So, you have decided to invest in real estate app development. Well, that’s great. But have you ever wondered what sort of real estate app you should target? In today’s competitive world, crossing the benchmark has become essential if you want to succeed with your project. You need to stand apart from the rest of the competitors while ensuring that your users get the same level of experience that they are habitual. That’s where the idea of creating an app like Redfin comes into play!
Gone are the days when people used to visit the broker’s office to search for good properties or rental places. Today, home search apps like Redfin have taken over the real estate industry. By upgrading the traditional brokerage system and focusing on cutting-edge technologies, apps like Redfin have completely redefined the real estate app development market.
Hence, if you plan to launch your custom home search app, what better than Redfin could serve your purpose. So, in this guide, we will walk you through the complete steps to create a custom real estate app like Redfin tailored to your business needs.
Read till last to discover your real estate app’s latest trends and features. Besides, if you want to jump to your real estate app development process, request a free 30-minute consultation with our experts right away!
Table of Contents
What is Redfin App and Why Invest in an App Like Redfin?
Redfin is a Seattle-based real estate and home search app that has gained huge momentum in the past few years. In fact, the home search app crossed the mark of $886 million revenue market in 2020 as the homeowners flocked to the online market. And why not?
With the growth in real estate apps, Redfin has offered its users some unique and effective functionalities. For instance, offering on-demand home tours to interested buyers, providing dedicated marketing platforms to sellers, and offering discounted brokerages are some of the USPs behind the success of Redfin.
And, if you are looking for more reasons to invest in a real estate app like Redfin, let’s help you uncover the recent market trends.
- 97% of the customers today prefer to look online to buy a house.
- There was a 14% hike in the total house search apps installed in the USA in 2021
- 62% of the homebuyers consider mobile search before making a final decision.
- 76% of the buyers find their dream home using a mobile device.
So, what do these stats inform you? As a real estate company, you should invest in digital real estate solutions, including websites, real estate software, and mobile apps. If you plan smartly for your app and partner with a reputed real estate app development company, nothing can stop you from succeeding.
At least, that’s what worked for a London-based company SearchSmartly! That amazing real estate app was equipped with a top-notch AI-driven property search algorithm, which helped raise £1,250,000 in funding in June 2021.
What Features to Include in Your Custom Home Search App Like Redfin?
So, you have conducted the market research and thought you have everything needed to create an app like Redfin.
Think Again!
Features today play a crucial role in defining the scope of your project. Focusing on competitive features is a must if you want to stand apart from your competitors and entice your customers.
Hence, as a leading real estate app development company, we have brought you some powerful features that can build success for your project.
1. Property Details
Property details are the most important aspect of your home search app. You can offer various details of multiple properties to your users, including a residential area, total build-up area, price, etc. You can also provide information about hospitals, roads, malls, and grocery stores to your customers nearby their preferred properties.
2. Images and Videos
It is a common saying that a picture speaks a thousand words, which is true for real estate app development. Including images and videos in your real estate app like Redfin can help you engage your customers and turn them into prospects.
3. Smart Search
Offering search filters like price and property size is fine. But, if you want to make a competitive real estate app like Redfin, you need to provide much more than that. Filters based on location, area of the house, price, lot size, locality, and other offerings will make a good home search app. Besides that, if you offer voice search functionality, it will add to your real estate app.
4. Favorite
You can allow your users to save the properties they are interested in using this robust functionality. Your users will be thankful to you if you help them make an informed decision by enabling them to review the properties again.
5. Connect with the Owner
Connecting the home buyers with the homeowners is the best and most essential thing you can offer your users. You can either provide that feature free of cost or include that in your premium model.
6. Smart Suggestions
AI has truly been the most amazing technology for real estate, and smart suggestion is one of the few applications of AI. Your app will analyze what properties your users explore the most by implementing smart suggestion functionality. After that, it provides them with the most suitable suggestions matching their requirements.
Besides all these essential features, many other advanced features can ensure success for your real estate app development company. You should target them, especially when you plan to target some big nations.
