There was a time when people needed to look for a property in newspapers, and then view the house they liked in person. But that period was gone. Now the modern world provides us with an opportunity to look for real accommodations online. So, for businesses, it’s the right time to know how to build a successful real estate mobile app development.
Research shows that over 76% of internet users are looking for a house for sale using their mobile devices. Moreover, the business of real estate searching for mobile devices grew in general overall by 123% since 2018.
In this article, we’ll tell you more about real estate mobile app development:
- key real estate trends
- mobile app monetization models
- core features of a real estate mobile app
- costs of implementation.
Steps to Build Your Own Real Estate App
But it also depends on the stage your product is at. The discovery stage, MVP development, or product scaling.
Discovery Phase
It doesn’t matter whether you are working with a real estate mobile app development company or using a website builder with a ready-made template. The best way to start the development process is to conduct a discovery phase.
To provide cost-efficient real estate mobile app development services, we always recommend our clients start with the discovery phase for their product. In simple terms, the discovery phase is aimed to find ways for correct and suitable idea implementation.
As a result of the discovery phase, the client receives all the important information they need to start product development.
Such an approach helps to predict and lower all the possible risks. And create a detailed development plan. All of these help to implement the product idea more quickly and cheaply.
MVP Development
After the discovery phase, we recommend first creating a real estate mobile application MVP. Don’t jump straight into building a fully-featured product development right away.
An MVP is the first version of the product that includes only the core features. But with enough value needed for the product to be represented on the market.
Product Upgrading and Scaling
After the successful real estate mobile app development and launch, it comes time to think about some upgrades. Collecting users’ feedback helps to understand what was missed. Also, it helps to understand what features need some improvement.
After you fix all the issues and get a product with a stable income, you can think about scaling your app.
A word of advice: don’t start scaling until you’re sure you have a good user base, have reached your previous business goals, have a stable cash flow, and have minimized all the risks.
Tips on How to Build a Successful Real Estate Mobile App
To build your own real estate app is never enough.
You’ll need some clever and unique solutions to become really successful in creating a convenient and user-friendly app. Here are some development tips.
Improve Searching Functionality
When people look for real estate via mobile apps, they don’t have a lot of time to scroll through irrelevant search results that they can’t even filter. Create a powerful search system and provide filters, sorting systems, and suggestions to make the user experience smooth.
It’s better to include filters such as location, year built, parking, and local specifics.
Provide Efficient Communication
When looking for a property, people always have lots of questions. These questions may be related to housing features or booking. So it’s important to create comprehensive communication between buyers, real estate agents, and sellers.
At this point, it would be crucial to include a mobile chat or messaging system. It helps to provide the opportunity to contact a real estate agent. Or, for example, book an appointment with them.
Use Graphic Elements
Graphic elements in the real estate app design also help to attract users’ attention to the important mobile features of the product development.
For real estate mobile app development, this is important. The graphic elements help the users to sell and find appropriate real estate more quickly.
Useful tip: Try to create and present all the categorized data in a visual manner, and add icons and illustrations. Such an approach helps to perform real estate app design development. Also, it ensures a user-friendly design for users.
Building a real estate mobile app?
Our Experience with Real Estate Mobile App Development
Moovle
Moovle is an Airbnb-like rental service based in Belgium. When we met our client, the product was in its idea stage, so we had to implement an MVP of the product.
In particular, our goals were to:
- create the core features;
- integrate the external APIs for listings synchronization;
- implement the whole listings management mechanism.
Moreover, we had to implement all the required functionality within 1.5 months so that our client could showcase the solution to the investors.
Our app solutions for the business:
As a result of Sloboda Studio’s work, we created an MVP just in 6 weeks. And our client successfully pitched it to the investors.
All in all, we create core mobile app features such as:
- User registration
- Property page
- Listings development
- Search and filtering system
- Create search personalization
- Accommodation requests
- Admin panel
Real Estate CRM
Real Estate CRM is a leading regional residential real estate agency. It helps people with buying and selling residential properties.
When we met our client, their company had expanded in both staff and users. That resulted in a need for centralized data management software.
Our goal was to build a real estate CRM that would allow clients to create and organize all the data, and be tailored to the company’s business processes development.
Our app solutions for the business:
Sloboda Studio created a custom real estate CRM. We also helped the client’s business to automate the work. This resulted in sales increase, better conversion, and productivity.
During our development, we implemented mobile app features such as:
- Dashboard
- User contacts
- Communication page
- Contact user groups
- Programs
- Pipelines
- Deals
How Much Does it Cost to Build a Real Estate Mobile App?
The real estate app development cost depends on various factors. Among them are the app’s functionality and technologies. It also matters if you work with a development agency or real estate app developer.
