If you are an agent, technology is the name of the game. If you want to stay relevant as an agent in the 2010s and beyond, you’ll need to tap into the best and newest real estate apps and tools in your arsenal. Here are five tools every agent should have ready to go.

Zillow

Love it or hate it, the first place most consumers go when they want a property value is Zillow. Zillow also owns Trulia, the second most popular website. Those two sites get 59 million visits per month, as many as the next nine biggest sites combined.

Even if you don’t use Zillow as an input for determining property values, you can count on your clients using it as a reference point. Don’t get blindsided by a datapoint you were not aware of. Keep Zillow in your bookmarks bar and on your phone so you can quickly tap into values across the market.

I find that an average of several real estate sites leads to a better indication of the final price. Looking at Zillow in addition to RedFin and other valuation apps and tools will give you even more information. When it comes to information on home values, the more the better.

DocuSign

Real estate is one place where signatures still matter, and the most popular and trusted of online tools to handle digital signatures is DocuSign. While alternatives like HelloSign exist, DocuSign is the gold standard for real estate signatures online.

With DocuSign, you can easily and quickly prepare documents for digital signatures. Offers, counters, and other documents along the way to a sale are vitally important, and sometimes speed is of the essence. When you send a document with DocuSign, your clients can sign on the computer or use their smartphones to sign on the go!

One of the biggest perks of DocuSign is its built in security. Unlike with a fax, you know it will be instantly delivered no matter where you are sending, and no one will accidentally pick it up off the printer. With high level encryption, you are safe with DocuSign.

Dropbox

All of those documents, along with the files you use to create listings, photos, and more, have to go somewhere. Dropbox should be that somewhere. Google Drive and Microsoft OneDrive are good alternates.

I use Dropbox as the storage folder for all of my work files, not just the ones I want to share. When I put a file into a shared folder, it pops up on the computer of my collaborators within a few minutes. But wait, there’s more!

Dropbox doubles as an online backup. In the worst case scenario that your computer dies, or you accidentally spill a coffee on it, you don’t have to worry about your Dropbox files. Just install it on your new computer, login, and all of your files will appear.

Doorsteps

Some clients come to you knowing which house they want. Others require quite a bit of handholding. Some clients take months, or even more than a year, before they finally buy and close on a home.

Doorsteps helps you manage your client relationship over that long period of time. If you meet a client who isn’t quite ready to buy, you can build a foundation for a win-win relationship with Doorsteps and use the platform to educate and engage the buyer.

Clients can mark homes they love and add other details to their profile, and you can tap into that profile to better understand your client’s needs and offer the best properties. Just log into your dashboard to see all of the relevant information for your active clients, and soon to be active ones too.

Matterport

Property photos are great on Zillow, in flyers, and in other promotional material. But two-dimensions is so 2016. Today, we have the opportunity to enjoy 3D interactive walk-throughs and tours of properties before we head to the open house.

Matterport is a leader in 3D imaging, and applies that technology to homes. A special 3D camera captures the entire property room by room, and the Matterport cloud processes the walkthrough into a user friendly tour. Boost interest in properties with this great tool, which is used by RedFin, Apartments.com, and other leading property focused businesses.

If you are buying or selling a house and are looking to hire a successful real estate agent to help you through the process, take a look at AgentHarvest's list of top-ranking local Realtors in your area. We found these agents by examining their sales track records, awards, rankings, client testimonials and by conducting personal interviews.