7. Virtual Tours
Virtual reality has become the next big thing in the real estate market. Besides engaging the users, it also helps the homeowners and real estate agents to market their properties more efficiently. So, if you want to develop a real estate app like Redfin, focusing on 3D models and visualization should be your goal.
You can refer to our real estate virtual tour software section to know more about the robust solution. With a virtual tour section, your agents/homeowners could easily show their properties to the customers, even sitting remotely.
Read More: Real Estate Web Portal Development: A Complete Guide
8. In-App Calculators
Users often search for a mortgage, loan, or EMI calculator to purchase any property. Hence, if you offer them, in-built calculators, the chances of conversions will rise significantly. In fact, Redfin also offers one such feature to its customers.
The users can know the user’s mortgage payments, including principal amount, interest, insurance cost, HOA fees, etc.
9. User Analytics
For any admin, getting user analytics is the best metric they can ask for. Hence, you should also leverage big data and AI/ML modules to turn the vast amount of raw data into useful business insights.
For instance, you can know the best areas where most searches happen. Besides that, you can also know the best house sizes your target audiences are interested in.
10. AR Tools
Besides virtual reality, augmented reality is another robust aspect trending in the real estate market. Today, users actively seek AR tools to virtually furnish their homes or decide the paints. Hence, if you target the USA or Canada, including the AR feature is necessary.
11. Real-Time Chats
Finally, we have real-time chat and support functions that can make your Redfin clone app a big hit in the market. You can automate all your customer support operations with ML-based chatbots while resolving their queries. Besides that, if you need to route the calls, it is also possible with an automated system.
The real-time chats with the customers enhance your visitors’ opportunities to become your value prospects and eventually customers. Hence, try to include this feature in your app.
Tech Stack for an App Like Redfin to Stay Competitive in 2022
Creating an app like Redfin not only requires you to select good features but even demands a competitive tech stack. So, as a leading real estate app development company, here’s what tech stack we suggest you use in your Redfin clone app.
For Signup/Registration
These days, the trend of social sign-up is popular. Hence, you can use SDKs like Facebook SDK, Google Sign-In, and Linkedin SDK.
For Database and Property Listings
The database is a crucial aspect of every business, and its importance increases when it comes to the real estate market. Hence, you should use a secure cloud platform like AWS, Google Cloud, or Microsoft Azure. Besides that, using IDX (Internet Data Exchange) policy is also important to secure the flow of data from MLS (multiple listing software) to your mobile app.
For Search Filters
To offer various location-based and property-based filters to your users, you will certainly need:
1. CoreLocation for tracking the real-time location of users
2. Elastic search for customizable search options
3. Realm to retrieve the list of the saved properties on your app.
For Mapping Functionality
Various third-party APIs can be used to offer accurate mapping functionality on your real estate app like Redfin. To name a few, we have:
Google Maps API, MapBox SDK, GeoNames, Google Places API, and Spatial Neighborhood.
For the 3D Virtual Tour
Various VR/AR tools can offer virtual scenarios to your customers. Besides that, a popular tool like EyeSpy360 can also be used in your real estate apps like Redfin.
For Push Notification
Apple Push Notification services (APNs) or Firebase SDK can be used to implement push notifications in your custom home search app.
How to Build a Home Search App Like Redfin?
From exploring the market trends to hiring a dedicated development team, let’s uncover the major steps required to develop a real estate app like Redfin!
1. Focus on Market Trends
Market trends are the most virtual component to building success for your project. With in-depth market and competitor research, you can easily know your audience’s major concerns and how your product can resolve those issues.
Besides that, you can also know the most trending aspects of your niche that ensures success for your app. Analyzing your competitor’s strategies can be an excellent benefit for your real estate app development.
Hence, opt for an app development company that offers you market and competitor analysis services. Besides that, identify some of your competitors performing well in your target market.
2. Hire a Reputed Real Estate App Development Company
The next big step in developing a real estate app like Redin is to select a reputed app development company. You need to choose an experienced real estate app development company that can offer cutting-edge services tailored to your business needs.
That company should have years-long experience developing next-gen real estate apps for startups and enterprises. But how to know whether a specific company is your perfect fit? Well, it’s not that difficult!