Based on our experience building similar projects, the minimum viable product (MVP) of a rental platform has the following features:
- Authentification
- Search Properties
- Property
- Booking
- Reviews
- Profile
- Admin panel
- Notification
- Integrations
Building an MVP for a real estate platform with all these features can cost about $40,000.
12 Core Real Estate App Features
Determining the real estate mobile app features of the future service is one of the crucial steps of the product development process.
According to our experience and market analysis, there are core features that can be used with various kinds of real estate mobile application development.
Let’s take a closer look at the features of the most popular of them: renting, buying, and selling real estate apps.
Onboarding
Onboarding is the process of introducing your application to people. It helps to inform the users about the main features and advantages of the real estate app.
At the end of onboarding, users continue to register or log in with social networks. At this time, it may be a good idea to let the users skip the registration process, in case they just want to have a look at your app first.
Though we are discussing the core features of real estate renting and buying/selling apps, onboarding is common for all types of real estate mobile applications.
Zillow App Onboarding
Registration
The registration feature helps people to sign up or log in. Depending on the app’s purpose, the users may be able to book, buy, or sell real estate only after registration.
A standard registration requires the user’s name, email, and password. This information is enough for entering an app. At the same time, any other details can be submitted within the user’s profile. It is also nice to allow users to log in with their social network accounts. For example, such as Facebook, Google, Twitter, etc.
The registration feature is also common for all types of real estate mobile apps.
Personal Profiles
When developing a real estate mobile app, it’s essential to differentiate roles for user profiles. Different real estate apps will require different roles. Buyers and real estate agents for rental and home purchase apps. Buyers and brokers for realtor apps. Renters for office rental apps, and so on.
Here, each user role will need access to their particular functions. Agents need to have access to their properties, appointments, schedules, and profiles of potential buyers. Buyers and renters should have access to the list of their favorite properties and advanced searching and filters.
As a rule, any real estate mobile app will provide its users with personal profiles. It is important to validate users before letting them rent, buy, or sell property.
Zillow App Personal Profile
Listings
Listings are an important part of the real estate mobile app. They contain information about the properties your app has to offer. In other words, people can use real estate listings as a database of properties.
The bigger the listings database the better. So you can be sure your potential buyers will be happy with lots of listings.
Zillow App Property Listings
Search and Filters
Searching for a perfect property may be a tough task. But it is possible to make it a friendly experience. For example, by including lots of advanced categories, services, and filters.
All real estate apps have a search feature to let their users start looking for a property. However, the filtering may be different for various types of real estate apps.
Also, it would be useful to include filters. For example, numbers of rooms, beds, home type, reviews, amenities, services, dates, location.
As for other apps, there would be other special filters to develop. Buying and selling apps offer such filters as home size, lot size, garage, outside features, community amenities.
Therefore, people will be able to specify their required services and filter out only the most suitable property options.
Zillow App Search and Filters
Property Pages
A property page should allow the real estate agents to share all the extensive information about the properties they are selling, renting, or in the process of building.
Therefore, it should be possible to post photos of the property, place a description, add information about the price and dates, list the amenities and services, and so on.
The property pages feature development is common for such types of real estate apps as renting apps, buying/selling apps, and home valuation apps.
Airbnb Application Property Pages
Favorites
When people are able to shortlist the properties they like, they are more likely to choose the one they like the most. That’s why it’s important to include a wishlist feature in a real estate mobile app. So the users can spend less time searching for the accommodation they liked before.
The Favorites feature is often seen in home valuation apps, renting apps, buying and selling apps.
Zillow Application Favorites
Calendar
The calendar in a real estate mobile application helps both property buyers and real estate agents. It helps to choose an appropriate date and time to schedule offline appointments.
Almost any real estate mobile app provides people with a calendar feature. So it’s easy to find the dates to book, buy, or sell a property. Or book meetings with agents or business clients, or make an appointment.
Zillow App Calendar
It is important to include the functionality that will help to connect people with real estate agents.
To let users call agents, it is popular to use business features as such a call button, request a call back button, online chat, or a request form for a consultation with agents.
This feature development is also common for apps such as home valuation apps, renting apps, and buying/selling real estate apps.
Zillow Mobile App Contact Buttons
Maps
Maps are needed to show buyers the location of the desired property. But not only this.
To help the buyers to make a decision as to whether to buy a property, you can use app maps to add data about the neighborhood, infrastructure, transportation, stores, crime rates, or the risks of natural disasters.
Airbnb Mobile App Maps
Notifications
When creating a real estate mobile app, don’t forget to include push notifications services. This feature is important when you need to retain users and notify them of important events.
