The iPad is an incredible invention with many practical applications that can help you with your San Diego real estate purchase, but it also comes with some major limitations.

Benefits of the iPad for buying San Diego Real Estate:

• The iPad is light, sleek, durable, and easy to carry around. Laptops are heavier and require much more effort to set up.
• The Instant-On feature is revolutionary. Laptops take several minutes to boot up, let alone access the internet. The iPad puts you in touch with information in the matter of seconds.

Limitations of the iPad for buying San Diego real estate:

• The iPad currently doesn't function with any website that uses Flash. Unfortunately Sandicor's websites use Flash for the San Diego MLS information that all San Diego real estate agents have access to.
• Sure, you can use Trulia's new real estate iPad app, Zillow's iPad app, REALTOR.com's iPad app, etc. (and those are really cool apps), but when it comes down to getting more specific information or really digging into comparable sales for writing an offer, it's much better (in my opinion) to have access to the Sandicor database (and the Realist public records) database.
• Sadly, Sandicor's technical department is on a limited budget and can only come up with limited work-arounds and fixes at the time of writing this blog post. The good news is that I have found a couple ways to still get this information on the iPad, although it's not as fast or user-friendly as it could be.

I suspect the limitations will become less and less over time, and over-all the iPad (and the tablet, in general) is an amazing addition to a real estate agent's tool-belt.

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Justin Gramm is the founder and principal broker of Globella Buyers Realty, your San Diego Exclusive Buyer Brokerage. He also writes this blog, "For San Diego Home Buyers."

Exclusive Buyer Agents do not list homes for sale and never represent sellers. They have no "inventory" to try to sell you. They can represent you in purchasing any home. They are specialists at representing buyers only on the buyers' side of the transaction. Exclusive Buyer Agents work to get buyers the best price and terms when they buy a home.

If you have excellent credit and plan to buy a home or condo in San Diego County within 90 days, contact Justin Gramm to hire an agent on your side of the transaction. Call Justin at (858) 437-2662 or  E-mail.