Real Estate Mobile App Development Guide: Core Steps, Features & Costs

Mobile apps bring great convenience and flexibility to real estate professionals and their customers. Whether a property manager needs to quickly answer a tenant’s request or a property seeker wants to take a look at available listings, mobile apps allow them to do this quickly and easily, anytime and anywhere.

However, it may be difficult to find an off-the-shelf app with functionality that perfectly meets your needs. There are many gaps in the market waiting for the right product.

Custom mobile app development can be a solution to this problem.

With experience building applications tailored to real estate, we’ve seen how custom mobile apps can cover internal needs or offer desired solutions to industry players and bring additional revenue to product owners.

If you’re considering building a real estate mobile app, this article can help you understand the essentials:

• Key steps in real estate app development
• Approximate time and cost to build a real estate app
• Specialists you need for app development
• Must-have features for different types of real estate apps
• Unique features you can add to stand out

Let’s get started.

Real estate mobile app development process: core steps

No matter what real estate mobile app you want to build, you’ll go through the same development stages. Before diving into the specifics of different types of apps, we want to share a guide on how to build a real estate app. In brief, you will need to:

• Prepare for development through research, analysis, and planning
• Design the interface to ensure a seamless user experience
• Develop a minimum viable product (MVP)
• Test and deploy your application
• Maintain the released application and plan your next steps

Now, let’s take a closer look at the main activities in these stages.

1. Preparation stage

To start real estate app development with minimum risks, thorough preparation is a must. You need to analyze your app idea, consider every detail of it, and plan how you will bring it to life. All of this is done in the initial stage of development, which is frequently called project discovery.

At Clockwise Software, we offer a project discovery service to our clients, helping them to:

• Research the market and define the unique value proposition they can bring with their app
• Develop a product vision and requirements, aligning them with clients’ business goals and needs
• Assess possible risks and create a mitigation plan
• Map out user flows and create an app prototype
• Test the implementation feasibility through a proof of concept
• Create a development plan and estimate the required time and budget

Why would you need project discovery? It’s a way to avoid poorly defined requirements, scope creep and associated cost increases, missed deadlines, and many other software development risks.

During this stage, a discovery team defines the scope of work and all the app details and uses this information to estimate the required development resources. It’s also easy to adjust your app vision and development plan to your budget at this stage so you won’t start a project that requires more investment than you can allocate.

The activities we perform during project discovery differ from project to project depending on a client’s request and prior preparation. The goal is to validate your idea and choose the best direction for your product before initiating development, not to follow all possible discovery steps.

2. Design

How will your mobile app look? Design plays an essential role in your product’s appeal to users and ease of use. Thus, the next stage of real estate mobile app development is to design your app’s screens.

Usually, a designer starts developing the design concept during project discovery. Wireframes and prototypes with the main screens help to identify inconsistencies in user flows, validate the idea, and prepare for development.

However, after project discovery is completed, a UI/UX designer still has lots of work to do. They need to design each screen of your application according to the developed design concept, ensuring the user interface looks perfect on all target mobile devices.

At Clockwise Software, we usually involve UI/UX designers from the project discovery stage, developing the design concept along with the product vision. If you already know how you want your real estate app to look and have design guidelines, we can follow them when creating your app. In case the design doesn’t match the project requirements, we can suggest changes to ensure a great user experience.

3. Mobile app development

When project discovery is finished and the design is ready, it’s time to write code and start creating a functional app. Although app development approaches may differ, in our experience, building a minimum viable product (MVP) first is the most efficient option.

A minimum viable product is a version of an app that contains only essential features. Let’s say you build an MVP of an ERP system for real estate. It may have:

• Admin dashboard
• User profile
• Reporting and data visualization dashboard
• Property management module
• Accounting and finance module
• Construction project management module

These features are needed to cover the ERP system’s key use cases. At the same time, you don’t need to add design customization options, document workflow automation, personalized notifications, and other nice-to-have features that are not critical for supporting your app’s purpose but may improve the user experience. You can add them later after validating your idea.

What are the benefits of building an MVP? An MVP may have a simpler design and a smaller set of features than you may want, but it’s exactly what you need to validate your business hypothesis. With an MVP, you get a real estate app that you can launch and monetize without risking lots of resources on an untested idea. At the same time, you get the opportunity to collect user feedback and find the right direction for improving your app.

How do we develop MVPs for mobile apps? We usually follow the Scrum framework, which allows for flexibility during development. First, we prioritize features to develop and then work on building them in sprints — two- to four-week periods during which the development team focuses on building one finished piece of functionality. After each sprint, the development plan can be adjusted, so the team can work efficiently even if it identifies flaws in the initial plan.

4. Testing and deployment

Once a piece of functionality is built, it should be tested. QA specialists perform manual or automated testing to ensure that each developed piece of your app meets project requirements and works as expected.

