The Best Software for Real Estate to Run Your Brokerage Like a Machine
A well-managed real estate brokerage operates like a well-oiled machine. In today's digital world, software programs that help real estate brokers keep track of leads, manage customer relationships, and handle transactions keep the wheels turning and keep the money coming in.
When you use the best real estate software, you can automate and keep track of most aspects of your business easily and efficiently, giving you more time to focus on selling properties and growing your business.
Choosing the best real estate software for brokers can be a daunting task with the many different options available to you. To help you make the best decision for your business, we've put together a list of the best real estate software programs to address your specific needs.
How to Choose the Best Software for Your Real Estate Brokerage
Any experienced and professional real estate broker understands the complexity of the real estate industry. Buying a house is a big life decision and is inherently a hard sell.
From getting clients interested to getting them to sign on the dotted line, there's a lot that goes into running a successful brokerage.
The best software for real estate brokerages will simplify or automate many of the mundane and routine tasks that go into running the brokerage like a business. However, before you delve into purchasing this software, first you have to decide what features you need and why you need them.
Integration
The best real estate software tools are the ones that integrate with your current systems and workflows. These integrations make it easy to manage different aspects of your business from a single platform without the need to switch between multiple software programs.
For example, a customer relationship management (CRM) system that integrates with your email marketing platform will allow you to send automated drip campaigns to your leads and customers without having to export or import lists between the two software programs.
Team Size
The size of your team will also play a role in choosing the best real estate agent software. Ideally, you’ll want a software solution that you can scale as your team grows. If you have a large team, you'll need to find software programs that offer features like team collaboration and task management to help keep everyone on the same page.
On the other hand, if you're a solo broker or have a small team, you may not need all the bells and whistles offered by larger software programs. Then you can focus on finding software programs that offer the specific features you need without all the extra features and costs.
Scalability
As your business grows, you'll need to find real estate SaaS programs that can scale with you. Look for real estate software solutions that offer features like unlimited users or the ability to add additional users as you scale. This will ensure that you don't have to switch to a new program as your business expands.
Pricing
As with any business purchase, you'll need to consider the cost of the software before making a decision. When comparing pricing, be sure to look at the features offered at each price point. It doesn’t benefit you or your brokerage to pay for features you’ll never use.
Some real estate brokerage software offers free plans with limited features while others have tiered pricing structures that offer more features at higher price points. Choose the pricing option that makes the most sense for your business based on the features you need and your budget.
Functionality
The functionality of any software program is based on how well it performs the tasks it's designed to do. When evaluating the functionality of a real estate brokerage, be sure to read reviews from other users to get an idea of how well the software actually works.
Ease of Use
As the saying goes, it's better to work smarter and not harder. That applies to choosing the best real estate website software to help you grow a real estate business.
Ideally, the program should be intuitive and easy to use so that you can get it up and running quickly without spending hours trying to figure out how the software works.
Check out reviews, case studies, and testimonials of the real estate brokerage software you’re considering. Is it easy for you and your team to learn how to use it? Could you navigate it yourself, or do you need to hire a specialist to manage it for you? Do they offer tutorials and demo videos to help onboard your team? Asking yourself these questions now can save you many needless headaches later.
Tech support
No matter how tech-savvy you are, you'll likely need some level of tech support when using any software program. A lot of real estate software platforms will come bundled with 24/7 customer support who can help you out if you have problems using their tool.
A trained tech support team has the knowledge base necessary to quickly resolve any issues you may have with the software program. Furthermore, the best tech support teams will go above and beyond to ensure that you're happy with the software program.
It’s a good idea to look for 24/7 customer support so that you can get help when you need it, even if it's in the middle of the night.
You should also look for real estate broker software that offers multiple support options like phone, email, and live chat so that you can choose the best method of contact for your needs.
User Experience
The software program should prioritize the user experience. The best software programs are designed with the user in mind and offer an intuitive interface that's easy to navigate.
You are the user. You’re going to be using this program every day as part of your job for hours on end. Therefore, you should always take the time to evaluate how easy it is to use the software program and if the interface is not only easy on the eyes but also functional.
Ask the company for a demo or trial, one where they can walk you through the software’s main features. Get familiar with the program, play around with it, download the app if there is one, and make sure it's a good fit for you and your team before you get locked into an expensive contract for an application you may not even use.
Now that you know how to choose the best software for your real estate brokerage, let's take a look at the best software programs in each category.
1. Access Management: Nexkey
Real estate offices have hundreds of people who come and go out of multiple locations across the counties and states they serve. It’s impossible to manage traditional keys and keycards for that many people in a way that’s scalable and affordable unless you’re a national real estate firm. Unless your team is fully-remote, you should use Nexkey as your keyless entry system for your real estate office seamlessly and easily.
