Gina Branch

Licensed from iStockPhoto

My partner wound up running late for a showing and I got “tagged” to fill in at the last minute.

I was nowhere near the office, so I used my smart phone to log into the MLS and get the details on the property I was going to show and to get the showing instructions. I made a quick call to the showing service and scheduled the showing.

My GPS was not in the car, so I used the GPS built into the phone to find the address and plot a route to the property.

I left my keycard in the office, but I was able to use the SUPRA application loaded on my iPhone to open the key box. I got the lights turned on and waited for the clients to arrive. While I waited, I knocked out a couple of emails, checked in on Activerain, and approved a new blog posting on my WordPress blog.

The clients finally arrived and we started going through the property. They lingered and talked about what they liked and did not like. At one point they want to know on which side of the house did the sun set. I opened the compass application and determined which way was west.

The power was off in the property but they want to look in the garage and climb into the attic. I opened the flashlight application that used the flash LED on the iPhone 4. It’s a remarkable little flashlight. I picked up a splinter on the way into the attic…ouch!

They had a couple of follow up questions, so I shot a quick text message off to the listing agent. He responded while we were still at the property.

We talked about financing and I input all the figures into my Mortgage Application to arrive as an estimated payment. It was within their budget so they decided to make an offer. We parted ways and I headed back to the office to put it together.

On the drive back to the office, I retrieved my 25 year old Swiss Army® knife and pulled out the tweezers to pull the splinter I picked up on the way into the attic. That old knife has been everywhere with me over the years including two combat tours in the Middle East. It’s a simple one with a knife, scissors, nail file, tweezers, and a tooth pick.

As I put the tweezers back into the knife I realized that in many ways, my iPhone 4 is the new Swiss Army® knife. It’s packed with so many useful tools. I can’t imagine being without it any more than I never leave home without that little, red pocket knife.

Swiss Army® is a registered trademark of Victorinox Swiss Army Inc.