Real Estate App Development: Must-Have Features and Functionalities

real estate app development
May 27, 2020

Today smartphones and mobile applications play a big role in leading our lives. Businesses today consider mobile applications to be the most effective marketing tool. Mobile applications help businesses with lead generation all the while boosting traffic. It even helps them with brand recognition. Apart from browsing and online shopping, mobile apps have provided a better platform for businesses and brands that are trying to reach the newer sectors of the market and grow their business through complete customer satisfaction. One such industry that is trying to make the best out of mobile applications is real estate.

In this blog, we are going to discuss how real-estate apps will impact not just realtors but it will be impacted common people’s lives. That’s why every real-estate app developer has to know about must-have features and functionality.

For a common man, one of the biggest buying decisions that he or she ever takes up in life is buying a home. For the same reason, people spend an ample amount of time looking for the right property that fits in their budget. They put in their research time to talk with different real estate agents, visit different builders or contractors, compare prices, analyze the future value of the property, track services in the vicinity, calculate the rate of interest, etc.

This is where a feature-rich mobile app for the real estate industry can do wonders and prove to be the best tool to reciprocate with the increasing market demands. The real estate industry has gone through drastic changes over the years and the mobile application can easily handle the challenges that they face in converting a potential lead to a client.

So, as a real estate business, it would be wise that you to invest in real estate app development like Zillow. To know more keep reading…

Why develop a real estate app like Zillow?

When it comes to dealings in real estate, Zillow is considered the first option for many. Zillow helps the customers in the same manner as a real estate broker but without charging even a single penny. Such an app helps the customers to keep themselves away and save their time from the real estate brokers, who only have the intention of draining out their money. With a real estate mobile app, you can easily save yourself from the hands of such fraudsters without putting in any effort.

Zillow is a popular real estate app among the US population and it has the largest database with huge home listings. Moreover, it also comes with a number of free tools for you to use if you are planning to go some home shopping. The popularity of Zillow has got it the largest audience that it could ever ask for. Moreover, the app can be used as an effective advertising platform by businesses, which are looking for potential customers.

Top features of a real estate app

App sign up

app sign up

Every app needs you to sign up at one point. So it comes without saying that your real estate app should also have the sign up feature included. The app should come up with a short onboarding process that comes into play once the user signs up for the app. It can be used to introduce the app and its features.

The same can be used by the app to develop user profiles. Such user profiles can be used by the user to save their previous searches as well as preferences. The app can use them to enhance its user experience. Moreover, it becomes possible for the app to offer more personalized and customized content to the users which they can use to compare the prices, choose locality, get clarity in their searches, etc. If the user finds any such searched property to be matching their preferences, they can save it to be referred to later.

Push notification

push notifications

Push notifications are always considered as an effective way of reaching the users and conveying the message. The real estate agency can use push notifications to inform the users about the new properties, special events, offers, etc. with ease.

Database should be strong

This kind of service includes dealing with many people on the go, generate reports, get their details, etc. This means you will end up churning large amounts of data on an everyday basis. Now such data will be used in the process of gaining more and more information on different and latest real estate trends and factors influencing it. So to help you with your business and to carry out communication as expected, you need to have a strong and detailed database that comes with a compliant system too.

Now when you are looking up to an app like Zillow for your real estate business, you need to get access through the National Association of Realtors (NAR) and MLS systems. In order to keep the database working, they even take up the help of property agents, third-party vendors, and real estate companies too. So when you succeed to bring all of such different pieces of the puzzle together, you will be able to have a full-fledged database built that can easily get you to achieve an edge over others in the market.

Boost customer retention with ‘save search’

Just as the name suggests ‘save search’ will let you save the results that you have searched so that you can get into its details later. While visiting the eCommerce stores you must have come across the “Add to Cart” option and this is just like it. Browsing too many options can confuse the users and they may even forget what they saw first. By including this feature the user will be able to check back the options they saved earlier in detail. Again, the app will make recommendations to the user regarding new properties based on the saved searches. By using the feature of autosuggestions, it helps you to start browsing your saved searches from the exact place where you left it last time. The saved searches also give realtors an idea about what you have searched earlier and what you are interested in.

Schedule home tour

 

schedule tour

Users have always listed out a few options when they are looking for a property. The choices are made based on the photos that are uploaded on the site as well as the features mentioned in there. So based on what they like, they can narrow down their searches. Once they have the searches ready, they can ask for a property tour. The app can have a button “Schedule home tour” within the app to make it happen. Based on the time and date that is preferred for the user, he or she can book the tour. The tour can be directly booked by contacting the real estate agent too.

Advanced search functionality

When we are concerned about the priority features to be added within the real estate app, advanced search functionality remains to be on the list. When your app is able to offer better search events that are well-sorted for the users, you will be able to offer even better user experience. Now, something that you need to understand is that every other app, which helps customers find something offers this very feature. So, you need to work a bit on it so as to make it stand out from your competitors in the market. This simply means that you need to understand the functionality in every bit of detail and implement it in a better way compared to what others have done. Make sure you consider all the parameters which are important for an ideal search and let the customers have a solution where they can search every single detail with ease.

3D tours

Many of the properties out there are under-construction. So if the user is planning to invest in such a property then he can go for a virtual presentation to get a clear idea about how the end project will look like. In order to help the users who are trying to get access to such properties, you can include VR Tours. This way, before the user makes an actual investment, they can get an idea about the property through the video. For the user, it saves him or her lots of effort and time.

Video tour

Based on the imaging and streaming technologies that are present in the market, you can come up with video tours. The property can be showcased well to the users through professionally developed and well-scripted videos. You can even make use of interactive tools in your videos to help them understand the property well. This will let them analyze the property in a better manner all the while saving a lot of users’ time.

Search and filter

The databases of the real estate business app contain large volumes of data and so it has to be used wisely to get benefitted. Sorting such data is very important and there is no meaning in putting them to use in the first place if relevant data is not made available to the users. Whether the user plans to buy or rent a house, there are a few things that they need to look into before closing the deal and so it is crucial to have the right filter available in the app.

The functionality of search and filter can be included within the app based on different factors like property type, price, year of development, location, type of listing, square foot, added facilities, etc. You can apply better filters to your searching tab if you can have more valuable data.

Mortgage EMI calculator

Providing an EMI calculator within the real estate app can help prospective buyers to calculate the EMI approximately before they plan to buy. This will help them come to the decision quickly.

Interest rate calculator

Most people go for home loans when purchasing their home and it would be nice for them to find an instant interest rate calculator while they are browsing options. So here all that the user needs to do is to put in the price of the property along with the down payment. Based on that, the interest will be calculated.

Geo-location tracking

Users can easily find nearby properties by making use of this feature. In order to make location-based searches possible for the users, the geolocation feature within the app makes use of GPS location or Geotag. By enabling this feature, the users will get access to all the properties that are available in the vicinity.

Final thoughts

Real estate app development is not a tough thing but, putting it to use the way you want is what matters. You should be clear about what you want your app to do and develop it accordingly. You should also be clear about the monetization model you plan to build for your app. So, build an effective and attractive app that can help you gain more visitors while help many buy their dream home.

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