Один из способов привлечения клиентов – предложить мобильное приложение для поиска недвижимости. С приложением агентство недвижимости приобретает долгосрочные преимущества.

Everyone has searched for a new apartment or a house to live in at least once. As we all know, the house-hunting process may be very tiring.

Coronavirus has posed some unprecedented challenges to all businesses, including real estate agencies. To stay relevant, more companies started trying different strategies, including mobile app development. Over 90% of real estate firms have apps. Most popular apps like Zillow, Realtor.com, and Trulia have over 240 million monthly unique users. Apps are convenient and offer some specific functions to make the house-hunting process easier and more comfortable. Before looking at property in-person, you can offer your buyers to search through photos and virtual tours to narrow the search down. This way, the number of in-person showings decreases, and so do risks.

Using an app, one can get access to all the relevant data from any place and at any time. An app is a long-term benefit for an estate agency.

Real estate app benefits

1. A mobile app is an effective investment into a business development.

Real estate apps have all the chances to replace real estate agents. The pandemic makes businesses develop digital technologies and automate processes as much as possible, which goes far beyond the company website development.

2. An app organizes and streamlines internal business processes.

A company website is more like a digital business card. It can introduce your company, but does not allow controlling sales and mostly does not stimulate the company's growth. Work with clients is chaotic, it includes huge numbers of calls, chats in messengers, endless SMS and emails, reports on computers and in Google Docs — all this needs an effective control and digital transformation. Combine the website, back office, and accounting digital systems, CRM, and other management systems in a single app and automate deal management.

3. An app helps to increase customer loyalty and retention.

As reported by NAR, people in the USA buy their first apartment or house before they turn 36. 37 to 53 year old buyers make up the second-largest generational group of home buyers. The typical seller has recommended their agent twice since selling their home.

This means that by investing in a mobile app and broadening the list of clients, you are as well investing in the future of your company. It can be a good resource for your future deals. A big number of buyers recommend their agency or app for future services. Provide your clients with a loyalty program that will accompany them through their whole life right inside the app.

4. An app allows you to analyze real estate market data and demography.

If you want to close sales fast, you have to provide clients with full information about the place: lists of available property with all the details and filter options, high-quality pictures, virtual tours, the possibility to add objects to the favorites, information about public infrastructure in the district and neighboring districts, the crime levels, and transport availability.

Offering the necessary information to the clients, you get the information about them and their preferences in return. The app analyzes all the data automatically and frees you from manual data analysis.

5. An app helps to define your target audience.

Automated data collection and analysis will provide you with insights into the target audience. This will allow you to segment your target audience and scale up to other target audiences or markets.

In general, the younger the person is, the higher are chances that he knows mobile technologies like the palm of his hand. The app will guarantee the interest of young people that consider property buying. Middle-aged people will need easier interface options and wide functionality that allows them to make transactions online safely and provides them with all the details.

6. An app allows you to maintain constant contact with clients.

It doesn't matter when the convenient apartment or house appeared, the difficulties, the important details or questions occurred — writing messages is allowed 24/7, without bothering anyone at night or other inconvenient time. The user just opens the app notification when he has time.

7. An app will become your crucial marketing and sales tool.

The app doesn't only store and analyze the clients' data, but unobtrusively offers them personalized recommendations based on users' actions and preferences tracking. Even if the client deletes the app, the account with all the data and adds subscription will be saved. Besides, it can become a basis for extra services offering, for example, real estate lawyers services.

How to create a real estate app?

Before starting app development, the company has to define its functions for real estate agents and clients: sellers (lessors), and buyers (lessees). The roles can be divided the following way:

• By developing two different apps for both sides;
  
• By developing one app with the ability to divide functions between different users.

Besides, the service administrators need to have a web app - the admin panel.

Let's have a more detailed look into the crucial app functions.

1. Signing up

Signing up and logging in should be as easy as possible. We recommend you to offer cross-entering (logging in through other apps) options, for example, through email or telephone number. Unregistered clients should have access to the app as well to get primarily acquainted with it.

