Buying a great house or flat is a real challenge for most people. They spend months contacting different real estate agents and considering different places. And this is where a great real estate website or app with all the necessary information and useful tools to ease the search could help. This article will help those who are going to build their own real estate application. We will share valuable tips for software developers to deliver an excellent solution for the property app industry.
How to Build a Real Estate Application
What is a Real Estate App? Why Do We Need It?
Let’s start with a closer look at the aims of these applications. Many people spend a lot of time looking for the perfect property. It is more convenient for most users to browse everything online, even when it comes to real estate. Such applications are helpful for agents and customers as they offer numerous opportunities for successful deals. Brokers can immediately make changes to the available property list and can easily get in touch with customers. They can monitor purchases and sell houses while sitting at home. Customers can receive messages or notifications about the real estate and view detailed information and real estate pictures. If created properly, a high-quality custom real estate app can become a successful business.
Now, let’s dig into the process of creating a real estate app.
How to Develop a Real Estate Application: A Step-by-Step Guide
Here are the crucial points for your custom real estate software development. They will help you receive an excellent product more effortlessly.
1. Make Sure your Idea is Valid
At first sight, the idea of such an application sounds a little strange. Real estate companies have always been connected with the offline sphere, and everything worked fine without any real estate apps. But every sphere is getting more digitalized now, and real estate is not an exception. Giants like Zillow are already providing real estate services and offering their customers a better experience than the traditional way of buying or renting offline. It is useful for browsing the property and finding the best variants in a particular area.
2. Decide on the App Type
Before you hire any development team for a project, you need to choose the type. For real estate software, there are two of them:
Agency Application. This is an application owned by an agency. It includes listings of all the properties and user access. With an agency application, you can run your company more effectively, enhance your performance, and monitor active clients. It leads to more efficient and profitable management.
Third-Party App. This is an intermediary solution for customers and representatives of various agencies. The way it works varies a little from the agency application:
- The users can register as customers/agency representatives or freelance agents. The agents can add their lists, extend the customer network.
- The users can interact with the agents and find the houses by applying various filters.
- The agents may also contact the potential customers concerning the real estate they are selling. The third-party app becomes a platform for interaction.
After choosing the most suitable model, the next step will be determining all the features.
3. Focus on the Key Features
Features are the highlights of your app. We suggest a list of crucial features.
- Onboarding. Registering should be as seamless as possible. The best way is to sign in via social networks, phone number, or email address.
- Personal Profile. The profiles of agents and customers should differ. Agents need to see potential customers and the activity on their listings. On the other hand, customers need search filters and the opportunity to “like” properties from the listings.
- Listings & Information Base. A huge database is essential to be profitable. The more info concerning the property, the more helpful it is. Always focus on the information that users need most.
- Filters & Categories. Finding the perfect property is the most challenging step in the process. Ensure you involve all the possible filters to make the search faster and more effective.
- Maps. This feature allows for narrowing the search to a specific region. You can also display statistics concerning each area.
- Contact Button. Enable your users to take further steps for buying or selling real estate. Involve contact opportunities like calling or sending messages. You can also involve push notifications to inform the users right away and a calendar to schedule further meetings.
4. Create a UI/UX Design
The UI/UX design will boost the user experience with your application. Here are our tips:
- use high-quality videos and images
- use heatmaps
- ensure the navigation is smooth
- clear menus
- 3D models of property
5. Make your App Profitable
And finally, you have to decide on how to gain profit out of your app. You can charge users for different plans or premium features. You can bill them on a monthly or yearly basis, or it can be a one-time payment. If you are going to make your app free, the best way to monetize it is to place advertisements relevant to the real estate industry.
4 Top Trends to Utilize in Real Estate App Development
Use these tools to build your own real estate app and boost it to the top level.
1. Big Data
It enables storing and managing large amounts of information and gathering data about each user and their behavior.
2. Blockchain
This is an excellent tool for fraud prevention. It reviews all the documents and ensures they have no extra charges.
3. AI
Artificial intelligence helps make the most customized recommendations to each user. It saves their effort and time. It can also be applied for request management, monitoring modifications, and price analysis.
4. AR and VR
They help buyers to envision the property through virtual tours. It is useful both for buyers and sellers.
Final Note
Creating a real estate app is a demanding process. It consists of several stages, each of them needing time and attention. But if you follow our tips and involve the cutting-edge tools we mentioned, you will present an excellent solution to the market.