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Agents - If You're Going To Build An iPhone App, Here's What I'd Love To See!

By
Services for Real Estate Pros with 123Landlord.com

A Client's Perspective

I'm not a real estate agent. My business is software, primarily easy-to-use property management software. But I have personal and professional relationships with many agents, and I really believe that the best agent is one that stays on top of technology and chooses the right mix of tools and products that will help them build leads, grow their client base, and sell more property.

What I Want Your App To Have

Who You Are

A picture would be nice, but really only so I can determine if you and I share demographics - If I'm a twenty-something first time buyer, I'm probably not going to select an agent who is in her fifties - to be frank.

Keep your biography brief - this is great for your website, but it's not important in an app and just adds more noise than signal. Once we meet, your background should flow out of a natural conversation. A small tagline is fine here, though.

Contact Info

Obviously - show me your phone numbers, and your email. Let me text message you, find you on Facebook and Twitter (don't cram the app with your real-time tweets, though - let me go and find this on my own if I want to), and visit your website.

No Forms Please

Don't ask me twenty questions about what I'm looking for, or what I'm selling, before I can get in touch with you. The fact that I'm selling a two-story home with three bedrooms and two bathrooms is not very useful to you, and it's annoying to me to have to tell you this. Come and see my home, and you'll learn all you need to know. Or get innovative, and make it easy for me to show you the house. It might be nice if I could take photos of my home from the phone, add my address, telephone number, and name, and just submit them to you in the app. This effectively says "here's my home I'd like to sell, please contact me". This helps you to screen me a little bit - if my home isn't normal for your clientele, then you're not wasting your time to come visit, but don't ask me to type into little boxes and check options and select from lists, just to get you to call me.

Testimonials

This is key - I want to know that you can get it done. Seller testimonials are more important than ones from buyers, but perhaps you have two modes (buyer vs seller) and show me the most relevant ones. But make it detailed - show me neighborhoods you've sold, asking price to sale price ratios, and some comments from the seller. Show me the sale date as well - there isn't much value in showing me properties you sold back in 2000 when it was a different market.

Listings

This is a no brainer, sort of - I want to see the listings you have, but not for the reason you think. Honestly, as a buyer, I'm less interested in the listings you have than I am in listings that fulfill my criteria - for that, I'd probably do my own searching on an MLS website. As a seller, I'm really not interested in your listings, except to get a sense of the types of property you primarily work with, the neighborhoods you focus on, and the price ranges you fall into. This just lets me gauge whether I think I would be wasting your time by calling you - if you primarily deal with high end luxury homes, and we're a young family in a starter home or move up situation, then I'm probably not going to call.

Above all, if you're going to show listings, please do it tastefully. The iPhone screen means you have to conserve space. Don't show me all 250 of your listings, from the last 10 years. Use the iPhone's location based API to detect where I live, and show me a small number of properties that represent a good mix of property styles, neighborhoods, and list prices.

Once I'm Your Client, Personalize Your App For Me

I like what I see, I sign and make you my agent, and the listing is yours - great. Now, I'd love a way for the app to instantly update and show me every showing date and time, and every open house, on a calendar. You can use push notifications to update this, and I instantly get a popup message on my phone indicating a new showing - I can instantly confirm the date and time, decline, or suggest a new time - all from the app. Yes, this is a bit of a lavish luxury and the same can be accomplished with a phone call, but if you want to differentiate your app, this can't hurt.

Overall

Now is not the time to replicate your website - don't show me endless listings and reams of real estate data, and don't show me clunky mortgage calculators and other "tools". The app should be a living breathing business card - one that stays current with your latest contact info, the brokerage you belong to, and something I can use to contact you.

Show All Comments Sort:
Knipe Realty
Knipe Realty NW - Portland, OR

Welcome and glad you found Activerain and hope to get to know you better. If you ever need any help, don't hesitate to shoot us an email, we would love to help you.

 

NW Broker Secrets

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Nov 07, 2011 05:40 PM
Steve Moores
123Landlord.com - Calgary, AB
123Landlord.com

Thanks! 

Nov 08, 2011 04:15 AM
George & Arlene Paukert
Road to Wealth, Inc. - West Palm Beach, FL

Don't you just love Activerain! I think you will learn so much here, I know we have! Look forward to getting to know you better.

Arlene

Nov 23, 2011 08:33 AM