10 things to look for when you choose Estate Agent Software in 2023

Choosing the right estate agent software is a crucial decision for any real estate company as it will affect your productivity and sales for years to come. This guide will take you through the most important considerations that you need to weigh up. One size does not fit all and customising any software to your requirements means understanding features, benefits, functionality and how all this works from a user’s point of view.

1. Key features to look for in estate agent software

When choosing estate agent software there are many features to think about but there are several that we consider to be must-haves.  In today’s fast-moving digital transformation age, these are the key features to look for in estate agent software to get the best value for your money.

Estate agent software automations

When deciding on new estate agent software, automations should be at the top of your priority list.  With the right automations in place you will be able to save unimaginable amounts of time that is better spent doing what you do best, selling!

These days, with the advancement of technology, the automation possibilities with estate agent software are endless.  You will want to make sure the system you choose can offer you the ability to set automations that match your processes and procedures and will help you and not hold you back.

At Respacio, when we designed our estate agent software, we placed a big emphasis on automations and how our clients’ needs for them would evolve.  As a result, we have the industry-leading automation suite built right into our real estate crm.  

You will have peace of mind knowing that every lead is nurtured along by the system and never left behind and forgotten about.  With Respacio, automatic immediate emails are sent to all incoming enquiries and the system will watch that lead all the way through the sales progression like a watchdog for your business notifying you if somebody is being ignored or forgotten.

The automated notification system will let clients know about important upcoming events, new properties on the market, new viewings being booked for their listed property and even give them a message regarding their valuation price when it has been inputted into the system.

Here is a list of some of the automations the Respacio estate agent software is capable of carrying out in the background while you are busy with clients and prospects. Have a look at the list and see what you think.

Read automated emails and add new enquiry contacts to the system with deals	Notify team members when quarterly inspections and certifications are coming up
Send immediate acknowledgement emails to new enquiries 24/7 with enquired property details and other similar property details	Send email to tradespeople when an when a maintenance event is created
Notify team members responsible for dealing with new enquiries that one has come in	Move deals through pipelines based on actions and notify assigned team members
Send drip email campaigns and automatically detect responses and then notify assigned team members	Send iCal invitations to clients and prospects when valuation and viewing appointments are booked
Use pipelines to send reminders to clients and prospects before valuation and viewing appointments	Create auto response email messages to any form fill outs or online requests
When a new property is added into the system, send email to all matching applicants with property details	Send rental payment and deposit reminders calculated on balance due
Match properties to contact requirements and email them	Notify team members when tenancies are coming to an end

As we said at the beginning of this section, our mission is for our software to keep you out from behind a desk and in front of clients and prospects so you can sell like crazy and watch your sales and profits skyrocket. 

Above is just a small sample of what Respacio estate agent software automations can do for your agency and if you would like to explore in more detail visit our page on automations.

Estate agent software integrations

Let’s face it, we are all using multiple software systems to operate businesses today and the pace at which we are adding them to the fold isn’t going to decrease. That’s why it is so important that they all speak to each other or at least your main system, the estate agent software you choose to use to run your agency, talks to them all.  

If you have ever been a victim of double inputting or jumping from one program to the next to check information, phone numbers, emails or addresses then you will understand the importance of having access to all your data in one central location.

So, when picking an estate agent software system you really have to know how it can integrate with the other software you have, that you consider indispensable. The last thing you want is to find that they won’t speak to each other and you are stuck with extra work and frustration.

Respacio is designed with an API which means we can speak back and forth with almost every software system out there.  If there is a way to do it then we will. 

This is a list of some of our more popular integrations that have saved our clients truck loads of money and time over the years.

WordPress websites	Property portals
Social media	WhatsApp and SMS
MailGun email delivery	Pay-Per-Click advertising
Google Workspace	Office 365

We want you to worry about dealing with prospects and clients so you can achieve the sales you dream about while we worry about the boring techy stuff. 

We have a much more detailed article about estate agent software integrations and you can read it here.

Estate agent software workflow pipelines

The most impressive and time saving feature estate agent software should have is proper workflow pipeline functionality.  When set up correctly there is no limit to the sales and instructions it can help you win and the profits it will help increase.

