Real estate is a booming business in Australia. As per a report generated by Australian Taxation Office (ATO) in June 2023, around 11.4 million taxpayers have invested fruitfully in real estate property. This figure will certainly tempt you to evaluate how to create a successful mobile app for your real estate business to capture a larger market share.
With the advent of the internet, people are surrounded by technology. Digitisation is a technical advancement we have all witnessed in the past few years, especially with Artificial Intelligence. In this changing world, every single person owns a smartphone. Since every other thing is available on our smart devices, it is vital to consider having your active real estate mobile application to attract more eyes.
Hence, if you belong to the real estate industry and still don’t own your business app, this article is for you. Here we will discuss in detail the real estate mobile app, the reason for having one for your business, and most importantly, how to create the application to receive more traction and business from your potential audience. So, keep reading this article further.
What is Real Estate Mobile App?
A real estate app offers convenience to the person searching for the desired property at his chosen place. Earlier, the same person had to go through property agents and brokers and was expected to pay a hefty brokerage amount to buy/rent the house. But the real estate app changed the scenario by replacing these agents with mobile phone technology.
The real estate mobile apps make reaching out for the desired property easier with a tap on their smart devices such as phones, iPads, tablets, laptops, etc. All that is needed is to create such an app for your business, and the users will install it on their devices to open the window to a wide range of properties to select from per their requirements and budget.
Why is Real Estate Mobile App Important?
Real estate industry has a great potential in the Australian market. With the radical technological changes, a smart amalgamation of this business with the current technical advancement can unquestionably be profitable. The convenience created by such applications with on-the-go search options makes finding the property very efficient.
A research study published in Statista shows that the number of smartphone users in Australia is increasing yearly. The chart above confirms that smartphone users will continue to grow, and therefore, it is critical to digitise your business to bloom in this competitive world.
According to a report generated by the National Association of Realtors, about 76% of homebuyers depend on their smart devices to find and finalize the property. So, you need a well-equipped real estate mobile app for your business for the following reasons:
- Â To Improve Customer Experience
The real estate mobile app gives potential clients the mobility and convenience to search and shortlist the property per their criteria. - Helps to Pace up the Sale Process
This application also helps to speed up the sale process because of the availability of advanced features like virtual tours, digital transfers, online paperwork, etc. - Fast Solutions to Customer Queries
The agents and customer care executives can quickly solve customer queries when the business is directly linked with the digital platform. - Competitive Advancements
A fully functional real estate mobile app gives you an edge over competitors. You can reach your customers swiftly without losing the sale potential.
How to Create a Real Estate Mobile App
Creating a real estate mobile app is a must during this era to leverage maximum profits and increased customer experience. Here, you will learn about the steps to develop your application from the beginning stage.
Step 1: Identify your Goal
Creating the app out of nowhere yields minimal to no results. Therefore the first step involves setting up the goal that leads you to the formation of your business application. Determine the target market and niche you want to cater to, and, accordingly, work on creating a blue map for your app. Thus, to begin with, identify the following points:
- Create your business niche
- Figure out the target audience
- Identify the competitors
- Explore the customer’s pain points
Step 2: Create a Roadmap
Another vital step in the development process of the real estate application is the creation of a clear roadmap. Once you know where to head, you can efficiently work on the various measures to stand out differently.
This is a crucial step because a real estate business doesn’t always offer unique or untouched products. There is a high possibility that your competitors also display the property you are showcasing. Here, how uniquely you can market yourself is crucial. A roadmap will help you think about the features, smooth services, details, etc., you can give your clients that make you different.
Step 3: Select an Operating System
Two major operating systems are available, iOS and Android, on which you can run your application. You can select either of these platforms or run a cross-functional app operating on iOS and Android. Since a real estate targeted audience can be a user of either OS, selecting the cross-platform framework to capture the users of any of these Operating Systems is advisable.
Step 4: Synopsis of Core App Features
Outlining the core app features will be your next step toward your real estate app building. Identify what are the features you want to include in your app. However, the critical points to remember here are as follows:
- App intuitiveness
- Customer-centric
- User-friendly interface
- Easy to Navigate
- Good-resolution image use
- One-click product detail option
- Speed oriented
- Simple to use
These are some of the must-have features in your real estate app. Ensure you develop a readable, simple, easy-to-use application that offers a good user experience and runs without glitches.
Step 5: Ensure Stern App Security
Preventing your real estate application from unauthorized access, malware, and cybercriminals is paramount. The security breach may cause hefty financial and data losses; therefore, you must ensure strict security protocols.
To save your mobile app from hackers, you should secure it through a robust authentication system, encrypted data, authorized APIs, and tamper-detection software. You must also conduct regular testing to closely monitor the potential security breaches in your real estate mobile app.
Step 6: Start the Coding
It’s time to start with the front-end and back-end coding. You can now ask your development team to start building the mobile application with collaborative efforts to bring the desired result. The front end is the face of your real estate mobile app; therefore, you must create an intuitive surface that is smooth in functionality and user-friendly.
