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The world gets smarter and smarter each year thanks to one cutting-edge technology. That technology is the Internet of Things and it shapes not only our daily lives but also the business world. Many companies have already implemented IoT and made their offices smarter and safer.
But when it comes to real estate, some business owners still question the power and value IoT app development can bring to their companies.
Well, we can say that the role of IoT in commercial real estate is very underestimated. It can help you power up your business with highly effective tools for property managers, landlords, tenants and business owners. Property management will never be the same, it will become way better with the help of IoT and mobile application development for real estate.
In this post we would like to show you the real value of IoT and real estate platform development. We will describe what to expect from IoT adoption, what apps are worthy of your investments, and how a real estate business can make the most out of using this technology. Let’s wait no further and proceed to this incredibly interesting topic.
Top 5 benefits of IoT applications in Real Estate
To begin with, let’s speak about adoption of IoT technology. After taking a look at several resources with surveys and statistics, we were surprised to find out that a significant number of real estate executives are planning to implement IoT in the near future. The role of IoT apps is significant. Just check out the statistics we found.
Real Estate Benchmarking Survey states that 73% of the executives already put IoT in their business agenda. And 43% of building owners in the US claim that the IoT is going to change the way they perform property management. The numbers are pretty remarkable.
As you can see IoT is becoming a huge thing among commercial real estate agencies and property owners. And this is only the beginning. The overall number of smart houses worldwide is expected to reach 478,2 million by 2025. So the trend is obvious.
But what actually makes IoT such a great technology for real estate business? Well, there are some major benefits you should know about before you consider investing your time and money into real estate app development. Let’s take a look at them right away.
Processes automation
We could not emphasize enough how important it is to delegate as many processes as possible to the technologies. IoT-powered apps for real estate can help you minimize human errors, get rid of manual data entry, improve house hunting and renting processes, perform better control over building conditions, and benefit from advanced analytics. Also property listings can be conveniently organized. IoT is beyond traditional automation, and it has way more to offer.
Better service quality
Real estate employees often juggle a lot of tasks during the day. Sometimes it turns out to be effective, but in most cases multitasking leads to poor service quality.
There are so many things every employee in real estate business should take care of, so why not remove that weight off their shoulders with one mobile app or web app. Even an app with basic features can help with property management, search, scheduling of viewings, estimating property cost and many more.
Client-oriented approach
When it comes to business, time equals money. And real estate app with must have features helps to speed up the decision making process by sending personalized property offers to potential buyers and providing client-related insights to real estate professionals. Every real estate agent also can benefit from analyzing decision-making behavior of their target audience and come up with new selling and marketing strategies.
Predictive analysis
IoT technology is perfect for predictive analysis which helps to identify the issues with home appliances, the whole building, power consumption, or else. Smart sensors or devices can collect all necessary information and upload it right to the real estate app, which in turn will send necessary alerts and push notifications to the property managers or owners. They can fix the issues at early stages which is great in terms of service and customer satisfaction. Plus such real estate technology helps to protect buildings from natural disasters because everything is repaired on time.
Smarter property
We live in the era of advanced technologies, and not to use them to the advantage of a real estate industry would be a mistake. Property that is equipped with built-in IoT sensors is very popular on the real estate market. Smart office spaces, private households, and even warehouses are in high demand.
Big companies and common property renters would like to work and live in energy efficient spaces where they can control the environment and reduce operational costs.
As you can see, the possibilities of real estate app development are endless. And what’s even more important is that it can be of value not only to real estate industry, but also to property owners and tenants. Whatever type of building you take – office, apartment, house, industrial space, the management of that building can become even better and smarter with the help of IoT solutions. Just take a look at the picture below to see what common pros real estate app development has.
Image source: Deloitte report
Practical use of Internet of Things in real estate
It is not a secret that one of the most significant advantages of IoT is that you can access all necessary data in real time. Usage of sensors and devices in smart buildings allows real estate agencies to introduce so many innovations that make the lives of tenants more comfortable, and the lives of building owners – much easier.
There are so many great use cases that demonstrate the true power of IoT applications. We have collected the most interesting ones for you. So let’s take a closer look at them together and see what makes real estate app development so great.