Being able to have a global overview of all the progressions in your business is essential in today’s fast moving real estate market.  Instead of having to go into every deal individually, like in the old days, it is imperative that you’re able to have a dashboard view of everything that’s happening so you can take action against perceived issues in the pipeline at a moment’s notice.

At respacio, we went all in on pipelines and made them the star of our estate agent software.  You can create as many of them as you want to match any and all progressions your agency already goes through digitising every process you have. Then all you and your team need to do is drag and drop deals and tasks through an easy to use kanban style layout.

Some of the possible use cases for pipelines are listed below but the possibilities are truly endless of how pipelines can streamline and organise your business.

New Enquiries (sales, rental or instruction)	Email marketing campaigns
sales/rental transaction stages	New development marketing and reservation tracking
Instruction from valuation appointment to website listing	Short term rental management
Tenancy management

At the end of the day we believe pipelines are the future of estate agent software and a must have for agencies of any size or structure.

Want to find out about all the features of the Respacio estate agent software system?  Book a demo today.  All you have to do is invest 30 minutes of your time to change your business forever.

Read more about the amazing power of estate agent software pipelines in our article.

2. The benefits of using estate agent software

Estate agent software has the potential to benefit estate agents in many ways but you have to be careful to choose the right system so you get all the rewards possible.  

Some systems are heavy on features lists but don’t seem to take into account what the benefits will be to the end user.  How will this help the estate agents, the business owners and the admin people with their everyday professional life?  This is precisely the question we ask ourselves at respacio everyday to make sure that we don’t slip into the feature centric trap.

When choosing your estate agent software you should be 100% sure that it is a benefit packed system that will give you the tools to achieve all the goals and dreams you have for your life and your agency.

Here is a list of the benefits that our clients say Respacio’s estate agent software has given them.  If your software isn’t helping you achieve at least the below or you aren’t really using software yet then book a demo today and see for yourself how respacio can accelerate your goal achievement.   

Skyrocket sales and rentals 

The fastest and most efficient way to increase your sales and rentals is by being the best and the fastest.  With Respacio’s estate agent software you will be so organised and on the ball that you will consistently beat your competition to the punch and inevitably secure more sales and rentals.

Your estate agent software should always make all your interactions with prospects and clients better, faster and more productive.  That’s exactly what Respacio is designed to do.

Achieve record breaking instruction levels

We all know that he who has the most instructions always wears the crown.  That is a tale as old as time.  If one of the main functions of your estate agent software isn’t exactly that then you need to re-evaluate the situation.

To put it bluntly, we have designed a streamlined instruction progression system from initial enquiry to listing the property that is certainly leaps and bounds ahead of our competitors.

To read more about real estate workflow pipelines check out the article we wrote.

Accomplish unimaginable profit growth 

When it comes to profit there is only one thing that matters, the numbers, and that’s exactly what your estate agent software should give you.  It should know exactly what is going on with incoming leads and have data on where and for how long people are on your website.

Analytics are so important to making decisions on where to spend marketing dollars and to give you the best idea of what areas potential buyers and renters are targeting.  In Respacio’s reporting module you will find all the data you could ever need right at your fingertips so you can run your business with confident and knowledgeable decision making. 

Elevate reputation and referrals and be the envy of all your peers

One thing that separates good estate agent software from the great ones is how it facilitates communication.  Both externally with prospects and clients as well as internally as a notification system.  The quickest way to level up your customer service score and in turn start producing a high amount of referrals and reviews is to communicate like a pro.

Once your communication game is in the right place and all the other areas of your business start to improve your competitors will start looking up to you with reverence and admiration and clients will be lining up for the chance to do business with you.  

One of our keys to success is that we designed our estate agent software with communication in mind.  Everything you will do with the system day to day is centred around communicating in a detailed and efficient manner to keep everyone constantly in the loop.

Free up unfathomable amounts of time for you and your team

The chief role of technology in business has always been to make people’s jobs easier and to take away daily mundane tasks so teams can focus on the business of making money.  The trouble is that most estate agent software systems make promises they just can’t keep.  You will want to be certain that the estate agent software you choose actually helps you and your team win time back because if it doesn’t it will just end up costing you that very time and eventually money.

