Got this email today, wondering if anyone has tried this...

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On Jan 23, 2008 1:33 PM, texting <texting@xxxx.com> wrote:

As you are aware, the race is on in real estate and other consumer-driven markets to capture a new type of customer, the mobile consumer. Mobile phone subscribers (1.4 billion world-wide), outnumber landline phones. Over 350 billion text messages are exchanged monthly. In the United States during the first quarter of this year, five million new text message users were added to the 82 million who already use this function daily.

XXX has developed a unique platform to allow today’s realtor to harness the power of mobile technology with the use of Short Messaging Service (SMS). Imagine driving by a home that catches your interest and noticing a hanging sign that says “Text “Info” to “Realty”. The potential purchaser sends the text message and within 10-60 seconds, depending on the cell phone provider they are signed up with, they have received a text message with all the essential property information for that home. The realtor receives, at the same time, the phone number of the cell phone from which the text message was sent and an indication of which property the potential purchaser was interested in. The realtor can initiate contact immediately, even while the individual is sitting outside the home in their car, or at a later date.

The platform captures the cell phone numbers and creates a data base of all the individuals who have expressed interest in the home. At a later date, a realtor can access the platform and in seconds send a text alert announcing a 1:00 pm open house to multiple buyers, a price change or property status changes. There are several ways that a realtor can use SMS to boost sales, improve productivity and increase responsiveness to potential buyers.

There are no set-up fees, no monthly maintenance fees. The realtor simply pays for the traffic generated by their signs. Our pricing structure for this type of traffic is ten cents per message, so a three message exchange between one potential purchaser would cost the agent $.30. Thirty cents for a lead is a very cost effective way to reach out to potential clients. Whether it’s connecting callers who were once “unconnectable” or developing new channels of content distribution, We are focused on speed, efficiency and excellence. We are very excited about what our platform can do for the real estate market and its ability to assist you in achieving your personal goals. I look forward to discussing it with you further.
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Would appreciate your thoughts....TIA

You know there has been some more buzz on this mobile thing. You can buy .mobi web domain right now. If you are thinking about using this feature. I think that is is quick and easy for you to get in contact with a client. I am interested to hear what others are thinking about this. I know that women love to text message and they make most of the home buying decisions so...

If you currently get leads via email, you could have those emails sent to your cell as a txt message. All you need to know is your cell's email address is.

For example, if you're with verizon, you can send an email to 10digitnumber@vtext.com

That way, you'll get the lead immediately, and a lead that is followed up with immediately is 10 to 20 times more likely to do business with you.

I hate texting on the phone though. If I'm going to do that I'll have to trade up for one with a regular keyboard. But I don't want to pay all that money for something I can't use at home anyway.

I know, cry me a river...but jeez. It takes me ten minutes to compose "Got your msg - will get back 2 U soon..." and people hate text shorthand, so you need to write "I got your message and will get back to you soon - thanks!" so you don't offend the grammar purists...

I think the service (not the idea) is kind of silly. I have a sticker on my listing signs that says "Text me with MLS###### as the subject for home info". I have all of my listings saved in a short text message format on my cell phone (it's derived from the listing data on my computer..I don't actually type it in to the cell phone). So if the flyer box is empty and/or the potential buyer opts to do the text message, I text the listing info back to them by attaching it to the "reply to" message. Now I have their phone number and sync it with Outlook as a contact and follow up at my free will. The only con to this method is that it requires my attention (or I could delegate to an assistant) but it's FREE (no additional charge to what I'm paying now.) Compare that con from my way to the many cons doing it the other way and it's sooo not worth it. This way I don't have to worry about what that company is really doing with my leads... is their server up and working? Are they having technical difficulties? Etc., etc.