Try to look for portfolios to examine the past work of your development partner. Besides that, check what technologies they deal with and their services. For instance, a reputed real estate app development company always offers a complete suite of services ranging from code review and software re-engineering to testing and after-sales support.
Hence, try to find one that offers all those services. We at Matellio offer all those services apart from a free 30-minute consultation and no-obligation quote to all our clients.
3. Always Begin with an MVP
So, you have analyzed the market and opted for a reputed app development company. You also think you have everything you need for a successful real estate app development. But are you sure your ideas align with your company goals and budget?
Well, that’s where an MVP comes into play! A minimum viable product, MVP is a prototype developer and designer create. An MVP is built with the features and designs selected by you to give you a brief of how your app will look and what certain features will do when implemented into your app.
You can check your app’s user interface, adjust the features, and enhance your app’s overall user experience like Redfin. Hence, choose an app development company to guide you with MVP development.
4. Adopt a Suitable Monetization Model
The monetization model may not be the crucial aspect of app development; it is an important factor for your business growth. It is no concern that your real estate app will succeed in the market. However, every app needs some time to take its place at the top level. Well, at least to generate the revenues expected by you.
But, how will you generate the revenues before that expected stage? The answer to that question is through the monetization model. A successful monetization model can help you make extra income from your app to run your business smoothly.
You can continue the same model even after your app begins to generate good revenue. Hence, discuss with experts to get a suitable monetization model for your app.
At Matellio, we usually suggest these monetization models to our real estate clients:
- Online Advertising
You can run paid ads of other third-party companies on your real estate app like Redefine to earn extra money.
- Commissions
Redfin follows this particular model to generate revenues. You can earn commissions on every deal made through your real estate app. The homeowner of brokers generally gives that commission.
- Freemium Model
The Freemium model is the most used monetization strategy regardless of the niche. You can offer certain basic features for free to your users and charge for the advanced ones. Spotify and Amazon usually follow the same model.
Read More: How to Develop an AI-based Real Estate Platform Like House Canary?
5. Do Not Forget to Test Your App
Last but not least, do not forget to test your app. You might have developed the app using the agile development methodology that offers you information after the evert stage. However, some bugs may be left unidentified during the development process.
So, testing will ensure to detect all those bugs that can cause performance issues in your app. Hence, opt for an app development partner that offers testing services. At Matellio, we offer automated and manual testing services according to the client’s requirements.
How We Developed a Real Estate App for Our Client?
1. About the Project – Broker Think Tank
Broker Think Tank is an immersive real estate/property selling platform that engages the users with brilliant pictures, videos, and other features. With this amazing platform, the agents/homeowners can upload visually-appealing photos and videos of their properties.
The customers can export those videos to Facebook, Youtube, and other social platforms. They can even share the images or property details with their friends via email or text. Managing properties, choosing your dream home, and doing transactions are all possible with Broker Think Tank.
2. Services Offered
The client asked us to create an app that can enhance its real estate selling services. Hence, we offered various services like:
- App Development
- Custom API Development and Integration
- Consulting Services
- QA and Testing
- UI/UX Design
3. Tech Stack Used
- Language: JavaScript + PHP (Web), Objective C (iOS)
- Database: MySQL
- Development Tool: XCode
- Web Services: REST API
4. Final Result
We finally created an app that matches the modern trends of the market and the client’s business requirements. Some common highlights of the app are:
- Easy Sharing
- Digital Catalogue
- In-built Chats
- Edit Videos
- Favorite Properties
Ready to Develop a Real Estate App Like Redfin?
Are you planning to launch a real estate app like Redfin and looking for a reliable app development company? Don’t worry; we have got you covered! With 20+years of experience and access to the best resources, we at Matellio offer you cutting-edge services and solutions for your real estate business.
Whether virtual tour software, ERP solution, property management modules, HOA management system or even listing software, whatever your needs, we can fulfill them with technology services. Our experts have expertise in implementing next-gen technologies in software solutions and apps that align with your business goals and help you increase your brand value.
So, hurry up, and begin your real estate app development with us! Leverage our free 30-minute consultation service and in-depth competitor and market analysis to ensure success for your business idea.
