mind but at the same time DON’T DELAY. Any delay could result in the buyer walking away. A new competitor enters the market? Your building blows up? Have a bad quarter and need to release those results to the buyer? Something weird happens to the business at the 11th hour? This happens ALL THE TIME!! So, without trying to instill a level of too much panic and adrenaline into your system, you should proceed diligently as time is of the essence. The only time you should relax is when the deal is inked (or docusigned), the check clears and you are past any point in time when a rep or warranty could come back to haunt you. That’s when you celebrate.

I was at a short biased fund that had a 20+ year track record for a guy who regularly beat the s&p 500! To put it simply, we were in a pretty good mood. To give context for the firm, the fund would run a short book at about 80-90% short with indices on the long side running 60-70%. In 2008, the firm had returns of about 65%+. So if you do the math, the s&p 500 was down about 40%. That means our short book was up over 100%. As an insurance policy for tail risk for our fund of funds clients, we did our job.That gives you context. I'd use a couple of words to describe how we felt at the time. Jubilation, bewilderment, some bouts of fear and confusion of what to do next.1. Jubilation. Short selling in 2008 was like shooting fish in a barrel. Didn't matter what you short, you made money. No duh. Just keep pressing the bets (hence how we hit >100% returns in the short book). We all felt safe because we were working at a firm that had survived a lot of these cycles and best we could tell, with the exception of a handful of hedge funds, we were making money hand over fist. This was when you realized most hedge funds don't know how to short sell and hedge. The average hedge fund I think was down 20%.2. Bewilderment. As 2008 wore on, things got weird. Everything was collapsing, but there would be days that stocks would go up 15-20% on no fundamental reason. Of course, a few days later, they'd tank and we would realize that we had seen a bunch of short squeezes. The short sale rules really got screwy. The federal government made it their mission not to let financial firms go down. So they forbade the shorting of financial stocks. We didn't know if the regulators would allow us to hold on to our short positions or if we would be forced to cover. Furthermore, the list of published financial firms that could not be short were stupid. Suddenly ibm (not that we were shorting these companies), zales jewelry, etc were financial firms. People were in such a panic that they seemed to have turned off their brains.3. Fear. We had our prime broker account at Goldman. When you have a pb relationship, a lot of your positions are held in street name. So you are a creditor to the bank. If the bank goes down, you have to go get your assets. That's when we realized that we needed to have liquid assets held in our name to fund legal bills if it came to that. We were buying ultra short term treasuries at negative yields and putting the certificates in a safety deposit box held in our name. This was to liquidate since treasuries were still easily sold financial instruments that could be used to recover capital. Even if you were hitting home runs, you might not get paid!4. Confusion. Now what? There were places where we were seeing weird opportunities. Convertible arb funds were blowing up and dumping convertible debt at double digit yields for debt that was due in a year from companies that had plenty of cash on the balance sheet to pay down the debt. Companies were trading at half cash in microcap land. A bunch of microcap hedge funds were seeing massive redemptions and dumping stock. That just caused the next batch of microcap hedge funds to show losses and cause more redemptions. It was a vicious cycle. Debt etfs were trading at 20%+ dividend yields and shouldn't have been. Prime broker balance sheets were being ripped apart and they were making margin calls from their "lesser" clients. Hedge funds who were doing reasonably well were forced to liquidate into losses (especially illiquid positions) because the prime broker could no longer provide the margin. And it was sudden and without warning because the prime brokers themselves were having a hard time understanding their own situation.A lot of companies had stocks that collapsed and suddenly looking for shorts seemed much harder. The problem was that the whole financial edifice looked like a disaster. So now what? One of the peculiar things about short funds is that they're in a weird situation where fund risk and firm risk can diverge.If you're in a typical long biased l/s fund, if you lose money in a year where where the market is up, the fund most likely sees redemptions. So fund performance Is directly tied to firm risk. In a short fund, if the market is up 10% and you're down 2%, then you're doing your job. Investors are happy and if your incentive fee is paid on alpha, then so are you. But if the market is down 10% and you're up 5% then you're not acting as an insurance policy. So fund absolute performance diverges from firm risk. It's a funky situation that I believe occurs only in short biased funds.So by the time we get to 2009, the market and economy still looks like crap. So if we go net long and we do not bottom tick the market, then even with the 65% 2008 performance, we could really piss off our investors. So what do we do? We focused on fundamentals. That meant continuing to short stock. To state the obvious, that was a mistake.Other interesting things I got to know my brokers pretty well. Why? I was the only one answering the phones. All their other clients weren't answering phones because everyone was freaking out.In hindsight, I can't think of a short seller that wishes 2008 happened. 2008 opened up the dogs of hell in the fed printing machine. To give a sense of how screwy things got, in 2007, the markets were relatively normal and my short book (!!!) was up 25%+. I'd like to think I'm an above average short seller. 2008 was a gimme and doesn't count. 2009 was a resetting of the environment. So no way to make money short selling. In 2010, my short book was up big by that summer. Can't remember exactly but I was beating the market again short selling. When qe2 was announced that fall at Jackson hole, my book went from a massive profit to a massive loss in less than a quarter. The fund went to break even for the year to slightly down. How do I know it wasn't me? Because in 2011 when the fed stopped printing, all the stocks that ramped against me collapsed and a large number of those companies went bankrupt. Then the money printing goes off again because the fed sees no risk of printing. The next two or so years was more massive printing where we saw companies who made no money miss several quarters in a row being rewarded with multi billion market caps and stock prices multiply 3-4x. Wasn't just one or two companies, but massive numbers of these crazy distortions. Hedge funds were going long only and actively trying to cause short squeezes.Short fund after short fund has since been shut down. The market for short focused fund investors has shrunk. Wasn't exactly big to begin with, but it's even worse now. What's interesting is that investors tend to do the worst things at the wrong time. We will see how this all plays out. I almost wonder if this is a sign of the top.Point of the ending isn't to say how smart I am (otherwise, why publish anonymously) but to give a flavor of how the market looks on the other side. It also gives a sense as to why short funds are so amazingly hard to run - especially in a world of fed money printing. Lastly, also gives context at why hedge funds are having such a hard time performing in an environment of quantitative easing, beta chasing and asset class correlation.