The Top 10 Most Popular Articles from April

Know what your lockbox and the Google Maps app have in common? They both offer ways to keep you safe.

That's one handy fact, courtesy of last month's 10 most-read articles (check out articles #2 and #3 on our list below).

April offered our readers plenty more tech tips, like how your public records tool can help you sell more (#4), and how to build a sales funnel for your Facebook ads (#9). If you want to find out what hot new apps are debuting at NAR Midyear in May, check out article #8.

Want more? No problem—just check out the list below for the latest and greatest in real estate tech!

1. 5 Seller Tips for Speedy Home Sales
It's every seller's dream to have their home listed under perfect conditions in order to sell quickly and for top dollar. While putting on a great open house and making a remarkable first impression are crucial to attracting buyers, there are other variables to consider when selling a home in 2017. Luckily, 2017 is a great year for your seller clients. Here are the top five things for sellers to consider to list their home to sell.

2. Hidden Features: 3 Google Maps Tricks Agents Should Know
Google Maps is a free tool with a lot of neat features that real estate agents can appreciate, and the program has advanced leaps and bounds in the last few months. Did you know Google Maps offers a personal safety app now? Neither did we. And that's just one example—there's a lot more where that came from. Here's a look at the latest Google Map features you may not have heard of just yet.

3. 3 Ways Your Lockbox Can Keep You Safe
A tool that real estate agents use every day could be a powerful ally in staying safe on the job. That's great news for REALTORS®, 77 percent of whom report being always or often alone when showing a home to a new prospect, according to the WAV Group Real Estate Victimization Study. Here's how the humble lockbox can help you stay safer in the field.

4. 5 Ways You Can Sell More Using Public Records
Everyone knows that public records are integral to closing a property sale, but have you really thought about how to use them to improve the price of a sale or to help you reach, or even exceed, your sales goals? Public records can help you research property and build a clear picture of the seller's motivation to design a winning sales strategy. Here are a few examples.

5. How to Deal with Buyers Who Love Property Portals
Ask any agent, and they're likely to agree: the Realtor-client relationship became more complicated when property search portals came onto the scene. But it's clear that property search portals are here to stay—and that consumers love them—so what's an agent to do? A veteran Realtor and broker shares practical advice for dealing with portal loving clients.

6. Real Estate App Offers Answers to 12 Common Consumer Questions
Providing immediate answers to client concerns and questions, while in the car or at the curb, will turn the tide in any agent's favor. And there's an app for that. Here are the top 12 reported ways that agents use the RPR app to educate buyers.

7. How to Break into and Dominate a Local Market (Even If You Don't Have Any Listings There!)
Interested in expanding your business by breaking into a new market? Maybe you're interested in increasing your average sales price, having better marketing strategies to expand your number of listings, and more. But before you begin investing your time and resources to grow into a new market, here are three key criteria you should use to be successful and avoid the common mistakes of many agents.

8. 7 Young Tech Companies Poised to Reinvent Real Estate
REach®, NAR's tech incubator program, announced its 'Class of 2017' last week. Each year, the annual program selects seven companies whose products or services show the potential to benefit NAR's 1.2 million members. So which hot tech products does REach (and NAR, by extension) think will benefit Realtors? Let's take a look.

9. Facebook Funnels for Real Estate: A Practical Example
We've talked about why you need Facebook funnels for your advertising, so today we'll discuss a practical example of what the Facebook pixel looks like and where it goes, what funnel ads look like, and how to string them all together to make sure you are 100 percent on point with your digital marketing strategies.

10. 5 Tips to Convert and Close More Real Estate Leads
The trick to a healthy return on your marketing investment is making sure that any leads you get as a result of your efforts convert and close. To be sure, portals are a popular way for consumers to not only find a home, but to find an agent. But with so many agents competing for leads on portals, how can you ensure that the leads you do get convert into clients? Here are some of the most important things you can do to ensure your leads close.