Today, more and more people are using real estate apps to search for homes because they make it much easier to see what the area offers in nearby amenities, open houses, and other local events. Real estate technology has come a long way in the past few years, with apps and websites now being made available to help improve business practices among agents and brokers.

According to the survey:

• Above 60% of home sellers and buyers were comfortable with electronic document signing in 2020.
• About 79% of Americans expressed their interest in using 3D virtual home tours and digital floor plans,
• About 68% of Americans prefer to take a video home tour with a property agent instead of wasting their time viewing a property in person.

Have a look at some of the most popular real estate websites in the US as of October 2021, based on unique monthly visits:

Now, you might be wondering what the benefits of having a real estate app are. A property management app helps real estate agents build a better business and keep their clients happy, making it one of the best investments in your career.

Significant Benefits of Building a Real Estate Mobile App

Here are six significant benefits of building a real estate mobile app that will help you understand why it’s one of the best tools you can use to grow your business.

1) Brand Recognition

After all, your logo and company name will be right on it. This makes it easy for clients to identify you if they can spot your business’s mobile app as they’re scrolling through their smartphone. Take advantage of brand recognition by ensuring that all of your company’s apps have a unique and memorable design and style.

Your customers should be able to quickly identify you from your competitors just by checking out what an app looks like, so choose an aesthetically pleasing layout for optimum results.

2) Improves Communication With Your Clients

You can provide your clients with instant updates on any change within their listings or neighborhood with an app.

You can also set up push notifications to let them know if something interesting is happening with their homes (for example, if they are meeting their listing goals).

A mobile app will make it easier for you and your client to communicate, but it will also give them peace of mind knowing that you can reach out.

3) Increases sales

Inman News found that an astonishing 41 percent of real estate agents who use mobile apps experience a revenue increase, while only 17 percent see their revenue decrease.

The same report noted that 53 percent of salespeople had grown their business with mobile apps. Those who have adopted technology for business-to-consumer (B2C) transactions reported higher customer satisfaction than those without one.

With how interconnected our lives are thanks to mobile technology, it’s no surprise that using apps may help you boost your income; it’s just surprising how few people are taking advantage of them. If you build one or use an existing app like Mafara, Homesnap, or Mapnificent, you can experience similar results.

4) Makes you organised

Though building your real estate, a mobile app can feel overwhelming and, at times, like something you have no control over, being organised is an essential part of it.

Keeping your tasks well organised helps you track your progress towards hitting critical deadlines and other metrics that will eventually lead to your ultimate goal of seeing your project from conception through completion.

Being organised also lets you make sure that everything stays on track as far as finances are concerned, making sure that you aren’t coming up short because there was some mix-up or miscalculation somewhere along the line.

5) Boosts productivity

According to The Economist, UBS found that portfolio managers who had access to instant data from mobile devices traded up to 20 percent more aggressively than those without.

Using mobile technology has also boosted productivity in other industries. A study by McKinsey & Company, a consultancy, found that real-estate agents using mobile devices sold houses faster and at higher prices than those without.

Your team can access property information on their phones or tablets whenever they want—anywhere they are—it makes it easier for them to complete tasks efficiently and accurately.

They’ll be able to optimize their day-to-day work processes by completing tasks quicker, which will allow them to spend more time focusing on revenue-generating activities like prospecting or sourcing potential leads.

6) Brings more leads

The ability to track and quantify leads is enormous for real estate professionals. It helps them verify how effective their campaign is and how well their agents engage with customers compared to other realtors in their region.

A mobile app allows agents to receive updates, including newly-listed properties, special offers, and buyer reviews from potential customers on the go. This means you can visit homes in your locality when you’re free rather than being tied down at the office every time new listings come up or when there are urgent matters for review.

With mobile apps, you don’t have to worry about missing out on great opportunities because they can be updated anytime and anywhere!

Key Features That are Contributing to the Success of a Real Estate Mobile App

As an app creator in this industry, it’s essential to know what features contribute to your competitors’ success and the features of your mobile app to improve upon both. Here are some key features that are contributing to the success of the Real Estate Mobile App.

Easy Login or Sign Up

Providing your users with an easy login will allow them access on their mobile device just as they would if they were logging in on their desktop. It also cuts down on creating yet another username and password for them. However, you must protect that information once they have logged in.

Database

One of two ways real estate mobile apps stay on top of buyers is by updating their database with new information. These listings, including their photos and details, can be accessed anytime and from any location, making it easier for agents to maintain quick contact with potential clients. In addition, an agent’s database can also be synced with other services, allowing all necessary details to be sent out in emails at pre-programmed times.

Search and Filters

The first step in helping your clients quickly and easily find what they’re looking for is to make sure you have adequate, user-friendly search and filters. You can keep your app simple by focusing on 3 to 5 search options or create an in-depth experience with dozens of potential searches.

Just make sure they’re intuitive—if users can’t find their dream home within 2 minutes, they’ll move on, and you won’t get them like a lead!

Geo-Location/Map

Geo-location must be built into any real estate mobile app. Without it, potential buyers and sellers have no way of connecting in a meaningful way. (If you’re not familiar with geolocation, think about what happens when you turn on your GPS on your phone.)

Real estate companies must build their apps around geolocation so people can connect as soon as they become interested in selling or buying.

Property Photos

You can’t see what you’re buying on an app, so make sure it comes with great photos. After all, you don’t want buyers deciding they love your place to find out it needs major renovations. If you can’t snap some good shots yourself, hire a professional photographer or have your listing agent do it for you.

Virtual Video

Video marketing has increased in popularity, and it seems like more people have cameras on their phones than don’t. Since it’s become more accessible than ever for anyone to capture video, update your business website with virtual tours. These interactive 3D models help showcase your property from every angle and keep viewers engaged.

