Real estate mobile applications and web advertising aggregators can be either independent start-ups or tools to boost sales for your real estate business. This can be:
- Start-up projects.
- Real estate agencies (to increase sales volume).
- Developers (to sell construction objects).
- Tourism sector (daily rent).
- Municipalities (sales of urban real estate) etc.
- Business needs (to rent office premises, conference halls, meeting rooms, hubs and spaces for co-working).
Depending on the specificities of business, it is possible to use the following tools:
- Mobile real estate apps for iOS and Android.
- Website (this solution is widely used but not obligatory, some projects focus only on the users of mobile devices).
- Admin section for administrators, moderators or partners.
So, let’s find out the main things to take into account during the developmental process. Any IT solutions should reflect the specific features of a business process:
- Where can you get the database of real estate? It’s possible to give users a chance to add objects, but nobody would use an empty app. It’s essential to have a greater part of the adverts valid at the moment of the project start-up and the at beginning of the developmental process.
- How will the database be updated? What type of advert has been planned to be publish for a specific group of people or only for the partner agencies? Will it need pre-moderation? Will the adverts be free of charge? Or should they be paid? will it be two types? Think over all the specific features of the developmental process beforehand.
- Moderators and administrators. It’s important for the service employees to monitor the relevance of adverts (especially if they are private offers), possible spam (adverts not related to the subject), errors when filling data etc. Also, users may need technical support. Take this into account during the development process.
Main functions of the real estate app
One of the major objectives is to develop a real estate app with an indicative list. This is a feature we have used in our own experience on development and we have studied successful projects and also read users’ reviews.
On the picture, you can see an example using a map which displays an object and the surrounding infrastructures in the Trulia app development.
The benefits of the real estate app: Take into account before real estate application development
When creating a real estate app, the crucial point you should bear in mind is the importance of usability. A user should intuitively understand how to use the app, where to find the functions he needs, how to navigate through the menu and the catalog.
- A UI prototype of an application is developed, which is the user’s interface.
- The visual style is done, taking into account the familiar user elements for iOS and/or Android.
- All possible screen displays and their status.
- On the basis of the prototype, the design is developed to meet the project requirements (color gamut, stylistic peculiarities etc.)
The outcome of such a developmental approach is the realization of a real estate app which is user friendly. An example of a successful project can be the US application ZILLOW: it is simple, convenient, with easy-to-use navigation and user friendly.
Poster of the advert;
An advert about sale or rent of a real estate should be short but maximally informative. The poster should have the following information:
- Photo with the ability to view the gallery of several images.
- Object address.
- Main characteristics and description.
- Price.
- Object location on the map.
- Contacts of the seller.
For example, the poster of the Zillow application has photo gallery in the slider mode.
What should be on the website
There are two main criteria which determines the success of selling or renting a property, they are location and price. Advertising slogans and marketing creativity are secondary compared to these two factors. Inexperienced realtors are trying to attract the user with special offers, without specifying where the house is located and what is the cost of apartments.
However, buying on emotions does not work in the real estate market, the buyer thinks weeks and months, weighing the risks. To make them interested, the site must quickly give clear answers to the main questions and after that, then can develop the advertising image and provoke the client’s desire to see the object in reality. Therefore, the main functionality requirement of the realtor site is conciseness, convenient navigation, the ability to quickly obtain relevant information and ease of use. The functionality of the website can either be a copy of the mobile app or be something completely different. Everything depends on the set targets and the goals set before the development process, besides, the main functions will be as follows:
- To distinguish the objects for sale and for rent;
- To provide users with maximum information about the object;
- To clearly show the profitability of the offer for the client;
- To save search history for further object analysis.
The development of the catalog on a real estate website is important since this is the main element of any property selling and leasing website. The catalog development should solve two tasks:
- Convenient search of the real estate object;
- Real estate website promotion through the search engine.
The first goal can be achieved only with well thought-out website development and to realize the second one, it will be necessary to add regions and locations to the semantic core of all the pages.
Admin panel of the project;
Several roles should be implemented in the admin panel of a real estate application:
- An administrator of a real estate application with complete access to all the functions and reports (statistics, finance, users and moderators’ activity).
- A moderator should have access to editing and blocking of the adverts (maybe in one specific region). Viewing of the users’ correspondence in order to solve disputable issues. Ability to block the users who break the rules (Technical support).
In case of cooperation with partner agencies, a partner could get access to the admin panel and will have the ability to edit, delete, add adverts and correspond from a web service with users who found interest in a definite object, as well as to view private statistics: adverts, number of users’ requests, finance etc.
Synchronization
It’s of the utmost importance to set up fast data exchange between the real estate app and the server part. The database structure should be developed in such a way that the data exchange would be conducted fast even in cases peak loads.
If you plan to update the database of the adverts automatically through the exchange with other projects or program systems, it’s necessary to develop and implement API – a set of tools for automatic exchange of the data between the systems.
An advert about the real estate implies having a lot of images, pictures, photos. You have to have a lot of space for keeping this information, a website should upload the photos fast. For this purpose you should:
- Optimize the images. For example, shrink them with no loss of quality with the help of tinypng.com.
- Upload the images asynchronously. First, upload the main image and then the rest.
- If the image isn’t uploaded, show the process to the user.
There is no point trying to upload huge images for mobile devices, it better to just optimize them.
- Product idea and business expertise.
- Project evaluation and proposal.
- Prototyping.
- Product design.
- Backlog and development contract.
- Planning a Sprint.
- Retrospective.
- Provide help to launch your app.
People come to our company to realize their idea of a mobile real estate application, web resource or automate business processes. We conduct free business-expertise, advise the client and finalize the ideological component of the project, taking into account the needs of users.
The project team is evaluated by the development team. After that, the client receives a preliminary commercial proposal for the development of the real estate application.
After having an understanding of what the users expect from the real estate application, we proceed to the prototyping process. A competently built interface is a guarantee that the user quickly understands how the real estate application will help solve his problem. You get an opportunity to look at the functionality of the future real estate application without the software part.
We draw the design of all screens and the basic features of a real estate application. We use the recommendations of Google and Apple to design the real estate application. We take care that the graphics solutions are understandable and convenient. In the end, you will get a design that will set you apart from the competition.
Meeting with the product-hunter, discussing the details of the project. The team develops backlog for the whole project together with the customer. After the approval of backlog, the contract on development is signed with the customer.
An agreement with the customer on what development tasks that will be performed on the nearest sprint.
A demonstration to the customer, the results for 2 weeks of development. The team analyzes the risks and problems, completes the sprint, optimizes the further development of the real estate application.
We are able to prepare descriptions and graphic materials in order to publish your real estate app on Play Market or App Store.
What is important for a successful start of real estate application development?
The following issues should be solved by the time the project starts up and the development process begins:
- Initial content provisioning (database of the objects), the involvement of the first partners.
- Publishing of the real estate app in the stores Google Play and App Store: preparation of the screenshots descriptions, payment of subscription for a year after development and launching.
- Promotion of the web project (PPC, optimization through search engines, SMM, other channels).
- ASO (App Store Optimization).
Each project requires technical support and updating after the development is completed. This is necessary for correcting errors and extension of the functionality in the process of developing the project. It’s important to take into account the expenditures during the budget preparations for the development and support.
Don’t forget about the users’ reviews – fast responses to their questions will increase their confidence level in you. Woxapp software company is able to help you in solving this and all other issues regarding real estate application development so let’s get in touch!
