February, 2013

What's New
Real Estate News AppThe Inside Tract Releases Its First Mobile App

One of our most popular online features is our RSS News feed and in our January Newsletter we talked about how you might use some of these articles in your website, Facebook, Twitter or blogs.

We are pleased to announce that we are now offering a free Android app that is able to read our Real Estate News feed. The app extracts the articles from the feed and displays the headlines in chronological order. When you click on a headline the app will display the related article.

Install this app and you can quickley scan the most recent real estate headlines with your Android mobile device.

To install the "Real Estate News" app on your Android device, here are the steps:

  1. Login to your account at Google Play.
  2. Enter "Real Estate News" in the search box at the top of the screen.
  3. Click the "SHOP" button (top left) and select "Shop Android Apps" from the drop-down list.
  4. When the list appears, scroll down until you see, "Real Estate News" and then click the "INSTALL" button next to this "app."

The "Real Estate News" app is particularly useful for real esate professionals or anyone interested in buying or selling a home.

Tips 'n' Tricks
5 Tips for Better Listing Photos

Few of us can afford to have a professional photographer take photos of our listing, but almost all of us have a digital camera. We recently published this article in our RE News Feed. Here is a summary of 5 ways to improve your photos:

  1. Shoot from the corner of a room with a wide-angle zoom lens if you want to make the room look its largest.
  2. Remove large pieces of furniture to make rooms feel more spacious.
  3. Consider a fresh coat of paint to neutralize walls in beiges and browns and cover up any potentially off-putting colors such as oranges and purples.
  4. Tidy up the outside by planting some flowers and paying careful attention to the condition and look of the front door.
  5. Eye details for a focal point in your photograph, such as intricate design work in the home or the quality of the fireplace.
Here's the full story: Tips for Better Listing Photos
DEAN'S CORNER
Dean Rathbun, Sr. Emailing From A Galaxy S3 Phone

Many Realtors have asked if it is possible to email Maps, Site Plans and Floor Plans from our Premium Reports. The answer is yes and in our February 2012 Newsletter I showed you how to copy and email a Floor Plan directly from your computer or iPad.

Copying an image on a mobile device is usually done by clicking the Home button and the Power button at the same time. We've heard that this also works on the Galaxy S3 phone. However a more reliable way seems to be doing a "Palm Swipe." However, in order to be able to do this you must first enable this method in your Galaxy S3 Settings. Here are the steps:

  1. Press the "Menu" button and choose "Settings".
  2. Scroll and Select "Motion"
  3. Check on the "Palm swipe to Capture" checkbox under "Hand Motion" settings.
  4. Swipe the hand from right to left over the screen.
Now you can capture the screen by swiping your hand from right to left across the screen.
This will take screenshot of current screen on Samsung Galaxy S3.
You can then view or edit your image by clicking the Gallery button and select your image.
To Email this image, click the top of the screen to open the tool bar and click in the Email icon.
If you want to see someone do it, here's a YouTube video.
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