Adding Property Details

This feature allows clients to quickly and easily find your listings in their area. When your potential customers can search through your offerings, you increase exposure. This enables potential buyers to find a perfect house quickly and efficiently.

The more exposure you get from online users, including mobile app users, the greater your chance of closing on deals. You can list descriptions, photos, and details about each property for sale on your app for ease of browsing by mobile users.

Multiple-Property Listing

This feature allows real estate agents and owners to upload multiple listings onto one app, allowing them to be more effective in their use of time. It is convenient for agents and property owners who want as many units on an app as possible.

Push Notifications

The most commonly used feature that real estate agencies implement is pushed notifications. Push notifications are messages or alerts sent directly to users on their mobile devices. These alerts keep users up-to-date on what is happening in their neighborhood or city by alerting them when homes matching their search criteria fall into price range, or new inventory is available.

Calendars

For your users to fully use your app, it should have a calendar feature. This will give potential buyers and sellers a clear view of their options depending on the day and time availability. Offerings can also be sorted based on events within users’ schedules.

Save Search and Favorite Listings

With so many properties on the market, home buyers are often inundated with search results, and would-be sellers have listings that span multiple web pages. To keep their searches organised, buyers can save listings or favourite them to have quick access to properties they’re most interested in. Saved or favourited listings are typically highlighted in green, making it easy for home shoppers to find their favourite deals quickly.

In-App Messaging

Now, there is another way for real estate agents and homeowners to communicate with one another on a mobile app. Simply use in-app messaging through your app’s interface.

In-app messaging can allow you or your client to send and receive photos and videos, voice recordings, as well as text messages right within their app’s interface. It’s easy, convenient, and won’t add any extra work or complication!

The Factors that Determine the Cost of a Real Estate App

When you’re trying to determine how much it will cost to hire an app developer, the price tag can be scary.

Six factors will impact the cost of your app. You’ll be able to understand what it will take to develop an app.

Scope: How complex is your app?

The greater complexity of your app, which has more features or complex UI, will lead to a higher cost. The most common way to establish your app’s scope is to use MVC: Minimum Viable Product (MVP). This MVP is used to estimate how much work you should do.

Platform(s): Which operating systems will you support?

Apple’s iOS and Google’s Android are probably your best bets. One can develop for Windows Phone 8 and BlackBerry 10 as well, but given their smaller market share and how similar they are to iOS, it’s better to develop for one major platform instead of trying to keep up with two.

Resources: Who’s working on the project?

The most expensive part of your project will probably be either your design or development firm. The bigger and more prominent they are, the more they’ll charge you—so keep in mind that big names don’t always mean big results. You also want to keep in mind exactly what type of experience your vendor has with building apps for iOS or Android devices.

Schedule: When do you need it?

This is important because it will help you determine how many features you’ll be able to include in your app and its general size. It may force you to choose between an app that could be too complex for end-users or one that doesn’t offer everything your customers want. You can also save money by selecting an appropriate schedule for development.

Budget: Can you afford a top developer?

Have you figured out how much money you’ll need to spend on your app development? You should know that price tends to go up with a developer’s expertise, so it’s not necessarily true that a project will cost more if you choose someone with fewer years of experience. But certain types of apps indeed tend to be more expensive than others.

Who are the Members of a Real Estate App Development Team?

Many people believe that creating a real estate app requires little more than basic coding knowledge and the ability to follow instructions. Many factors influence the efficiency of your app development company and whether your app succeeds in the market. You need a great idea and skilled developers to turn it into a unique mobile application. The article below covers some app development team members and why they’re essential to your success.

Project Manager

It’s one person’s job to organise and keep everyone on track. The project manager is also responsible for ensuring that everyone has what they need to complete their tasks—from helping programmers find documentation to ensuring designers have access to any relevant materials.

The front-end developer

The person who creates and maintains a website’s user interface using HTML, CSS, JavaScript, jQuery, or similar technologies.

Back-end Developer

The back-end developer is responsible for building and maintaining everything behind your mobile application. This includes all of your business logic and data access, security and infrastructure requirements, cloud service integrations, etc.

The back-end developer will likely be involved in every aspect of your project, from designing how data will be exchanged between user interfaces (front-end) to hooking into all other elements that provide value to users (middleware). Oftentimes a back-end developer may have a front-end role as well.

Business Analyst

A business analyst is in charge of gathering requirements for a project. This involves talking to users, observing how they use existing products, and creating new documents based on their findings.

A business analyst will analyse all these insights to create a business case document that explains what needs to be built, why it should be built, and whom it will serve.

Business analysts also work closely with product managers, UX designers, and marketing specialists to ensure that what gets built will meet everyone’s needs.

UI/UX designer

UX (user experience) designers plan and build layouts, web pages, and apps that are easy to use and understand. If your product includes a visual element, it’s best to hire a UX designer who can create compelling visuals for users. Someone skilled in graphic design will also be helpful here.

QA Professional

Mobile apps need to be tested to work on different devices, operating systems, and browsers. Most companies do not have QA professionals in-house. Testing usually happens after building and before launching. It is also wise to keep testing while your mobile app is live to locate potential bugs and fix them.

Final Thoughts

Since real estate apps are not entirely standard, it’s best to hire a reputed real estate mobile app development company that has experience in developing similar apps. Costs vary greatly depending on your needs, but generally speaking, you can expect to pay somewhere between $25,000 and $50,000.

It’s best to focus on finding the best app developer who listens to your specific needs and goals to get an app that perfectly suits your unique situation. Once you find a good fit, communicate clearly with them throughout all stages of development so there are no surprises down the road.