We usually opt for manual testing or a combination of manual and automated testing. A QA specialist checks parts of functionality in isolation and in combination with others, documents defects, and reports them to developers.

As we perform tests within each sprint, we can identify issues at early stages and plan fixes for the next sprint, ensuring the launched app performs as well as possible.

Once all pieces of functionality are developed and tested, a team deploys them to the production environment. If you’re developing a native app, you need to submit it to platforms like the App Store and Google Play. If you’re developing a web app, you can host it on a cloud server, making it available to users via a browser.

5. Maintenance and further development

After you’ve launched your mobile app’s MVP, the work doesn’t stop. The post-launch stage is a time when you monitor your app’s performance and rapidly address issues your users encounter.

It’s also the stage when you can validate your business hypothesis and app idea. Monitor your real estate app to answer the following questions:

• Does your mobile app solve users’ problems?
• Does it provide everything necessary for an effective workflow?
• Does it meet your business goals?

Depending on the answers, you can decide whether to move further with your app vision and plan the next feature to build. If the app idea doesn’t fully meet users’ needs or your business goals, you can consider necessary changes in functionality or design, or even pivot and rethink your entire app vision.

While the stages of mobile app development are the same for all projects, the tasks and activities performed at each stage, the timeline, and the cost of an app will vary. The main factors behind these differences are your solution scope, the functionality you want to include, and other app requirements.

Let’s examine different types of real estate mobile apps to help you understand the scope of work to expect when starting your project.

Real estate app types and key features

While real estate mobile apps may share some features, such as user authorization, payment processing, or profile creation, the functionality that brings true value to users differs depending on the type of app. Here, we describe the features of several types of real estate apps:

• Property management app
• Real estate marketplace
• MLS app
• Smart building system
• Real estate development management app

Property management app

Property managers frequently need to access their work tools on the go. A property management app can provide this convenience. Here is a set of must-have features for this type of real estate mobile app:

Some features in your property management app may differ depending on what needs you want to cover.

To choose the must-have features for your custom app, it’s best to cooperate with a business analyst and software developers from a real estate mobile app development company. Having experience in real estate-specific app development projects, business analysts and developers at an app development company can conduct quality market analysis, choose the best functionality to meet your needs, and advise on the technical feasibility of building different features.

We offer such assistance as part of our property management software development services, helping you define and develop product functionality based on your business requirements.

Real estate marketplace

NAR’s research shows that 76% of home seekers use mobile devices to search and view listings. Considering this, developing a mobile real estate marketplace is a great idea to attract more potential customers to your listings.

Whether you want to create a local solution or build the next Redfin or Zillow, there are must-have features you need to include:

To bring unique value to your users, you can also consider adding some AI-powered functionality. AI is a mobile app development trend that we believe will soon become the norm. For example, implementing smart recommendation systems will simplify property search, helping homebuyers find their ideal property faster.

MLS app

It’s hard to overestimate the role of multiple listing services (MLSs) for real estate agents and brokers. Being able to access an MLS on the go can significantly improve the workflow. Thus, MLS app development is in high demand.

Multiple listing services are frequently compared to real estate marketplaces. In terms of functionality, they definitely have a lot in common. Almost all the features we listed above for a real estate marketplace are must-haves for an MLS. But here are three main differences:

• User roles. An MLS serves agents and brokers, while real estate marketplace users also include homebuyers, renters, and property owners.
• Access and monetization. Real estate marketplaces are usually available to the general public and charge for publishing listings. MLS app monetization strategies differ, but most charge for access to the service.
• Data. Requirements for data in MLS systems are strict. Property listings must be up to date, comprehensive, and frequently contain historical data, in contrast to listings on marketplaces that can lack accuracy and details.

These characteristics will impact the app requirements and, as a result, the development process.

Smart building system

Providing tenants with control over building systems can greatly improve their experience. Thus, when implementing IoT devices into your building, take care to let tenants monitor those systems from their mobile devices.

What features should a smart home mobile app have? Here is a list:

You can also use location-based app development services to add an indoor map of a building to your smart building system, improving indoor navigation and making it easy to locate and monitor smart devices on different floors.

Real estate development management app

Managing real estate development involves numerous processes, and having a system that centralizes all operations can be a game-changer. But when you have access to this system from anywhere and at any time, it boosts the workflow even more.

A real estate development management app can involve dozens of features, but here are the must-haves:

Custom real estate mobile app

The mobile app you want to build may not fall into one of the categories we have described above.

But it doesn’t have to.

The advantage of custom mobile app development for real estate is that you can build any functionality you want into a custom app, focusing only on the problems you want to solve — either yours or those of other industry players.

Take a look at our StoneBay case study. It’s a great example of a custom web app that is fully tailored to specific business needs.

For StoneBay, we’ve built a unique set of features, combining functionality that usually would be available in separate apps. By creating a custom product, our client got a centralized platform that helps them to accelerate internal processes and allows them to work more efficiently.