By now you may have realised that at Respacio, we believe heavily in automation, pipelines and customisation.  How does this free up your time?  Well, our estate agent software program is specifically designed to be customised and automated so all your work flows through pipelines pretty much on its own which means you have more, you guessed it, time.

Optimise your marketing budget

How much do you pay for a lead from each of your marketing sources? How do they compare in quality? Without the answers to these questions at your fingertips, how will you know how to divide your marketing budget?

A good CRM will be able to track incoming leads and Respacio can take this a step further. For example, if you use pay per click advertising, you can track a sale back to exactly which advert was clicked. No longer is there a missing link between your website statistics and your client database. 

Optimise your business performance

A good property CRM will give you insights into your business that will reveal opportunities for improvement. 

• Which properties generate the most enquiries and clicks?
• What do people search for on your website, and how well does that match your portfolio?
• Where do you lose clients in your sales process?

These and many more questions will be answered by your software, allowing you to to strategize and plan for improvements.

Secure personal and financial freedom for you, your family and your business

At the end of the day we are all in business to make money and provide freedom and security to ourselves and our families.  To do this our businesses need to be successful well oiled machines that work when we are not there.  Powerful estate agent software is needed as a tool to help you achieve this level of professional success.

Making sure the benefits stack up, as a minimum, like we have laid out above is of monumental importance.  At the risk of sounding like a broken record, estate agent software should free up your time, get you out from behind a computer and get you in front of those clients and prospects as much as possible.

The team at respacio have made it their sole mission in life to do just that and according to the army of happy satisfied clients we have it seems like so far the mission is accomplished!

To see the difference Respacio can make to you, your agency, your family and your whole life book a demo today.  All you have to do is invest 30 minutes of your time to change your business forever.

3. The importance of a user-friendly interface in estate agent software

If you need any convincing that user friendliness is important when choosing your estate agent software then just look at the impact it had for Steve Jobs and the iPod.  He set out to make a music player with one button because he could not figure out how to use the MP3 player he got for Christmas.  Well, he succeeded and the rest, as we all know, is history.

Apple’s success is largely due to how user friendly their products are and you should apply the same scrutiny to estate agent software for your agency.  Making sure it is intuitive and easy to use will pay massive dividends in the short and the long term.  The easier the estate agent software is to use the more you and your team will use it and in turn the greater the payoff your organisation will get from it.

Respacio’s interface and user experience have been designed by real estate agents for real estate agents and no detail has been overlooked.  Everything we do in the design lab is tested and then tested again to make sure that every feature is created with the mentality of the simplest and shortest distance between two points.   

Now, we understand that user friendliness will mean something different to every estate agency.  That is why customizability in all aspects of the software including user experience was so important to us.  You will be able to customise everything to make the set up perfect for exactly how your company runs, making it, you guessed it, super easy to use.  We figured that the more the system could be matched to the way each individual agency worked the more intuitive it would be and the more intuitive it is the more team members would use it and the better it would work.

More often than not we will have young children and seniors play with the software to make sure that learning to use it is as simple as possible and that understanding Respacio is as easy as logging in and getting started.

Book a demo today to experience the incredible intuitiveness of Respacio’s user experience and how it will transform your company’s way of working.  All you have to do is invest 30 minutes of your time to change your business forever.

4. Estate agent software: What you need to know before you buy

Arming yourself with the right information and advice before making a buying decision is always a good idea and especially when it comes to something as important as estate agent software.

Knowing the right information to focus on can be a task in and of itself so we have compiled a quick list of some things we think are important to know and do before buying estate agent software.

• Your exact needs whether it be sales, rentals, property management or a combination of them
• What budget you have to work with as there is no sense falling in love with something that you cannot afford
• Have your processes and procedures sketched out in detail so you know what features and benefits your agency will need.
• Have a good understanding of how your company will grow in the future and what needs you will have 5 years down the line
• Through group discussions and one on one sessions with your team formulate a good understanding of your client needs so you can choose estate agent software that will best meet them.
• Decide how you would like window cards, brochures, email templates and website listings to look.
• Come up with a list of possible automations that will save your agency time and frustration.
• Have a list of all the other external software your company uses day to day.