As a rule, the real estate app users receive notifications about price changes, new properties, agents’ services, or updates on listings. Therefore, notifications are common for renting apps and buying/selling apps.
You can also use artificial intelligence development. For example, to make the notifications more personalized and bring more value to users.
Property Value Estimator
There are several types of calculators, depending on whether a user is buying or selling.
Sellers and real estate agents use these calculators to calculate the approximate value of a house according to various criteria. The calculator considers the estimated market value of a user’s home or the home they are interested in.
Buyers use mortgage calculator services to estimate their monthly mortgage payments. A perfect price calculator for buyers should be a tool that shows the final price. It is based on the mortgage price, initial payment, loan interest, and loan repayment period.
Realtor.com App Mortgage Calculator
Types of Real Estate Apps
Before starting to build a real estate mobile app, it’s important to consider various types of potential services.
Home Valuation App
Home valuation real estate mobile apps provide their users with all the necessary data about a home’s value.
This means by using such an app, property sellers can calculate the value of the housing they are selling.
These calculations are based on information about the home’s location, size, state, and other data. The accommodation calculator uses AI and machine learning (ML) to evaluate a price.
Real Estate CRM Mobile App
The Real estate CRM, or Customer Relationship Management software, is software for real estate business management between real estate agencies and buyers or renters.
Such real estate CRMs are helpful when it comes to
- selling real estate
- responding to incoming requests
- managing a sales pipeline
- getting feedback from users.
Examples: Contactually, Zendesk Sell.
Property Management System Mobile App
Real Estate PMS apps (property management systems), are a type of mobile app that is often used for the operations and management of such properties as hotels, commercial or residential accommodations.
Such applications can be helpful for accommodation managers, business owners, or hotel owners that need to create and manage multiple accommodations during their daily business activities.
Examples: Buildium, Tenant Cloud.
Real Estate ERP Mobile App
Real Estate ERP applications are special software tools that help real estate companies’ employees to control accommodation rates or inform the clients about new locations.
A Real Estate ERP mobile app can be great at
- collecting and managing information
- gathering data
- receiving real estate business performance updates
- using digital tools to stay in touch with external clients.
Examples: Buildium, ValueLink, Deskera.
Real Estate Investment Mobile App
Real estate investment applications help those who buy and who sell homes as a business to generate income when the price of accommodation rises in value.
The Real Estate Investment mobile app helps to determine the size of the mortgage, future interest rates, and taxes.
However, it is also possible to create a real estate investing mobile app that helps to invest in housing without buying a home.
For example, such a mobile app can help investors to decide whether there’s an optimal moment to buy stock in homebuilders, determine the risks, participate in real estate investment trusts and auctions, or create and invest in real estate crowdfunding projects.
Examples: Property Fixer, Realtor.com.
Renting Mobile App
Such applications allow people to rent out various kinds of accommodation for a short time (vacation, weekend, or business trip) or for the long term.
As a rule, such services pay additional attention to the description of
- amenities
- pictures
- location
- neighborhood of such accommodation.
Examples: Airbnb, Agoda, Vrbo.
Buying and Selling Real Estate Mobile App
The real estate mobile app for home purchases is focused on the buying and selling processes. Such applications aren’t completely automated, as it is with the Airbnb mobile app, where users just use a mobile app to create a profile and rent out accommodation.
In a buying and selling mobile app, there’s a human element too, for example, the real estate and customer service agents who consult with and help housing buyers to choose and buy the perfect house for them. Plus, there are usually no transactions carried out via a mobile app.
Examples: Redfin, Trulia, Zillow.
Reasons to Perform Real Estate App Development
Recent reports state that 73% of housing buyers use digital tools to find a home, while 58% of them successfully use mobile devices to find a home.
If you are planning to build a business in renting, buying, or selling housing, below are listed the most common reasons to perform real estate mobile app development.
The real estate industry has adopted lots of new technologies, such as artificial intelligence, virtual and augmented reality. These technologies can be helpful for
- more precise accommodation value estimations
- chatbot mobile app development
- online leasing assistants
All of that helps to perform real estate app development that will provide a better user experience and help visitors to choose and buy the accommodation they dream of or sell the one they have stopped loving.
High user Engagement and Conversion
Real estate mobile app types are extremely popular in the rental field. According to Real Estate in a Digital Age Report, 56% of people aged 36 or below and 50% of those aged 37-51 found their new housing online.
At the same moment, the NAR Home Buyer and Seller Generational Trends Report state that over 73% of customers searched for housing for sale with their smartphones. This shows that mobile devices can be convenient tools that help users to find a home with a mobile app, without having to use a computer.
Therefore, real estate mobile applications seem to be a promising solution for future development.
