Real Estate Apps, App Development, Business 2021, Guide To Real Estate, Real Estate Mobile App, Mobile Apps, Apps for BuyersRenters, Real Estate Investors App, Application Building
Real estate is a big industry that connects buyers with sellers through agents and is mostly dependent on physical visits to each potential property that fits the buyer’s requirement. Quite a hectic job, isn’t it? Visiting multiple properties every single day to find the one that suits your requirements. A decade back from now, who could have thought of doing it any other way? Seeing the current scenario, we have definitely come a long way, so much so that going digital for real estate businesses is now becoming a necessity. I mean, what will be your first instinct if you think of investing in real estate? Checking properties online, right? This way you can analyze the ongoing market price, get an idea of the location, property specifications like size, looks, etc. And then, when you finally shortlist some, you can visit & make the final decision.
As a result, real estate agents also made their way to digital platforms and almost over 90% of them now list properties online. Do you? And even more, people are now moving towards real estate mobile apps which have brought property search a touch away. In this blog post, we are going to explore all about real estate apps.
The persona of real estate app users could be of a landlord, seller, homebuyer, renter, or agent. So, it is important for a real estate app creator to consider the needs of all potential users and identify the purpose/focus before starting the development. Below are some different types of real estate solutions that are widely in use:
1. Apps for Buyers/Renters: Such apps have elaborate filters that allow people interested in buying or renting property to narrow their search based on location, state, neighborhood, amenities & other criteria.
2. Apps for Real Estate Agents: Built to serve the real estate agents, these apps facilitate communication amongst the real estate community, and make client’s documentation & property management easy. This considerably reduces the paperwork hassle.
3. Apps for Property Management: These apps are particularly designed to assist real estate agents in property management. It keeps a track of all the properties at hand, providing insights on the status at any point in time.
4. Apps for Real Estate Investors: Designed specially to meet the needs of people who wish to buy real estate only for investment, it helps them monitor on-sale houses & filters their search to suit their specific requirements.
You must have a clear idea of the purpose of your real estate application. But this does not mean that you can plunge right away into the development of the application. The features & functionalities of an app are what define it. Thus, you need to determine what you want in your application. You would need different sets of features for buyers, sellers & dealers. One way is to build unique applications, and the other is to develop two user roles within a single application. Below are some common features that real estate apps must have:
1.Onboarding: The sign up & login process for users should be easy. You could integrate it with social media platforms for social logins, and/or allow the use of a phone number/email ID for the purpose. You can also allow users to access the app as guests without signing up so that they can be acquainted with it before & then make an informed decision.
2. Personalized Accounts: The needs of home buyers & agents are different, so should be their accounts. Real estate agents must be able to see & update their listings, add property descriptions, provide contact details, pictures, etc., from their account. They must also have access to the database on brokers’ profiles to check their credibility, ratings & listings.Buyers, on the other hand, should be able to update information in their account so that they can get personalized offers that match their requirements & interests.
3. Listings & Database: This is one of the core features of any real estate application. Organized and more property cards are more likely to bring you success.
4. Property Details: The property profile/details page should be designed to provide enough information, like pictures, location, amenities, etc. to provide a rough idea to the users.
5. Filters & Categories: To create a user-friendly search process, you need to take into consideration multiple filters & categories. Advanced filters to narrow the search process are more likely to attract new users by making their work easy and fetching them precise results.
6. Property Details: The property profile/details page should be designed to provide enough information, like pictures, location, amenities, etc. to provide a rough idea to the users.
7. Push Notifications: These are a great way to keep users informed about the latest property updates that match their interests, price changes, appointment reminders, etc.
8. Virtual Tour: The latest applications are now coming with virtual tours for property buyers, making it easy for them to analyze the property and make decisions while sitting at their homes. 3D visualization provides them a life-like experience of the property visit.
9. Analytics: One of the best benefits of any digital asset, without which the purpose becomes incomplete is Analytics. This feature helps in analyzing pitfalls, business processes, growth & the reasons behind each. Analytics provide you with statistics that are important in optimizing your work, strategy, processes & services.
10. Feedback & Ratings: This is a crucial aspect that allows users to share their experience of using the application. It provides you with highly valuable information directly from the users on how to improve your services or applications to make it a success.
The list can be endless, but these can be your go-to features to start your application building. No real estate application can be complete without any of these features we’ve listed above. However, while these features can help you create a better user experience, none of them has the potential to earn money. Adding features & functionalities like basic & pro versions, allowing advertisements can help you earn from the application as well. All you need to keep in mind while penning down your features is the user’s persona & the services you aim to provide.
