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Real Estate: Time To Create A Mobile App

Helen Moricce1631 17-Jan-2018

Are you in the real estate business? Looking to boost your business and get more customers while offering exclusive perks to loyal clients? A mobile app is definitely your solution providing a wide range of benefits aimed at improving customer service and communications for your business.

Real Estate: Time To Create A Mobile App

Mobile app ideas for real estate

Mobile apps for real estate aren’t only a lucrative business niche for app developers but also a good idea for real estate agents. Everything is heading out towards digitalization, and real estate isn’t an exception. And to boost up revenue or continue professional activities, you need to fit the changes.

The Internet is about simplifying the professional life on the one hand, but on the other hand, the Internet environment tosses challenges to present-day entrepreneurs who go online. Speaking about estate agents, I guess, they are in huge demand worldwide. Nevertheless, without any digital presence, real estate agents are prone to losing customers regardless of the demand. A digital presence will help agents with growing clients’ loyalty and sales.

Real Estate: Time To Create A Mobile App

The demand for real estate services tends to grow worldwide. Lots of people go for mobility - change a job, change an apartment. Thus, the demand for renting or purchasing evokes the demand for real estate agents. Taking into account the ever-growing demand for real estate, developing an app is not a bad idea for a startup. 

Real estate app development issues

Before going for app development, you should consider every single business aspect you may face. If you are going to create a real estate app, it is vital to fill it with rent or sale options.

Database

I mean, you should have a database of all property available for rent or sale. If the users see no rental proposals, they are unlikely to run the app for the second time.

So your key concern is to build a solid database. There are several ways to compile it. You can either borrow a database of any real estate agency or cooperate with any real-estate agency on mutually beneficial terms. In turn, you can provide real estate agencies free advertising within the app for some time.

Integration with maps

A full-featured map will allow the users to understand the location as well as the infrastructure of the area. Moreover, a map eases the search for an ideal home within a mobile real estate app. Consider upgrading the map with the tools allowing to detect the current location and show available apartments a wave away.

To add more value to the user experience, consider integration with the Google Street View Support to give a closer look at the property the users are going to buy or rent.

Real Estate: Time To Create A Mobile App

Listing options

Of course, hardly any real estate app can do without home listings. A list format is the most convenient making house hunting more efficient for clients. Here you should find the way to optimize the user interface. Since it is an effective tool when it comes to a real estate app.

Saving favorites

Along with a list, it would be great if the users will be able to save favorite homes to refer back anytime they want. Frankly speaking, the users like favoriting apartments and checking their status.

Popular real estate apps like Zillow have implemented such a feature allowing the users to save their favorite property with one tap. To save an apartment to the “favorite” list, you should be a registered user. From the perspective of a real estate agent or broker, there is a possibility to check the popularity of the house and even send a notification to warm up the user.

Mortgage calculator

This is the next noting feature for a real estate app. A mortgage calculator will allow a user to estimate a monthly payment that includes the principal and interest components. Also, such a calculator can estimate the current mortgage rates taking into account a monthly income as well as expenses.

As soon as users estimate their mortgage rate, the app can hide the property that doesn’t match the rates.

AR and VR technologies

Speaking about AR technologies, you can make it possible to find real estate for rent or sale while pointing a phone camera at buildings or houses. Using of VR technologies in real estate apps is becoming a common practice. Thanks to VR, the users can take virtual tours through the properties. Actually, there are some services allowing to take a virtual tour with the help of a 3D camera and certain cloud technologies. But still implementing AR or VR may cost the Earth since you will need special video equipment as well as experienced mobile developers.

Real Estate: Time To Create A Mobile App

Ways to win over users

Drawing the customers’ attention to the app may even be a more challenging task than developing it. Start thinking of a marketing strategy as soon as you get an app idea since a proper strategy can provide a constant user growth.

Set up a referral program

It’s a well-known fact that people trust to digital resources recommended by their relatives or friends. And real estate is the business sphere where most of the transactions are made due to the referral business.

You get it wrong if you think that customers don’t like giving referrals. Most satisfied clients are likely to recommend the service they have used. I think it’s high motivation to develop a referral program. There are many ways how to implement it within a real estate app. For example, it’s quite a common practice to give bonuses for sharing in the social networks or inviting new users.

Real Estate: Time To Create A Mobile App

Support for 2+ platforms

When it comes to a huge target audience, it would be great to develop a multi-platform real estate app. Thus, the users can start searching for a house via desktop and continue doing that via mobile phone while commuting to work. This step will help you build up the customer loyalty and boost up your sales.

Promote the app

You shouldn’t undervalue the strength of promotion in social networks as well as email campaigns. Email promotion has recently become a standard way to gain user awareness about the news and upcoming events. What makes email campaigns a powerful marketing tool? Most people open the emails they get from the companies.

Real Estate: Time To Create A Mobile App

Instagram has recently become one more marketing platform for real estate app startups. Every social network can become a must-stop platform for advertising. When it comes to visualization, Instagram is a clear winner. Thanks to geotagging, users can tag the location where they have taken the photo.

Geotagging allows searching for the photos by typing in the location name. It means that if someone type in “Brooklyn”, all posts with this geotag will be visible to anyone. And can something be better than visualization + geotagging for the real estate business?

Sizing up

As you can see, developing an app for real estate requires clear aims, well-thought planning, and proper branding. But still, there are still lots of ways to level up the real estate market by adding state-of-the-art features like VR tours to mobile apps.



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