A prominent place on the map of the modern business world belongs to real estate industry. No matter what is the situation, if there is any crisis or nor not, an estate agent will always have the chances to profit. It is really fascinating to track the considerable increase in the number of real estate websites and watch how real estate app development establishes its positions on the market.
Meanwhile, the important dispute remains unsolved. Is there a possibility that realtor websites will replace real people? Will the technological approach oust the human resources from the industry? Well, there are a lot of opinions concerning this topic. Some experts believe that professional staff is wealth, and there is no way to switch to apps and websites completely. Another point of view says that living in the IT era it is simply impossible to avoid its impact on every single industry.
In this article, we will highlight the situation on the market, main trends and forecasts, talk about the most convenient tools and guide you to the complete understanding of a topic.
The Internet Turns into an American Real Estate Business Gold Mine
Information technologies are applicable to every existing industry. This is the reason agents and brokers slowly lose their positions - search engines and various mobile applications can do all the job for them. Researching real estate, some of the most experienced specialists come to the conclusion that mobile industry has a strong potential and capabilities strike the professions connected to real estate.
National Association of Realtors acknowledges that technologies may seriously change the industry. Additionally, their common study with Google showed that more than 90% of buyers were looking for their houses and apartments online. Along with that, more than 68% of interested customers use special mobile apps to find their future home of dreams. This kind of software tools is popular not only among the customers but also among sellers and intermediary agencies. The numbers keep growing daily.
Who Makes a Difference
Here, we would like to draw your attention to the tool that actually changed the market as we know it. Zillow application demonstrates to us the momentous real estate trends and teaches a lot of housing-industry establishments how to run the business these days. This app made a process simple, clear and pleasant. Take a note, that Zillow developers do not take a direct part in a business of selling homes directly, but they sell advertising to real estate agents.
Trulia is another type of web portals that influence the industry. Together with Zillow, they build a structure that is expected to demonstrate the strongest position and the greatest abilities on the whole market.
What is revenue made with? Both services charge the agents for putting their names on the pages containing the entities of property for sale. They actively use mobile, and there is a reason for that: the real estate lifestyle surfing shows it is one of the most actively used channels. The companies spend 12 million dollars on marketing and make 4% of this sum.
Features of Zillow
The collaboration between Zillow and Trulia is powerful, but it is not the only business deal that builds Zillow's success. A lot of online real estate companies have built the beneficial cooperation with Zillow. Let's take a look at the companies that have experienced some positive shifts lately:
- StreetEasy
The physical location of real estate website StreetEasy in New York, where it has been providing the excellent services over the years.
- Agentfolio
Real estate professionals use this tool for organizational purposes. Besides that, it works well as a tool for communication between home buyers and responsible specialists.
- Hotpads
Real estate app developers have done everything right when Hotpads came to life. This great tool is featured with an interactive map of the objects. The search engine helps to sell them even more effectively.
- Retsly
Multiple listings are the main advantage of Retsly. This tool collects the important data and modifies it in a way that allows the development specialists use it for their own applications.
Realtor mobile app development world is full of various opportunities provided by Zillow and its partners. Talking about features, Zillow shares the features we described above as closely cooperates with the services that actually show this functionality.
Additionally, the tool has the following prominent features:
- it collects the information about more than 110 million of real estate units in the US,
- it provides the basic information and significant details about houses and apartments,
- it compares prices of the different objects,
- it allows value changing within the defined terms,
- it suggests the aerial views of the objects,
- it provides the information about the objects for rent etc.
This product provides the exceptional opportunities for both sides of the deal, as well as for intermediary parties. This is why its role can hardly be overestimated.
What You Need to Develop an Application Like Zillow or Trulia
It is a rather serious step to decide to develop an app similar to Zillow or Trulia. And before you start building your own best commercial real estate application we would like to ask you 2 simple questions:
- Did you Browse the Existing Solutions?
Modern market is full of the solutions that serve different business needs. It is highly possible that your problem has been solved and there is a suitable software product.
- Do You Have a Reliable Partner?
To provide home search services online you have to have a reliable development partner to build trustworthy relations with. You cannot deal with this task all by yourself, so it is vital to find somebody to assist you.