Better Viewing Experience
According to NAR (National Association of Realtors) research, 77% of real estate agents conclude that it is easier to represent a house for a buyer if there’s the opportunity to visualize the house.
At this point, lots of real estates app companies include 360-degree interactive VR real estate video tours in their mobile applications for both iOS and Android.
How Do Real Estate Apps Make Money?
There are lots of real estate application types, and each of them has its own way of monetization. In this paragraph, we will discuss the main ways of monetization of the most popular real estate app types: buying/selling and renting apps.
Fees
The users of real estate applications can be asked to pay commission fees. For example, the buyers can pay a fee after each property purchase. At the same time, the real estate agents can be asked to pay fees for featuring them in the service.
Examples: Airbnb, Redfin, Housing.com.
Advertising
Advertising is a way of monetization development for most existing services, and real estate mobile applications are no exception.
For example, it’s possible to offer ads for mortgage lenders, real estate agents, additional listings, interior designers and stores, and so on.
Examples: Zillow, Trulia, WeWork.
Premium features offer people advanced subscription plans. Such packages may include extended options, premium properties, more listings, free consultations with real estate agents, and so on. It all depends on the type of real estate app you are building.
For example, real estate agents who use premium packages can be visible to a larger audience of buyers, or appear in property listings more frequently.
Examples: Zillow, Trulia, Housing.com, Redfin.
Real Estate Software Development Trends
Like any other industry, the real estate industry follows its own trends. In this paragraph, we’ll review the main trends of real estate application development.
Big Data
When it comes to very large amounts of data, the traditional data-processing application software may be too weak to process this information. Here comes big data – a field that helps to analyze or extract information from large sets of data.
In real estate applications, big data development helps to store, process, and gather information about the users. Later, this information is used to predict the behavior and decisions of each user, and create the perfect searching suggestions.
Examples: Zillow, Redfin, Realtor.com, Airbnb.
Artificial Intelligence
Artificial intelligence is a technology that makes computers able to understand visual perception, recognize human speech, translate between different languages, and even make decisions.
Together with big data technologies development, artificial intelligence helps to analyze the preferences and requirements of real estate app users. As a result, people get precise, fast, and personalized app suggestions about the accommodation they are looking for.
Moreover, artificial intelligence can assist with management, tracking listings changes, and price comparisons.
Examples: Redfin, Airbnb, Trulia, Zillow.
Blockchain
Blockchain is a system in which each record is maintained across several computers that are linked in a peer-to-peer network.
Blockchain technology development itself is transparent and is widely used to prevent fraud. In real estate, blockchain can be helpful when it comes to checking documents, security, and reducing the amount of red tape inside an app.
Examples: PropertyClub, Realblocks, Slice.
Augmented Reality
Augmented reality is an interactive experience of a real-like world environment generated by a computer.
In real estate mobile applications, augmented reality helps to visualize the property to show what it looks like in real life. Such an approach helps app users to make a decision about buying or renting.
Examples: iStaging, Lyon Real Estate App.
Final Thoughts
Building a real estate mobile app is a complex task. Basically, this is the whole system that should work with loads of data and thousands of people.
So how do you start to create your real estate mobile app?
First, conduct discovery research. By doing so, you can learn about your business competitors. Also, discovery helps to understand market trends and target the audience of your mobile app.
Second, create your own real estate app MVP. It should include all the core mobile functionality. At the same time, it is budget-friendly and quick to create. This will save you time and money. And deliver your business to the market faster than some of your competitors.
Third, update and scale your mobile application. We advise, first of all, to make sure you have all the needed resources. So, it would be easier to further grow before scaling.
Got any questions about how to create a real estate mobile application? Feel free to contact Sloboda Studio for a free consultation!
Our company has experience in building real estate websites and mobile apps. We know how to create Airbnb-like marketplaces, property management systems, and CRMs.
Frequently Asked Questions
How many types of real estate mobile apples are there?
There are many types of real estate mobile apps. Before developing your real estate business, choose the most suitable to your type of business:
Real estate CRM app
Rental app
Property management system app
Home valuation app
Property investment app
Buying and selling home apps
What are the main reasons for building a real estate mobile app?
In 2021, mobile traffic has already significantly exceeded the web. So, building your real estate application is more than relevant. When the companies decide to build a real estate mobile app, they’ll get:
High customer engagement and conversion
Better property viewing experience
Greater audience reach
Ability to use modern tech stack
What are the core features of a real estate mobile app?
A real estate mobile application can have different core features, depending on which type of app is selected. Nevertheless, we can mention 12 main core features:
Onboarding
Registration
Personal Profiles
Listing
Search and filters
Property Pages
Favorites
Calendar
Requests
Maps
Notifications
Property Value Estimator