Nexkey is a cloud-based access control system that gives you the ability to manage all entry points of your workspace remotely. With these features, you can lock and unlock your office remotely while also monitoring who is coming and going in real-time.
Nexkey also offers a mobile app so that you can manage your office space on the go. Keeping your team members and staff safe and secure is now much easier with Nexkey.
2. Lead Generation: Bold Leads
Generating and nurturing leads is the heartbeat of any successful real estate brokerage business. Without leads, there's no business.
BoldLeads is a lead generation platform that offers a suite of tools to help you generate and nurture your leads. With Bold Leads, you can create attractive and engaging emails, widgets, text concierge, and SMS campaigns that capture the attention of your target audience.
You can also create custom lead capture forms and landing pages with automated follow-ups to help you convert more leads into paying clients.
3. CRM Management: Chime CRM
Chime is a CRM that's specifically tailor-made for real estate. It offers many of the features you'd see in a normal CRM like audience segmentation and lead nurturing, it also offers real estate brokers a suite of tools to make data-driven decisions about their business.
Chime also comes with team management and collaboration features that let you assign leads to individual agents and manage your team in one platform.
4. Project Management: ProofHub
Once you have gained a few clients, you must deliver on your promises in a timely and efficient manner. This is where real estate task management software comes into play.
ProofHub is a cloud-based project management software that gives you the ability to track the progress of your projects in real-time. With ProofHub, you can create and assign tasks, set deadlines, collaborate with team members, track time, and create workflows and boards all in one place.
Also, with its chat feature, you can quickly communicate with your team members to resolve any issues that may arise.
5. Property Listings Management: MRI Software
If you manage properties, then you know the importance of having a centralized database to keep track of all your listings.
With MRI Software, you can easily manage your property listings in one place. MRI Software offers a host of real estate software tools to help you track clients, and monitor the property lifecycle while staying informed with its practical notification feature.
You can also create custom reports and marketing materials to help you market your listings more effectively.
6. Landing Page Creation: Instapage
Having the option to fully customize your landing pages to reflect your brand is important. But, more importantly, you need a landing page that's conversion-optimized to increase the chances of a leader taking the desired action.
Instapage is the #1 landing page creator that lets you create landing pages for every marketing use case from search ads to lead generation. It also offers personalization features and A/B testing features that make your campaigns more efficient and make your real estate ads more relevant to your audience.
7. Expense Tracking and Accounting: Xero
Tracking and maintaining accurate records of your expenses is a dull but necessary task for any business. With Xero, you can easily track and manage your payments and expenses in one place. Xero also offers a suite of accounting tools to help you stay on top of your finances. You can also connect Xero to your bank account to automatically import and categorize your expenses. Also, for added convenience, Xero allows you to accept payments.
8. Transaction Management: Brokermint
Nothing beats the feeling of a successfully closed deal. However, the process of managing a transaction can be daunting, especially if you're not using the best real estate broker software available.
Brokermint allows you to simplify and automate the entire accounting process. You can track and manage contracts, documents, and commissions all in one place.
Brokermint also has reporting and analytics features that let you easily monitor the progress of your transactions and make informed decisions.
9. Open House Showing and Management: TurboTenant
Open houses are still a compelling strategy to market your listings and attract potential buyers. However, if you are not using the best real estate broker software for this task, managing open houses and screening for potential tenants will be a perpetual juggling act.
Turbotenant offers a simplified approach to integrating and promoting property listings while receiving rent estimate reports to help you manage your open houses more effectively.
Having TurboTenant in your tech stack lets you showcase your listings and sell them as dream homes, and improve your chances of attracting qualified leads.
10. Communication and Collaboration: Slack and Google Workspace
Communicating and collaborating with all the stakeholders involved in your real estate business can be a time-consuming crux.
Slack is an indispensable part of any remote work team, and will enable you to get a hold of anyone on your team no matter where they are or what time zone they’re in. Meanwhile, Google Workspace tools like Google Docs and Google Sheets are free, and simplify your project management with cloud collaboration tools that allow anyone on your team to work together on the same project, editing and commenting on each other’s work so everyone is on the same page. You can integrate Slack with Google Drive and be notified on Slack whenever a change is made to an important document or a lead in your CRM is changed.
Build Your Real Estate Business with the Right Software
Choosing the best software for your real estate business can be overwhelming, but with the right technology, you can make informed decisions that will help you save time and money.
The real estate business software you choose should be able to grow with your business and meet your evolving needs, while being easy to use and offering the most value for your money.
When it comes to real estate software, there's no one-size-fits-all solution. The best software for your business is the one that meets your specific needs.
When you’re putting together your technology suite for your real estate business, a good place to start is your office’s safety and security. You can never put a price on peace of mind, and with Nexkey, you get just that.
Nexkey is an access control solution that helps you secure your office, track entry and exit points, and manage access in real-time and remotely, all from an app you can access from anywhere.