If your researching told you that a custom solution is needed, you should start the process with the following steps:
- visit Zillow and Trulia websites,
- find out about their components and the specific of work,
- discover the prominent features.
Those tools have different properties for sale and for rent, and you have to know them to successfully enter the niche. Let's take a look at the significant elements you need to implement in your future solution.
What Is the Importance of the Database
Real estate industry in the US, as well as in any other country is powered by a huge database of the former and potential customers, real estate objects, details of the bargains, financial transactions etc. It is fair enough to say that a database is the key element of the solution. The Multiple Listing Service, or the MLS system, is used here as a source of data. Additionally, the significant information can be collected from external vendors, agencies and the professional staff.
Recently, Zillow and Trulia show the considerable potential to become the sole owner of the entire real estate data. But first of all, they need to deal with National Association of the Realtors to get the top position. And if you want to build an alternative solution, this is what you need to do as well. Currently, the services use NAR to access data, but there are the predictions that the situation will shortly change.
To start your product, you should understand the database importance. There is an opportunity to use Zillow API to get the access to data for real estate mobile app development.
The Real Estate Market Needs an Advanced Search Function
The next point to draw the attention to is the advanced search. The interested buyers love data organization and give preference to the website that demonstrates the following features:
- Convenient Structure
The structure is the thing that defines user experience and convenience. Devote some time to building the clear and intuitive data structure to get closer to the Zillow's success.
- Advanced Filters
If people decide to buy a house, they take this question extremely seriously. Of course, unless a person already owns a dozen real estate objects, but let's be honest such case is quite rare. So one needs to be able to filter data by various features to find a lovely unit.
- Search Function Must-Have Elements
And to dive deeper into the previous point, we decided to provide you with the top search criteria to be added to the products. Those should be the type, location, price, year built, and square foot range. Now, you have the information about the most important details that matter for the customers.
Analytics would be helpful for you to understand which search criteria are needed to improve customer experience and profitable interaction.
Why Graphic Displays Are so Important
There is no mystery in a fact that images are engaging. The visitor pays much more attention to the graphical objects than to the plain text. So this fact can play by your side, too. Add the real pictures, catchy images and detailed but simple infographics to attract the user and make one spend as much time as possible at your web pages. Leave the heavy long texts in the past, but do not use too much graphics: combine the types of information to reach the desired effect.
What information to demonstrate with graphics:
- maps,
- pictures of properties and neighbourhood,
- mortgage breakdown and other statistical data,
- numbers like market value or rental price etc.
Neighbourhood Information on the Map and Other Competitive Advantages
What do you personally draw your attention to when looking for a place to stay or live? Of course, there are lots of meaningful factors, and the neighbourhood is one of them. Community matters as well, so if you add neighbourhood information and a location on a map to the object's web page, it can considerably improve its popularity.
For example, Zillow allows viewing of this data by simply clicking on a map provided by the software. All the users need to do is to choose the criteria and enjoy the search results in the certain region. On the contrary, Trulia provides this information at the top of the page, and a map is in front users' eyes. It increases the perception considerably. Draw function works well on a mobile version of both tools. This means you can easily circle the preferred area with a finger and the map will provide you with the items you might like.
What Does "Save Search" Mean for Business Development
Save Search option has a great meaning and purposes for both sides of cooperation.
interested customers can create the lists with the items they love,
realtors can analyze the information and common features of the saved items to suggest some similar objects to the user.
Sounds like a win-win strategy, does not it? At the same time, you can improve the app with push notifications, and inform the user each time the suitable apartment appears.
Small efforts can lead you to the great results, so be attentive to the details, analyze users' preferences carefully and help them find exactly the things they need. Use the advantages of Save Search feature for that and feel how useful it is.
Conclusion
There is a possibility that in the nearest future the real estate agent profession will be replaced by specialized software products. The whole tendency on the market moves in this direction, so it is time to think about your business upgrade.
You can either choose some of the up-and-running solutions or build your own custom app. The application created for your needs exactly has a better chance to positively modify your business and guide you to the profit blow up.
Everything you need to create a brilliant software solution like Zillow is a powerful online marketplaces' software development team. The IT specialists can implement the best practices to your solution, make it look like you want to and add the most prominent features to the app. Stop hesitating and join the digital revolution to get your benefits! Just get in touch!
