Can You Sell More Real Estate with a Mac?

Just how much money (time representing money here) do you lose each day fiddling with your computer?

Have you ever been slowed down (or stopped in your tracks) by a virus or a piece of spyware that infected your computer?

This week, Apple Computer released a new piece of free software, called Boot Camp, that allows a new Mac to run its own operating system (Mac OS X) OR Windows XP.

Each time you boot up the computer, you can choose whether you want to use the Mac OS or Windows XP.

For the tech world this is big news. It is big news for the real estate world too, but not for the same reasons.

The Mac vs. Windows debate is an old one that will probably never end. Geeks get their blood boiling when they argue about the innards of each system and why one is more superior.

From a technology standpoint, I really don’t care and I don’t think you do either.

From a business perspective though, you will want to think about this.

So here is my question:

Can you sell more real estate with a Mac?

I think you can.

Trying viewing your computer as an employee. Based on its past performance, would you hire it again? Or should you have fired it a long time ago?

Here are some facts:

• there are NO real viruses to infect a Mac
• there is NO such thing as spyware on a Mac
• Macs can often run for weeks and months at a time with no rebooting
• it generally costs more to purchase a Mac than it does to purchase a Windows PC
• Macs (beginning with the January 2006 models) can now run Windows XP

The initial cost of a Mac is higher than that of a PC, but the cost of a PC is generally much higher than a Mac after that initial purchase. With viruses and spyware, the cost that PCs create and the productivity they steal often add up to hundreds and thousands of dollars over the life of the computer.

Meanwhile, Mac users are sitting at their desks getting business done.

So instead of viewing this from a straight cost perspective, think about the whole Mac vs. PC debate from an investment and return perspective.

I venture to guess that most of my clients who pay me well to keep their PCs in shape would be more productive with a Mac. By that I mean they would get a greater return for every dollar they invest.

I know I have since I switched my businesses to a Mac in November 2005.

Depending on the software you currently use on your PC (like ACT!, Top Producer, etc.) there are things to work out before you jump into the world of the Mac.

But what do you spend most of your time doing on the computer?

If you are like most of the real estate pros that I work with, you probably spend much of your time doing things like MLS, email, web browsing, and word processing.

All of these things can be done on the Mac.

When you do need to use a program that only runs on Windows, you can just use reboot your computer, choose to boot into Windows XP and get to work.

When you are done, reboot and go back to the Mac OS.

The idea is to use Windows as little as possible and minimize the risk of Windows sapping your productivity.

Time is your leverage to money.

By reclaiming the time you involuntarily give to dealing with nagging computer issues like viruses, spyware and things that just don’t work, you WILL have more time to sell real estate.

And you can take that to the bank.