2. User profiles

Both real estate agents and clients should have private profiles. Using them, real estate agents and sellers (lessors) add real estate descriptions and pictures, fill in the contact information for each object, and administer the schedule. Buyers (lessees) fill in personal information that can also help digital algorithms to understand which apartment or house to offer.

3. Database

The main app feature is a database with ads. The more ads it has, the higher is the chance to succeed. That is why the client should have the opportunity to propose the realty for sale or rent the property out without visiting the office.

4. Realty profiles

On each object profile is stated the description and pictures. This way the buyer will get an idea of the object's real-life appearance. The highlight of your app can be the automatic check of the property on the government databases. For these purposes, the electronic algorithm of checking should be integrated.

5. The list of real estate agents

The big real estate agency can offer clients a list of agents to choose from. We offer you to include a short description of each agent's experience with a picture, the number of implemented real estate, and the field of work of each real estate agent.

6. Sections and filters

Search and choice of suitable property is the most unpleasant part of the whole process, and the aim is to relieve the clients' stress and provide them access to a wide search and filter sorting by certain criteria.

7. Maps and geolocation

There is nothing better than visualization of a place where one wants to live. Maps provide those who want to lease or buy an apartment with valuable information. Maps should have information about nearby places and infrastructure, as well as the district's statistics: crime levels, road traffic, natural disaster risks, etc. For even better usability the users may be given the ability to plan routes from home to the office, from school to home, and other important places.

8. Favorites

It is easy to get lost among hundreds of apartments and houses. The client should have an opportunity to make lists of favorites to remember everything.

9. Mortgage Calculator

This feature requires the choice of a partner bank. For convenience, a universal calculator with different banks offers should be made. The detailed calculator will help users easily and effectively compare the price with their financial opportunities, try out all the options, and choose the suitable one.

10. Maintaining calendars and teamwork planning

Creating the calendar will help to plan the meetings fast. This option should be available for both clients and real estate agents. Users should also have an opportunity to stick a calendar to a certain realty.

11. Push notifications

Push notifications remind users of an app and can be adjusted to remind them of:

• New realty in certain places;
  
• App features updates;
  
• Price changes and other events

Do not forget that push notifications should be appropriate and useful. Clients should have the possibility to adjust their functions.

12. Analytics

Any app needs to store data for business processes analysis, searching for potential pitfalls and their causes. Detailed understanding of the situation will help to optimize the working process, development strategy, and increase the effectiveness of the app as well.

Extra features

Real estate searching apps always move on and offer new features. In the first step, we recommend getting a limited number of functions mentioned before to realize if there is a need to follow leaders in steps or choose something individual to step out.

1. Virtual tour

Unlike photos, the virtual tour provides an opportunity to get complete pictures of the realty. 3D tours help to precisely estimate if the accommodation is worth visiting.

2. Online streaming upon request

Pictures and 3D tours can be made by professionals to serve the realty the best way. This will attract more people and make them consider visiting, but won't make them buy it. To not waste time on useless visits, owners can show it right inside the app.

3. Feedback and rating

Feedback from clients can help to rank and increase the level of service. Feedback and rating will enhance trust in the app and agency among users, and motivate agents to work more effectively.

How much does the real estate app cost?

A lot of people dream of a beautiful luxurious apartment with ideal parameters. The accommodation has to be comfortable by all accounts. This rule fully refers to the apps, too. Open Google Play or App Store — there are hundreds of thousands of apps, and only thousands or hundreds become popular.

Only quality apps get recognition. These apps are developed by professionals that know their work's worth. Every pel of every screen of the app has to be calculated. With the help of an experienced team, you can offer users a quality IT product: with functions based on stable technologies, an intuitive interface, coherent and attractive design.

There is no average cost. The mobile app development budget depends on the number of functions, gadgets (Android or iOS smartphones), technologies, project difficulty, and the hourly rate of developers.

In Omega the starting price of the project including all stages from idea to release and two-year guarantee is $ 92 600.

Omega developers are ready to help you create the real estate app. We like projects that make people happier and make their lives easier. We always offer individual project development from scratch because it allows to include the desired functions without overpaying for unnecessary elements. This way is easier to control business development and does not limit it with ready-made decisions.