Moreover, our client is considering the option to turn their app into a white-label SaaS product, as its functionality could be useful for other similar businesses and fill a gap in the market.

You can build a unique solution, too. To choose the right way to cover your needs through an app, you can use software development consulting services. A team with experience in software development will help you find a technical solution to your business problem.

Now, let’s move to the next question: What tools and technologies will you need for real estate app development?

Technology stack to build a mobile app

Your choice of technology stack directly impacts the success of your idea. What tools and languages should you use? First, we need to clarify the difference between two real estate mobile app development options:

• Create a separate native app for each platform you want to target (for example, iOS and Android).
• Create a cross-platform application that can run on any platform.

Which option should you choose?

In our experience, creating a cross-platform app is the most effective option. Cross-platform mobile apps may have some limitations in terms of platform-specific optimization and design, but the differences are almost invisible to users and don’t impact their experience.

What’s important is that cross-platform app development requires fewer resources, as you build one app for all platforms at once, in contrast to building several native apps that require different technologies for each operating system.

Thus, cross-platform app development is a great advantage at the start when you haven’t yet validated your idea. You can build a cross-platform MVP and launch it to test your business hypothesis at a lower cost and with a shorter time to market compared to developing separate native applications.

Let’s learn more about the tech stack for cross-platform apps.

Before building an app, you need to choose:

• Tools to develop the app’s front end and back end
• Infrastructure to host and run your app
• A database to store data
• APIs to connect with third-party services

Here are examples of real estate mobile app development solutions that we prefer:

The most suitable technology stack for your real estate app development project and for someone else’s app may differ. Everything depends on the app’s requirements. With the wrong tech stack, you risk getting an app with poorly optimized performance and limited scalability, which you may need in the future when demand for the app grows. This, in turn, can result in a bad user experience and lead your business idea to fail.

That’s why it’s best to have someone experienced in software development choose the technology stack for you. Usually, a discovery team decides on the technologies to use for your project. Once all app requirements are well-defined, the discovery team can choose the best tech stack to implement your idea.

Development team: Who will build your app?

Now that you know about real estate mobile app development steps, functionality for different types of apps, and the technologies you need to bring your idea to life, it’s time to answer the next question:

Who do you need to build your mobile app?

Here is a list of the main specialists involved in mobile app development (and their responsibilities):

• Project manager. The project manager’s role on the project is to plan and oversee development, communicate with key stakeholders, and ensure that the project meets deadline and budget constraints.
• Business analyst. This specialist is deeply involved in translating business requirements into app requirements. A business analyst will help to analyze your business goals, research the market, define the solution scope, and document all app requirements to guide the development team.
• UI/UX designer. A designer works closely with a business analyst during project discovery, developing user flows, wireframes, design concepts, and a prototype for your app. Further, a UI/UX specialist designs all app screens, ensuring your solution has an intuitive interface.
• Front- and back-end developers. They build the client side and server side of your app according to project requirements, turning the designed screens into a functional application.
• QA engineers. The aim of QA engineers is to test functionality built by developers, identify bugs and other issues, and check if the app meets the requirements.

How can you gather these specialists if you don’t have an in-house technical team?

The best option is to outsource mobile app development. How does it work? You delegate the entire scope of work to a skilled team, freeing yourself from the burden of recruiting and onboarding tech team members and overseeing each step throughout the development process.

A project manager will oversee the process, communicate with you on the progress, and approve key decisions, changes, risks, and everything else that needs your direct involvement as a product owner. At the same time, other team members will work on designing, coding, testing, and releasing your application.

With this approach, you get yourself a reliable software development partner that focuses entirely on your project while you focus on your business strategy and goals.

Real estate app development time and cost

We’re coming to the finish line, and it’s time to talk about the app development timeline and cost.

No one can provide precise cost and time estimates for a real estate mobile application development project without knowing its details. Everything depends on numerous factors, including your app requirements, scope of work, and development team.

We can share approximate figures based on our experience. Here are the duration and costs for the discovery phase and MVP development:

• Project discovery will take 3 to 8 weeks and cost $12,000+
• MVP development will take 3+ months and cost $50,000+

To get precise figures, it’s important to define your product vision and the scope of work. Usually, software project estimation is the last step in project discovery. Knowing the peculiarities of your project, a project manager can calculate the required development resources and provide you with accurate estimates.

Conclusion

Developing a real estate mobile application takes time and effort, but the product you get can pay off in increased team productivity and user satisfaction.

Good preparation and a well-structured approach to development are key to avoiding failure and achieving a mobile app that meets all your needs.

We are ready to help you on your journey to improving your business processes through mobile applications. Our services cover all stages of software product development, from project discovery and MVP to post-release maintenance and improvement. With experience building solutions for the real estate industry, our specialists can find the best way to address your needs through mobile app functionality.

If you’re looking for a tech partner, we can offer our real estate software development services to create a great solution for your business challenges.