#1 Preventive maintenance of property
IoT is perfect for extraction and analysis of crucial data and insights about the whole building or its parts. Therefore it is easier to identify the issues at early stages and avoid drastic expenses. Also IoT can be powered up by predictive analytics that tracks the condition of equipment used in the smart buildings.
IoT sensors and smart appliances can collect information about heaters, elevators, ventilators and many more, and then send alerts and push notifications to mobile devices of building owners or professionals responsible for property management. Speaking about sensors, the most popular are:
- sensors of leak detection;
- sensors detecting anomalous activity;
- temperature and humidity detectors;
- equipment monitors.
While IoT collects the data from those sensors, predictive analytics delves into that data and by using a certain logic provides real estate app users or admins with the insights.
#2 Improved safety and building conditions
The three pillars that make any property valuable are its security, cleanliness and proper maintenance. With the help of a real estate mobile application it is possible to take great care of those pillars and improve efficiency of all building-related tasks and operations.
For example, the IoT-powered real estate app can get information from security sensors and make any building a safer place. The sensor can track if the front door is open for too long and send corresponding push notifications.
Or let’s say you are the owner of an apartment building and your tenants often use delivery services. You can use IoT technology to set access controls and simplify courier’s work. Also access control can be quite effective if you need to let some maintenance specialists in, or if real estate agent needs to arrange apartment viewing or check real estate listings on the go. This can be done remotely using one single application.
Thanks to IoT-powered real estate mobile application it is also easier to control the cleanliness of the building, schedule and organize cleaning and maintenance works, replace malfunctioning equipment or take care of issues reported by tenants.
#3 Optimized space use in office buildings
Many companies tend to lease office spaces and they expect them to be convenient, smart and affordable. The Internet of Things is what really helps to transform common office spaces into efficient ones. Here is what most property owners tend to add to their office buildings:
#4 Efficient energy consumption
Whatever type of building you take, it is essential for it to be energy efficient. Without IoT devices and a real estate mobile application it would have been impossible to monitor and track real energy consumption and perform its analysis.
Luckily, now there are sensors that can let property managers and building owners identify energy inefficient devices and utilities, check overall energy efficiency of a building or a set of buildings.
What’s even better is that a real estate app powered by IoT can help you predict energy consumption for a certain period of time. If you have a contract with an energy supplier, this prediction can be rather helpful.
HVAC systems can also be improved thanks to IoT technology. For example, you can install smart sensors that will detect when no one is in a room and a window or a door is left open. You will receive an alert on your real estate mobile app and take actions. It’s all about responsible use of resources and we all should strive to stay involved.
Trendy apps for real estate industry
Now when you know how exactly up to date real estate apps can be used, it is time to cover up some trendy IoT solutions. These days all industrial, residential and commercial real estate companies use a range of digital tools starting with industry-specific CRM systems and ending with property management solutions for tenants and landlords.
However, these tools are no longer enough. All you need in 2022 is smart, touchless and efficient real estate platforms backed by IoT. We have selected for you the most interesting types of IoT apps for real estate. So let’s wait no further, and proceed to them right away!
Mobile apps for house hunting
House hunting should not be as challenging as it used to be several years ago. Now thanks to IoT and a real estate mobile app all companies have a chance to organize property listings and display properties in a smarter way. We live in a busy era, when people and even real estate professionals struggle to find enough time for property viewings. The property may be located on the other end of the city or even in another city.
So what should real estate agents do? How can they show the property without clients and house owners being physically there? Well, with IoT-powered real estate mobile app nothing is impossible. For example, by installing a smart lock and having an real estate app, house owners can provide access to their property remotely.
The mobile app also can have a wide database of available houses, offices, and apartments and an option for booking smart self-tours to such real estate properties.
Such solution is very secure, because there is a procedure of viewer identity verification. So property managers and house owners will be sure that they are dealing with potential clients and are not wasting their time.
One of the great examples of such real estate apps is Rently. It offers all kinds of self-tours to view property without any agents being present.
