12 Must-Have Features to Make Your Real Estate App Successful in 2020
The real estate business has remained lucrative even in turbulent times. As people tend to search and shop for almost everything using their smartphones, the real estate app development can help realtors leverage the benefits of this trend. But then, the real estate market also witnesses a fierce competition these days amid the growing popularity of online property searching. Therefore, as a realtor, you need to come up with a user-friendly and feature-rich app.
As per the real estate market report, a whopping 95% of the real estate companies have dedicated business websites with property listing. In today’s mobile-driven age, a real estate app remains handy for buyers and sellers alike because they can see the property in real-time.
Many real estate companies have launched apps to capitalize on the growing popularity of mobile-based property searching. You can stand ahead of the curve by offering a seamlessly-performing app with necessary features.
Here we mention the top features for the construction business app, that can give you an edge over peers. Whether you are a real estate agent or a builder, the real estate app can help you digitized your business and attract more customers.
- Top-notch Features of Popular Real Estate Mobile Application
What is the major objective of a real estate app? The answer is- to draw the attention of prospective customers while simplifying the entire buying or selling process. Your app should not look like just another real estate app. Therefore, you need to keep the focus on the latest market trends and expectations of home buyers/sellers. The following list of unique features will remain helpful if you want to build a real estate app.
1. Short and Simple Onboarding
This is the most basic and necessary feature for any real estate or construction mobile apps. A short, easy, and simple onboarding or registration process attracts many people toward your real estate app. You can accept user onboarding through social media accounts or email accounts and OTP-based verification. It is also fine if you combine all these methods and yet give an option to choose either method to the users.
2. Different Profiles
The real estate app can have three different profiles for users or homebuyers, sellers, and real estate agents to assist them accomplish various activities. For example, people who are in search of a new or rented house can have an app with a different set of features than that for real estate agents.
A buyer can get access to the property listings and save them as favorites. On the other hand, the agent’s app shows them their listings, schedules, and interested buyers with advertisement options.
3. Property Listing
The property listing is the most basic feature of the real estate app. It has all the necessary information about available properties for users. It enables people who want to sell or give their houses on rent to add their property.
Here the robust real estate app depends on a big database or many servers because the property listing keeps on increasing over the period. More users will be added to the real estate app and the list gets bigger. Therefore, you need to ensure that the databases are flexible enough for scaling up.
4. Search and Filters
Finding the right property is a herculean task for homebuyers and users who search rented houses. The real estate app can assist users by simplifying the searching process. The app has various filters available and on applying them the users can see available properties that meet their requirements.
For example, the app users can see new postings by selecting the ‘Recent’ or ‘New Listing’ option in the filters. Large-scale and popular real-estate apps have an elastic search for enhancing the searching process.
5. Details
Every property listing is full of information like description, photos, videos, price details, neighborhood, nearby landmarks, owner details, and the like. Photos and videos can help over 80% of users to decide whether they will buy a home. The property owner’s contact info is another important part of the description of the property.
6. Favorites
App users can easily shortlist properties using this feature. It helps them make decisions related to buying or renting the property. Users can also see their favorite properties anytime and anywhere because of this feature.
7. Interactive Maps
The map is an indispensable feature for any real estate or construction business app. The real estate app development company can integrate interactive maps to enable you to offer valuable information to the app users. Apart from showing the location of properties, you can showcase useful data and stats about them. You can also display information regarding the crime rate, nearby schools, and the average income of residents in the particular locality.
We can help you enrich maps by adding all the necessary information in an interactive way. When your prospective customers will find the property, they will have all sorts of necessary information through an interactive map feature.
8. Cost Calculator
Property’s cost is subject to change on a regular basis. Now, the cost calculator can assist customers to get the total cost of the property in real-time. Customized cost estimation feature is important for your real estate app because users can easily get the idea of property cost through this feature.
However, it is necessary to check that the calculator should be capable of giving every detail like taxes, initial payment amount, loan interest, and the like.
9. Calendar
Many realtors believe that Calendar is an optional or additional feature, but it can make your app useful for homebuyers and agents alike. For example, if buyers want to schedule an appointment with the seller or agents, they can get the available dates and time slots for scheduling an appointment through an app itself. The mobile app development company can include this feature in the real estate app made for either iOS or Android.
10. Push Notifications
Push notifications can be effectively used for marketing. This feature can make your real estate app successful over the period. You can send push notifications about industry news, price change, new properties, or the status of favorites.
It is an effective way to reach out to prospective customers. However, the messages should be relevant to having a personalized tone. Simply put, your notifications should provide value to the app users. Excessive use of this feature can annoy your app’s users.
11. In-App Chat
In-app chat or call can facilitate your customers to contact realtors or real estate agents on a 24/7 basis. It can help you increase sales by taking your app users to the next level of sales funnel and sealing the deal. The in-app communication methods are direct call, callback, and online chat. Buyers or interested users can ask directly to the seller or realtor about the specific property through this feature.
12. Virtual Tour
The use of VR technology gives an edge to your real estate app. 360-degree view of the property and virtual tour can not only save your app users’ time but also help them make an informed decision. The virtual tour is also known as a 3D walkthrough and it gives a life-like feeling of visiting the property they are interested in.
As per an official report, 70% of the respondents among the first-time homebuyers consider a 3D virtual tour as important as an open house. Though photos and videos play a vital role in deciding about the property, virtual tours can offer an immersive experience to the users.
Additionally, you can consider adding features like social media integration and support center.
- Cost of Real Estate App
The real estate app development company determines the app development cost by considering three major aspects- complexity, development duration, and platform. Another major factor is the hourly rate of developers.
The cost of real estate app development can be varied based on the hourly rate across various parts of the world. You should consult a reliable mobile app development company to get the exact quote as per your project requirements.
Concluding Lines
Whether it is a real estate app for Android or iOS, it always brings more convenience for people who seek to buy, sell, or rent the property. The real estate app saves time, provides support on a 24×7 basis, offers services without mediators, and simplifies buying/selling processes. All you need to consult a reputed and reliable real estate app development company to make a successful real estate app that has all these features and excellent functionality.
