In the real estate world, technology is often set aside in favor of what people say they are seeking – the “human connection.” However, what real estate agents often don’t realize is that technology is what enables them to make and/or keep those connections in the first place.

We meet potential clients everywhere – a religious institution, grocery store, restaurant – and we meet potential referral agents everywhere too.  Oftentimes, however, we lose track of where exactly we met them, what their details are…and by the time we get home to try and organize our thoughts, real life has stepped in to erase whatever we may have remembered.  Ever try to keep track of a wet Post-It note or business card, runny ink and all?  Not fun.

The joke is, “There’s an app for that.”  Well, there is.

Meet Humin.

To be effective at connecting and putting people in the proper context, Humin hooks into your contacts, your calendar and your Facebook profile…you can also include your GMail or Exchange email and your LinkedIn account.  Once set up, Humin asks you to select certain favorites and automatically imports your contacts.  So, why would you use Humin instead of your regular phone app?

If you work often with clientele who are social, especially those of the millennial generations,  or need a better contact system that allows you to remember where and when you met someone just by searching using “natural language,” Humin might be the new contact app for you.  As you import new contacts, Humin looks for and includes as much information about that person as it can gather.  It also will use geolocation to determine where and when you met someone.  So, later on, if you’re trying to remember who you spoke to at the grocery store who was looking to buy a house, and you just KNOW you got their phone number, you can use Humin to search “Met at [name of grocery store]” or “Met last Thursday.”  Everyone you met will appear.

This is also a handy tool for the people you meet at conferences that you want to include in your referral network.  By just inputting phone numbers as you receive them, you’ll be able to access more information about everyone you meet.  Not only that, when you get home and you’re experiencing conference fatigue, you can easily search “Met at conference” or “Met last week” to bring up everyone’s information.

Now say one of your clients is moving out of the area and you’d like to find someone to refer them to – Humin can help.  By typing “Lives in [insert area name],” you’ll be able to see a list of all friends and agents you know that live in a specific area.  This can also help if you’re traveling – you can let people know you’re in an area and quickly message, call, email or Facetime them through the app.

Billed by some as your digital butler, Humin is still in the beta phase, which means that it’s still growing, learning and becoming better.  The creators of Humin have even said that Humin can start to learn your patterns, determining what’s most relevant to you over time.  While there are still some bugs to iron out, including random freezes and some lapses in information, Humin could be the one app to help you stay connected in your real estate business.  And isn’t that best for everyone?

Currently, Humin is only available for iPhone, but you can sign up for Global and Android Beta releases on their website.