Image source: Rently app
Smart home solutions
We have already mentioned how important it is to use smart home technology in 2022. They help not only to make property more energy efficient and convenient, but also they increase the value of such property.
This is a good enough reason to consider installing smart devices in your property and provide a real estate app for controlling and managing them. The most popular smart technologies for residential and commercial properties are:
- Smart locks that make house viewings easier;
- Advanced security systems with motion sensors, smart alarms, and even face-recognition options;
- Smart HVAC systems to adjust lightning, heating, and send notifications;
- Entertainment solution to make property attractive to tenants (it can be smart utilities or else).
Apps for data-based decision making
All commercial real estate companies strive to increase their sales numbers and offer better services to their clients. And sometimes ineffective data use comes in the way of proper decision making. So to achieve better results and use data related to clients and properties effectively it is important to have your own real estate app powered by IoT and Big Data innovative technologies.
While the IoT will help you to collect all necessary data (building condition, number of daily and monthly viewings, etc.), Big Data will let you analyze property listings, organize great marketing campaigns, and even generate reports with relevant statistics. Having all that information at your hands, you can expand your property and client base. And that’s a solid reason to invest in real estate app development.
Predictive maintenance applications
Predictive maintenance is the future of all buildings and the earlier you consider its implementation, the better. Smart sensors connected to a feature-rich IoT mobile applications preserve your building from damage, deterioration, and preserve its structural integrity.
With up to date IoT predictive maintenance you can forget about anything breaking down and stop spending extra costs on property management. Most of applications also let you benefit from such advanced features:
- energy infrastructure monitoring;
- sensor data analysis;
- preventive equipment and units examination;
- seamless predictive analysis;
- data-driven and right property decisions;
- customized alerts and warnings.
Create smart real estate apps with us
When it comes to real estate application development, we can be called real experts. Since 2011 we have been honing our tech skills and developing IoT-powered solutions for different business industries including real estate. Here are some services that our real estate app developers offer.
Discovery stage , market research, and business analysis. During this stage we explore solutions of your competitors, shape your real estate app idea and select the most suitable tech stack. Once the holistic market research is over we also write necessary technical documentation to minimize all possible risks of real estate app development.
We also provide MVP development which is great for companies that are looking for an opportunity to test their real estate app idea and get real feedback, and full cycle custom development of real estate apps, their release and further maintenance.
As to the real estate app design, redesign and code review we also help with that to spice up your mobile application and power it up with the IoT or other advanced technology.
IoT apps we build for real estate
Our software development company can build IoT apps of any complexity from scratch and empower them with a solid feature set. As to mobile application functionality, our app developers can implement:
- Solid key features for property management and listing;
- Advanced data analytics;
- Marketing tools for analyzing user behavior and target audience;
- Augmented reality for virtual tours;
- Enhanced voice and face recognition;
- Body motion recognition;
- Integration with blockchain, Artificial intelligence and Machine learning;
- Custom maps, geolocation and Wi-Fi connectivity;
- Third-party integrations (i.e. Google Maps API, initial payment gateway, etc.) and many more.
All real estate mobile applications built by our team last for years. That’s because we make them highly secure, scalable and with a user-friendly design. Among the projects we are proud of we can name a real estate solution for preventive property maintenance and smart home solution.
Both solutions work with sensors, collect the data and let app users access it and make use of it. Whatever IoT app for real estate you have in mind, we can help you turn your idea into a real project in no time.
Real estate app development is a serious commitment so it is always better to hire a team with a specific industry expertise. And we are exactly that team that will guide you through every step and deliver a highly functional and smart real estate app within set time and budget.
FAQ
Wrapping up
Internet of Things already shapes real estate sector and makes us all reconsider old but gold approaches to property management. Tying together IoT and real estate mobile apps gives all companies a chance to win the market and overcome other less technical competitors.
IoT can be used to the benefit of both agents responsible for property management and sales and people owning the property. The tenants are also not left aside, as IoT grants them a significant level of comfort and safety introducing smart homes and minimizing maintenance issues.
Without doubt, IoT is the future of smart real estate, and the wisest decision for companies would be to invest in real estate app development for real estate as soon as possible.
