Real Estate Professional – Part I. By Robert Lett.

GETTING THE MOST FOR THE LEASE-TRACKING YOUR REAL ESTATE
If you own rentals and/or investment properties, you know that you have to keep track of your portfolio, maintenance profiles, property managers, and related financial matters. There are a multitude of programs for the Palm Computer System to keep up with lease dates, lease expirations, and rent due dates. They will let you know when to send late notices and how much the late fees are for each rental you have in your list. Most of these programs will also alert you when you have a lease that will expire within the next two months, this allows you to prepare a new lease contract or plan the repairs and marketing for the unit. They’ll even give you yearly totals spent on property management fees and maintenance fees, and bounce those amounts against your rents collected. This will give you an idea of how the property is performing. Some will even “conduit” to your computer when you HotSync, which allows you to create Excel spreadsheets for the data produced.

These programs will also store information associated with each individual property, such as who the handyman is for that property, warranty company contact information, insurance information, and tenant contact information. Most programs out there will allow you to log and track the Gross Scheduled Income (GSI), Gross Operating Income (GSO), Net Operating Income (NOI) and Cap Rates for each property in your portfolio.

A few programs that you might try, you’ll have to figure out which one is best for your current situation. There are many more, just search around on www.palmgear.com and you should be able to find exactly what you need for your own rental and leasing situation:
   Rental Manager. This program is great for vacation rentals! Keeping up with availability, accounts receivable, reservations, reservations not confirmed, and dates of expiration.
   Rentulator. Is a free program that allows you to enter the price of the house or condo and the percent you would like to earn, and the program will calculate the rent you would need to collect for that situation. You will need to calculate total debt service and other factors before punching them in, but the program will tell you what you need with the correct amounts plugged in.

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Sprint in talks with Google on mobile apps, says source

Sprint Nextel, the No. 3 U.S. mobile service, is in talks to put applications from Web search leader Google on its cell phones, a person familiar with the matter said on Wednesday.

Google is in talks with some of the largest U.S. wireless carriers to make a deeper move into the mobile industry, an area it views as key to future growth.

While the company has not commented on its plans or potential partners, industry experts believe it will soon launch new software and services for mobile phones.

On Tuesday, sources told Reuters that No. 2 U.S. mobile service Verizon Wireless, a Verizon Communications and Vodafone Group venture, is also in talks with Google about putting applications on its mobile phones.

Sprint had already said in August it would offer Google Web search and communications services to customers using a new network it is building based on WiMax, an emerging high-speed wireless technology.

“You shouldn’t be surprised to see something coming along with Sprint and Google beyond WiMax,” according to the source. Sprint and Google declined to comment.

They are talking about putting mobile applications from Google and other developers on Sprint devices, the source said.

“While discussions may be ongoing and moving along pretty quickly, it’s early in the process on how these things might come to market,” the person said.

Google, which generates revenue from delivering ads alongside search, e-mail and other Web features, has said that mobile Web surfing would be important to its business as consumers move beyond desktop computers.

Google has also shown interest in an upcoming government wireless auction, and pushed regulators to introduce rules that give mobile operators less control over the devices and data applications their customers can use.

U.S. wireless operators have been spending billions of dollars to expand their services to mobile Web surfing and entertainment, aiming to boost revenue by enticing consumers to use their phones for more than just talking.

Shares of Google were up $5.09 at $699.99 in midday trading after topping $700 earlier in the session for the first time. Sprint, which is set to report quarterly earnings on Thursday, saw its shares fall 9 cents to $16.95.

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Third iPhone battery lawsuit hits AT&T and Apple

iPhone users Zoltan Stiener and Ynez Stiener have filed a class action lawsuit against Apple and AT&T that alleges breach of contract, fraud, and violations of California law. The iPhone users claim that Apple and AT&T failed to inform iPhone buyers that it would costs more than $100 to replace iPhone batteries. Unlike most mobile phones, the iPhone battery is not designed to be removed by users. The suit claims that the battery must be replaced after about 300 charges, which equates to about a year or less of usage.

Apple’s iPhone website claims that “A properly maintained iPhone battery is designed to retain up to 80 percent of its original capacity at 400 full charge and discharge cycles. You may choose to replace your battery when it no longer holds sufficient charge to meet your needs.”

The lawsuit is the third such class action lawsuit regarding Apple’s non-removable battery.

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Microsoft wants to buy RIM

According to widespread rumors, Microsoft is interested in buying BlackBerry maker, Research In Motion, which is an old, tired rumor that won’t seem to go away. Many reports speculate that the fever pitch surrounding Google’s rumored entry into the handset market is forcing Microsoft’s hand when it comes to the RIM acquisition. RIM’s market capitalization is close to $50 billion, which is a huge pricetag for Microsoft considering its Windows Mobile OS is already out in the wild and proving successful. Acquiring RIM and its line of BlackBerry handsets, which run on RIM’s proprietary OS, could end in a revolt from fiercely loyal BlackBerry users who would probably balk at a Windows-powered BB. Meanwhile, Motorola is also reportedly interested in snapping up RIM.

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LG debuts its first premium camera phone

LG has debuted its first premium camera phone, the “Viewty” which boasts a 5.1 megapixel camera and touch screen. The handset maker aims to corner 10 percent to 15 percent of the premium camera phone market within a year. The Viewty launches in Europe in mid-October. The handset will be more expensive than the LG Shine ($547) but less expensive than the LG Prada ($820). The Viewty is designed to make it easy for users to send, share and view pictures and video. It has a hot key for uploading videos directly to YouTube. The Viewty will see worldwide availability a month or two after the European launch.

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Study: 30% of mobile workers on first smartphone

According to an iGR survey of U.S. mobile workers, more than half of those surveyed use a RIM BlackBerry device, while the majority of the other half used Windows Mobile devices. About 30 percent of the respondents said they were using their first smartphone device ever. About 60 percent of the respondents use less than 2,000 voice minutes per month, while only two percent said they do not use email on their smartphones. About 50 percent said they regularly view attachments from their smartphone’s email application. Eighty-four percent of the respondents send/receive SMS, but 61 percent said that they do use an Instant Messaging application.

“As compared to the results of similar surveys fielded in previous years, we have seen a significant uptake in the use of smartphones,” says Matthew Vartabedian, Research Manager at iGR. “What is interesting, is the relatively new adoption–a sizeable percentage are using their first smartphone–as well as the consistency of the applications used: voice, email, some texting and productivity applications.”

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iPhone hacker trades unlocked phone for car

The 17-year-old hacker who sauntered his way to an unlocked iPhone, has traded the unlocked handset for a Nissan 350Z and three 8GB (locked) iPhones. The teen, George Hotz, originally tried to auction the phone on eBay but received too many fraudulent bids. Terry Daidone, the founder of Certicell, contacted Hotz and made the offer over email.

Hotz explained that he would send the iPhones to the people who helped in unlock the first one: “I will be sending the iPhones, unlocked if they wish, to jpetrie (the first donater), gray (the

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