2006 November 27 | Wheatworks Blog: Financial Matters

Archive for 27th November 2006

Financial Calculators Take Your Real Estate Web Site to the Next Level

11/27/2006, 6:12 am

If you are a real estate agent looking for additional ways to engage your web site’s visitors consider adding financial calculators to your web site. Website calculators allow home buyers to do their financial figuring without leaving your site. And online financial calculators give visitors a reason to return to your web site.

Keep a few things in mind related to hosting and licensing of web site calculators. Hosting is about where the financial calculators are actually located. Some web site calculators are provided by companies which host the calculators on their own servers. You use them by sending your visitors to the host’s web site. A better way is to obtain calculators which you host on your own site. This ensures there’s no reason for visitors to leave your site.

How the web site calculators your choose are licensed is an important consideration, too. Some vendors require an annual license fee which must be repaid each year. Other companies charge a per use fee or license their calculators with traffic-based fees. The most cost effective licensing arrangment is a one time fee structure in which you purchase a license and then may use the web site calculators indefinitely for no additional charge. (MoneyToys web site calculators are licensed this way.)

Another consideration is whether the calculators you choose for your web site can be customized to match your web site’s current color scheme and design. Chances are your put a lot of thought and effort into the design of your site. The calculators you choose should not detract for the quality of your site’s design and color scheme.

It’s important, too, that the calculators’ initial values can be configured for your local market. For example, a refinancing calculator should allow you to set your own default values for the amount borrowed because typical loan amounts vary greatly between San Diego, California and Vidalia, Louisiana.

Consider ease of installation. Do the calculators come with step-by-step instructions? Are there example web pages included with the calculator? Will the developer help me if I have any trouble? How much maintenance is required once the calculators are installed. Ideally, the calculators you choose for your web site should be easy to install and require no maintenance.

One example of web site calculators which you can install on your own web site is the MoneyToys collection of 12 financial calculators. They are licensed with a one-time, perpetual license, can be configured to match your site’s colors and design. The default values can be configured to fit your market and installation is easy.

In fact, if you’ve ever created a web page, you have the skills required to install MoneyToys. Simple step-by-step instructions and 3 sample web pages are included with each calculator. With a few lines of HTML and MoneyToys a webmaster can quickly install online financial calculators so visitors can do financial math without leaving the web site.

The MoneyToys collection of web site calculators currently includes a Home Seller’s Proceeds Calculator, an APR Calculator, a Pay Down Debt or Invest Calculator, a Loan Spread Calculator, a Refinancing Calculator, a Buyer’s Cash Requirements Calculator, a Simple Loan Calculator, the new Very Simple Loan Calculator, a Future Value of Savings Calculator, a Loan Comparison Calculator, a Discounted Cash Flows Calculator and a Rent vs. Buy Calculator.

Will installing web site calculators guarantee you’ll sell more homes? Of course not. But online financial calculators will make it easier for your visitors to begin their financial figuring and they ensure visitors have an additional reason to return to your web site.

For more information visit http://www.moneytoys.com

Contact Information:

MoneyToys Financial Calculators
Wheatworks Software, LLC
P. O. Box 7, Ruston, LA 71273
http://www.moneytoys.com

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