The back end is the backstage platform of the app that lets you get control over the functions of your app. To get a cohesive performance, ensure the end-user receives an exemplary experience while navigating your real estate application.
Step 7: Perform Multiple Tests
Get your app through multiple tests before launch to expect the desired performance. Quality assurance helps you better understand your app’s current version and lets you fill in any gaps.
Expert engineers’ tests help identify bugs, viruses, and malware before they can ruin your application. It also allows the experts to fix and remove the glitches to ensure outstanding app performance.
Step 8: Final Launch in the App Store
The final and most important step in app building is the launch of the app in the app store. Submission of the apps requires certain obligations and regulations that must be followed as per the app you are applying.
It is a big day in your real estate business, as the app’s successful launch will help you greatly expand your current business. You will get more visibility, clients’ reachability and can now expect more hot calls through your business mobile app.
Necessary Features in Real Estate Mobile App
Real estate mobile app requires some imperative features to leverage maximum profits. The successful real estate mobile apps in Australia include several unavoidable elements to provide a rich experience to their users. The components must be decided based on the type of real estate app you want to create to cater to the needs of your targeted audience. Some of the essential real estate mobile apps are as follows:
- User’s Onboarding
The users find the applications most attractive when they experience a simple onboarding process. Making this process as per the expectations of the users could offer more convenience and ease to the users.Offering easy navigation on landing the page after the app installation, allowing browsing without signing up, providing info content of using various features on the app, requesting linking the app with the user’s social media accounts for customized offerings, etc., are some examples of the tried and tested onboarding process to win user’s attention - Advance Searching Option
Avoid letting the users go through the unpleasant experience of getting irrelevant search results. Provide search filters that allow users to have specific outcomes. Provide various search options like location, property type, price range, size, number of bedrooms, etc.Another search option you can add to your real estate mobile app is letting the users filter the property as per the utilities available in nearby locations. A person looking for a private space might want to avoid the house being near public places. In contrast, some families may wish to shortlist the choices as per the availability of supermarkets or schools nearby. - Interactive User Interface
The application should be created by considering the end user’s convenience. An app that is easy to navigate, interactive and user-friendly is the most liked by most of the audience searching the property online.Therefore, another essential point to remember is to keep the interface clean, straightforward, and interactive, offering users a seamless experience while searching, viewing, and shortlisting the desired property. - Include the Analytics
Analytics help the app owner to understand the user’s behaviour on the application. You must always include analytics in your real estate app as it will help you comprehend how the user perceives your app and the scope of improvements to offer better results.The analytics also helps you understand what the user might want by determining the time spent on a particular page. You can advertise various properties to them as per their interest, include them in several marketing campaigns, and increase the relevant data. - Detailed Description
Anyone searching for the property online should see the maximum relevant information before deciding. Ensure you include detailed descriptions, multiple photos, virtual tours, videos, precise information, etc.The more you provide detailed information to the targeted customers, the more the possibility of increased traction and conversion rates will be. Therefore, take advantage of the advanced technology as much as possible and offer a smoother experience to your users. - Saved Searched Option
It is vital to provide the saved search option to the users. This allows a lot of convenience while shortlisting the desired property. You must also offer the option of setting up an alert to the users about the property that matches their criteria. This will help them to stay updated with the latest listings, and also, they’ll be connected with your app. - Integrate Maps
Maps integration with the app will offer multiple benefits to the users. They can quickly locate the precise location of the property as well as they can find out the nearby amenities and utilities. Therefore by associating the map with the real estate application, you can also provide relevant information to the users.
- Chat Bot Feature and Messaging Option
You must include the chatbot feature in your application to answer common queries quickly. A chatbot is a chat option on the app that lets the users get on-the-spot answers to their questions. You must also provide a direct messaging option on your app to establish a quick link between potential customers and agents.
Tentative Costs of Developing the Real Estate Application
To capture the maximum market share, creating a real estate application is the need of hour in today’s era. After understanding various factors and features involving the development of the mobile app, you must think about the tentative costs that will occur in the entire development process.
Multiple factors impact the costs of building the real estate mobile application. These factors may include the app design cost and features like high-quality pictures, virtual tours, 3D floor plans, mortgage calculators, agent profiling, etc.
The other reason that decides the cost of developing your business app is the platform you choose. There are two major platforms to run the app; iOS and Android. The app development cost for any or both media differs; therefore, you can choose accordingly. Once you know what features you want in your app, you can contact the expert app development company and negotiate on costs as per your expectations and budget.
Conclusion
Building a robust real estate app is essential to increase the reach of your business and boost conversion rates. By providing a secure, seamless, and user-friendly real estate mobile app, you will provide a rich experience to your potential customers and enhance and expand your business bandwidth.
Therefore, it is the right time to contact an experienced mobile app development agency that can provide you with a serene experience of app development and maintenance with guaranteed high-quality services under your budget.
