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Commercial real estate organizations face many unique and complex challenges in their day-to-day operations. Having a well-integrated technology suite of modern apps and software can significantly improve any CRE company’s workflow.
The real estate technology stack is taking shape and more owners, managers, lenders, and brokers are adopting these platforms for marketing, sales, project management, and other core business functions. Today we explore a few platforms that we believe are must-haves for commercial real estate agents.
Best CRE Apps #1: Placester (IDX website builder)
Placester is a web-builder platform that sports quite a level of versatility. It’s designed for agents, brokers, and marketing admins to promote and expand their brand, and acquire and build upon leads.
Basic packages offer IDX integration and basic property search functions. The Agent/Broker pro packages offer substantially more (advanced searches, customizable templates, content libraries, drip-email campaigns, etc.).
Best CRE Apps #2: FreshChat (Chat software for your website)
FreshChat utilizes AI technology to gather basic information and generate leads from website visits. In addition, it routes common queries and provides basic customer support as well.
This time-saving software can help real estate agents be more productive and build a better pipeline. The basic version is free and has great reviews.
Best CRE Apps #3: Matterport (3D virtual tours)
Matterport lets you ‘manufacture’ 3D walkthrough tours with ease. It shortens the time to show your clients interesting locations, especially for relocation clients. You might find this software to be a little too technical but make sure it’s utilized by any photographers and videographers you hire for your listings.
Best CRE Apps #4: Structurely (AI-based lead qualification)
Structurely is an AI-based application that qualifies leads. It’s basically an application that uses a chatbot to differentiate leads from casual visitors, leaving you with, perhaps a smaller number of high-quality leads. The chatbot does basic scheduling functions as well.
Best CRE Apps #5: Slack (Team communication)
Slack is a great communication tool for all types of business. At TripLog we love using Slack with separate channels for support and marketing.
Slack is a very useful tool for real estate agents too. Not surprisingly, spotty communication between home sellers and their agents are common such as missed calls, lost documents, buried emails, etc.
Real agents can invite sellers to become part of the team in a dedicated channel. Agents can share documents over slack and the whole team can work better in answering questions, offering instant updates about buyer interest and being more responsive in general.
Overall, the app is simple to use, very personalized, and facilitates a smooth experience so that customers won’t mind using “yet another app”. Nevertheless, Slack’s desktop version is just as convenient to use.
Best CRE Apps #6: Brokermint (Commission tracking and back office management)
If you’re a real estate company with more than one agent, managing commission, payments, and onboarding can be cumbersome and take time away from the actual business. Broker mint allows agents and brokers alike to easily manage payments and other back-office details.
Some feature highlights include signature capabilities, built-in state forms, agent statements, report templates, agent onboarding, commission tracking as well as QuickBooks and other business app integration. This software helps managers to easily organize and centralize while maximizing productivity.
Best CRE Apps #7: HouseCanary (Valuation)
House Canary is a versatile real-estate valuation application which allows agents to make value reports and evaluate risks with pinpoint precision. You will be able to easily analyze various housing cycles or demographic patterns, giving you a clear edge on the market.
Some of the main benefits it offers are easy to use the platform, high reporting accuracy, and customization. The risk evaluation feature makes it very useful for real estate agents.
Best CRE Apps #8: Hootsuite (Social media marketing & management dashboard)
Hootsuite is an all-in-one social media management tool used to manage multiple social profiles and networks. They have a few different plans depending on the number of networks and/or team members.
Scheduling post in advance, curating social content, and accessing analytics for campaign success is very easy and intuitive to use. Real estate is competitive and it’s imperative to know how to find and attract potential clients.
Potential clients are now online, and social media is now an important resource for marketing and business. Because of our own experience with the platform at TripLog, we vouch for this solution. They have a case study for realtors. You can check it out here, if interested.
Best CRE Apps #9: TripLog (Business expense & mileage tracker)
Using a mileage tracker app is important for real estate agents for tax deductions. According to a study conducted by NAR (National Association of Realtors), real estate agents drive more than 10,000 miles annually and can easily rack up more than $6,700 of savings each tax season. This is because, with the current 2024 IRS mileage rate, every mile you drive for your real estate business is worth 67.00 cents.
Other easy tax savings for realtors are business expenses. Many business expenses are tax-deductible including commissions paid to agents and other employees, desk fees, education & training expenses, licenses, memberships, insurance, etc.
TripLog’s innovative auto-start features are the perfect solution for busy realtors on the go. They will track even the shortest trips to help you maximize your tax deductions. Some notable features that make it very competitive in the market for real estate mileage tracking are:
- Six different automatic mileage tracking options.
- Flexible plans for real estate businesses of different sizes.
- Better integration to Accounting software with the ability to create expenses directly from the dashboard.
- Real-time update of tax savings and a calculator for planning purposes.
- Completely IRS-compliant tracking and reporting.
In addition, TripLog also has built-in bank integration connecting your business accounts and credit cards. You can keep track of all business expenses and upload tax-deductible expenses directly from your TripLog web dashboard to QuickBooks through its seamless integration.
For any business looking for a company mileage tracking solution for tracking or mileage reimbursement, TripLog is an absolute must. Visit our pricing page or schedule a complimentary live web demo to learn more.
So, there you have it, the must-have tech tools for real estate agents. We vouch for some of these tools as they have helped our own business and made us so much more productive. Let us know what you think.
