Real estate agencies have long taken advantage of web development to share listings and online resources with their users, but the recent dominance of mobile devices has driven the rise of real estate app development. The real estate business is very competitive. As more millennials enter the market, real estate companies need to offer their customers a mobile app or risk falling behind their competitors.
Real estate apps can create more than just value for your customers. A good mobile app can also create value for your real estate business. Let’s take a look at why real estate app development is an important investment for your business. We’ll also cover the features your real estate app must-have if you want it to be successful.
The Benefits of Real Estate App Development
Mobile devices have long surpassed computers in terms of overall web traffic. The fact of the matter is that most people use their mobile devices to access and browse the Internet. By developing a real estate app, you can meet your customers where they are, which will increase your chances of selling them a home.
In addition, creating a mobile app gives your real estate business the ability to create features that utilize the hardware of your user’s mobile devices like the camera. From a business standpoint, there are several reasons why you should consider developing a real estate app, including:
- Optimized sales process
- Engaging customer experience
- Automated tasks
- Better communication
Optimized Sales Process
Buying a home is not like buying a car or another big-ticket item. The home buying process often takes time because finding the right home is usually a collaborative process between a real estate agent and a buyer. Furthermore, financing and other legal requirements must be met, which further slows down the sales process.
A real estate app can help optimize and even speed up the sales process for real estate agents and buyers in a few ways. First, properties can be found and shared with prospective buyers more quickly. Additionally, agents can provide their potential buyers with virtual tours that can be accessed at any time. This simplifies the task of scheduling showings and reduces the amount of time spent showing the house to buyers.
Finally, using the power of a real estate app, important documents and paperwork can be organized, shared, and signed electronically. This saves everyone involved in the home buying process time, and it provides everyone with easy access to the important documents and information associated with the transaction.
Engaging Customer Experience
Creating the perfect customer experience is every project management team’s dream. Having your own real estate app can help your business create customer experiences that outshine your competitors. A mobile app allows you to deliver more personalized experiences to your clients than a website.
With a mobile app, you can create a space for your real estate agents to share listings with clients, allow users to search for properties, view in-depth information about neighborhoods they are interested in, quickly calculate mortgage payments, take 3D tours of properties, and so much more. A real estate app is the most effective way to provide your users with a rewarding, engaging experience that will increase their overall satisfaction with your business.
Automated Tasks
A custom real estate app can help your business automate several key processes and focus on selling homes and engaging clients. For example, filling out property information can be a time-consuming task that could be automated through the power of a real estate app.
However, automation doesn’t only serve real estate agents. It can benefit buyers too. For example, automation can immediately send out important documents after an offer has been made and alert buyers to new properties on the market.
Better Communication
Buying a home can be a stressful time. Buyers are likely to have many questions, and they might not always be patient enough to wait for a call back during business hours. A real estate app offers your business and customers a 24/7 communication channel. Your real estate agents can respond to questions about properties, the process, etc., through the app at any time of day or night. Plus, you could utilize a chatbot feature to help qualify leads and guide prospective buyers to the right areas of your app.
Must-Have Real Estate App Features
The ideation phase of real estate app development is a great time to consider the features you want to include in your mobile app. There are several unique features like Augmented Reality, Virtual Reality, and the blockchain technology that you might consider including in your real estate app to deliver a world-class User Experience. However, some of those HiTech features might not be a great fit for your app.
The features you need to be sure to include in your real estate app are:
- Property profiles
- Maps
- Advanced search filters
- Mortgage calculator
- Agent profiles
Property Profiles
You can’t have a successful real estate app without property listings. However, you can create rich property profiles that make your mobile app stand out. Property profiles should include a wealth of interior and exterior photos, videos of the property, virtual tours (if possible), pricing information for purchase or rent, neighborhood information, and contact information for the listing real estate agent. If you want to create an impressive User Experience, add a button to each profile that allows users to call the listing agent directly.
Maps
Besides the house itself, people are interested in the location of a property more than anything else. Therefore, your real estate app should include a map feature that allows users to view the location of the home, view it at street level, and even explore the neighborhood. Luckily, adding these map features is relatively easy if you use an API like Google Maps.
Advanced Search Filters
Each homebuyer is unique. Real estate apps should include advanced search features that allow users to filter results based on any number of specificities from bedrooms and bathrooms to list prices and estimated yearly taxes. Your mobile app needs to deliver what users are looking for if you want to be successful.
Mortgage Calculator
The mortgage calculator is a popular real estate app feature. This tool gives your users the ability to estimate their monthly mortgage payments based on their interest rate and down payment. This can help buyers decide which properties they can afford and which ones they can’t. Since it is so commonly included on websites and apps, your mobile app should definitely include this tool.
Agent Profile
Connecting with customers can be difficult, but including real estate agent profiles eases this difficulty. Users can get an idea of the agents working for your company and see recent listings they have sold or worked on. A great way to boost user engagement is to add a messaging feature to agent profiles so users can reach out directly to an agent to ask questions or get more information.
Final Thoughts
There are many reasons why your real estate company should consider building a mobile app. We understand how difficult the process can seem if you have no technical app development experience. Reach out to an app development partner for guidance through the development process. An experienced partner can add a lot of value to your real estate app development project with their industry experience and technical expertise.
