Using Real Estate Software To Ease Your Business

Real estate business is dynamic in nature. There are so many areas to look for and it becomes difficult to manage in longer run. Hence, the need is felt for a suitable Real Estate Software to ease the functioning of the business. Real Estate Software is designed in a manner that makes the process smooth with minimizing the efforts of the businessman. The software is able to find the perfect match for user’s property needs, allowing users to customize the system and many features that will grow your business.

The real estate business is complex. It involves resources such as land and construction supplies, liaison with multiple parties such as government, utility sectors, suppliers, end-users, and financiers. At the same time, it is a high-risk high reward industry that is affected by numerous macro and microeconomic factors. It is therefore imperative that the real estate solution allows the real estate developer to have greater control over all processes and better visibility across the business. A suitable real estate development software caters to the entire lifecycle of building construction right from planning a project to its completion. Property developers and property managers can use these applications across different types of real estate projects such as office buildings, industrial units, and residential and properties. Here are top features that would help you understand the benefits of the Real Estate software:

Benefits of Real Estate Software

A well-designed real estate software solution will handle all aspects of real estate business- pre-development tasks, post-development activities, financing, construction, and property management. It will help you keep track of the top line and bottom line. The advantages of real estate software are –

• The business will be able to achieve better financial control. The software will keep track of the project timeline and resource usage. It will track schedule, cost, issues, and risks. This data can be used for strategic and tactical decision making.
• Real estate software will ease tasks such as managing huge volumes of data related to supplies, potential customers and project status. It will help in tracking property visitors, agent communication, different kinds of transactions, and payments across multiple properties. Thus it will ease the day-to-day manual tasks and administrative tasks. Repetitive tasks will be automated leading to lesser hassles. This will enable ease of doing business which will generate goodwill for the company.
• With real estate software, there is real time data entry and processing. This will allow for better customer service and lower costs. E-forms, automated email, and e-workflows will increase efficiency. Real time analytics modules of these applications can be used in different ways. For example, the turnover time of empty property units can be reduced with real time data processing and analysis. Properties can be evaluated accurately and realtors can set the ‘right’ prices for them based on various data points collected.

Key Features of Real Estate Software Applications

The real estate industry is dynamic. The real estate software should allow for the smooth functioning of the business. It has to be capable of satisfying client requirements and comply with industry standards. The main features of a well-developed real estate technical solution are:

Project Management

Real estate projects are usually large scale projects with challenging schedules and resourcing needs. The real estate software should have features that enable project scheduling, task allocation and resource allocation to tasks. Views such as Gantt charts, costing view and resource utilization view should be available. The customer should be able to create project budgets, estimate costs and revenue and carry out cost analysis and revenue analysis.

Project Control

Project control is a vital feature of real estate software. The following are must-have features –

• Work-breakdown structure (WBS) development
• Develop and maintain a risk management plan
• Comparison of budgeted costs and revenue and actual costs and revenue
• Monitoring resource usage and project duration
• Create and implement a change management plan such that profitability, quality, and timelines are not affected

Portfolio Management

The software application should empower the customer to set up processes for communication, collaboration, task allocation and status updates for all projects. It should include configurable templates and workflows. The goal is to provide basic standard processes across projects which can be customized as per individual projects.

The software should enable management of multiple real estate assets management with features such as –

• Accounts payable and receivable processing and integration
• Synchronization of maintenance activity
• Communication with property agents
• Single Sign On access to property information, process online payments and manage your property accounts.

Project and Portfolio Reporting

Reporting and analytics are a key part of all real estate software programs. The system should include the following –

• Set up, measure and display Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) across all projects and portfolios.
• Generate business performance reports such as WIP activity, resource usage, risk register, etc.
• Generate analytic reports and visual graphs for cash flow analysis, property comparison, views of actual versus expected KPIs and trend analysis. This will aid in extracting valuable insights and actionable information.

Automation Capabilities

The software should have features such that processes are automated as much as possible. Administrative tasks become seamless and require the least manual intervention. Automation capabilities include –

• Document version control and document sharing
• Automatic time entry
• Easy-to-use portal for suppliers and customers to view relevant information
• Track visitors to upcoming properties and manage communication with them
• Embedded email capability
• User licensing model with authentication and authorization features.