My laptop acted as a second computer when my assistant worked in the office at the same I did. When she got her own laptop, we loaded software on it and now she works from home, which means frequent backups going back and forth.

I've had a desktop and an old laptop both go down this past year. I was glad to have the laptop when the desktop went down. Then I bought a new CPU and the laptop died. The hard drive from the desktop is in an enclosure and I can still retrieve the data. The old laptop, however, wiped out everything I had in done and I lost quite a lot of work.

I now have an external drive hooked up to the main computer that I keep all my photos & bids on. I back up to a 4GB stick every other day now and don't keep much on my desktop.

I can't afford to lose anymore data so I'm really glad to have the options now that I do.

Linda

I am sure it has been mentioned but you need website. I don't know how many times I have just run into people and started talking about real estate and could tell them all about my website and what they can learn there. I think it is a great sales tool and a must have for agents in today's market.

absolutely!!!!

I think that is still in the realm of "nice to have" not "must have". I have strongly considered that since going on my own but so far have not justified the additional cost in money to produce and host a web site nor the time to maintain one. As I am starting my 13th year in real estate, soon to be my 4th since going solo, I reflect on 2008 as having been my best year ever and a goal of doing less in 2009 as I move to a state of partial retirement. I just don't think it makes sense for me at this time.

You can create a blog easily on ActiveRain.com or Wordpress.com FREE with very little technical skills needed. If you're NEW and not on the Internet (ranked well with search engines) you're going to be missing out on gazillions of buyers.

A good internet presence does not have to cost a fortune, nor do you need to be a techno geek to do it. I have not spent ONE DIME other than my monthly hosting fees. Of course I had already taught myself HTML and CSS and had years of experience creating real estate websites already - but blogs like ActiveRain make it so much easier for a newbie to get their foot in the search engine door that it really is silly to NOT do it.

If you're already established with a terrific network of friends, past clients, referrals, etc...then that's different. One of the top producers in my area has only a little website that doesn't generate a whole lot - but she's already built her business around her vast farming / mailings, advertising, past clients, etc.

Great ideas Perky REALTOR. If you want to save even more money you can register your domain and then use a site like 000webhost to host it. I used to use them (I needed more space so I pay for hosting) and they offer free hosting with no ads and they offer a lot of services.

000webhost uses cpanel and if you do want to set up a wordpress blog all you have to do is click their fantastico de lux button, then click create wordpress blog. The fantastico then creates you blog and sets up a database for it. You don't have to have a lot of experience to click a button. This is what I would recommend if you are a first time user and want to create a blog on the cheap.

How about signs, name riders, directionals? You may also want a name tag and a good listing presentaion.

Name riders are not a necessity, really. I have had my name on signs and people STILL call the office instead of my cell number on the rider, and when they call, they do not ask for me, they just say "I saw this house on Green ST...."

In my area, most offices provide signs and directionals unless you want your name printed on them.

Very true about the must have vs. really want to have. You can get by with really little as long as you have the right attitude and determination.

I should have labeled my list really really want.

I no longer need name riders, since going in business on my own it is my name that is on the sign. Since I work alone no one else needs to place their name withy mine either.