This is just a sample of what you could possibly need to know and prepare for when choosing estate agent software.  The important thing is that you take some time and really think about how your agency runs and how you would like it to run.  The more detailed a picture you paint the better you will know what your needs are today and for the future.

At Respacio we firmly believe that no two agencies are the same and that is why we built the most customisable estate agent software in the world, so business owners like yourself could build and customise it to be just for them.  

Book a demo today and you will see how every Respacio system we set up is unique and tailor made for each client.  All you have to do is invest 30 minutes of your time to change your business forever.

5. Maximising efficiency and productivity with the right estate agent software

By now, if you have been paying attention, it’s no secret that we believe one of the chief responsibilities of estate agent software is to maximise efficiency and productivity by organising and automating as many daily tasks as possible.

Realising the importance of this could quite possibly be the most important thing to keep in mind when choosing estate agent software.  The last thing you want is to make a choice and go through the process of onboarding, data transfer and training only to realise that not only has efficiency and productivity not increased but it is slowly decreasing.  This is an all too familiar nightmare lots of prospective agents come to us with.

Earlier we outlined the difference between features and benefits and the importance of the distinction between them.  Importantly, benefits are all about what’s in it for the client, in this case, you.  It is very easy to get caught up in shiny features and forget about whether or not those features actually benefit you and your team.

We are so benefit oriented at Respacio because we know that long term benefits are what will drive our business forward.  Features are important but a feature without a clear and definite benefit to the end user is useless.  

If you would like to see for yourself how Respacio is sure to supercharge your efficiency and productivity with benefit upon benefit then book a demo today.  All you have to do is invest 30 minutes of your time to change your business forever.

6. Cloud-based vs. on-premises estate agent software: Which is right for you?

Choosing whether you will use traditional on premise estate agent software or a cloud based solution is a very important decision and one that has a lot to do with future proofing your business.  It is fair to say that the enterprise software world is shifting to cloud based applications and it seems like on premise solutions will be a thing of the past sooner rather than later.  But if you are plainly just more comfortable and feel more secure with something that resides on your own computers or servers then that may be the way to go.

For clarity, on premise estate agent software is always stored on the agency’s computers or servers while cloud based estate agent software is stored on the software company’s servers and accessed via web browser or downloaded application.

We have listed out some of the key differences between cloud estate agent software and on premise in the table below.

Difference	Cloud	On Premise
accessibility	Because cloud based software is stored on external servers and accessed through browsers and applications it can be accessed from anywhere on any device as long as there is an internet connection.	This type of software is severely limited because it is stored on local servers and can only be accessed by computers on the network.  This limits the accessibility drastically.
security	Security is by far the number one concern people have with cloud computing today.  There have been several documented hacks of cloud platforms and many IT specialists are worried.  But if you scrutinise the estate agent software solutions on your shortlist and look out for counter measures such as: two factor authentication, unique data buckets for client information, and anti DDoS attack protocols then you can be assured you and your data will be in very safe hands.	Some institutions like banks and government offices insist that on premise is their only option as they can control the security and mitigate risk.  This is true but requires an in-house IT team and comes with significant functionality drawbacks.  These days in a sales driven industry like real estate, cloud based estate agent software is almost a necessity as on premise solutions limit information access on the go and will have you losing to your competitors.
cost	By far this is the greatest advantage to cloud based estate agent software.  The setup costs are relatively low and usually you will pay a per user per month fee on a subscription basis with low commitment.  Since the software is cloud based then it is always updated so you are using the most up to date version all the time.	On premise systems are much more cost heavy as you need to buy the estate agent software outright and have an IT person or team depending on the size of your company.  Keep in mind that with on premise the ongoing costs are also laid at your feet for hardware maintenance, power usage and the space the servers will occupy.
control	Depending on the cloud based estate agent software you choose your customizability options could be very limited.  That is fortunately not the case for all systems.  For instance, with Respacio, you will be working with the most customisable estate agent CRM on the market today.  This will give you the control of on premise with all the power and convenience of cloud based.	One of the benefits of having an on premise system is that you are likely going to be in a position to be able to customise and control every aspect and detail but as we said earlier this all comes at a cost.  IT department and the initial equipment and labour to set everything up properly.
Software updates	No need to update software, you are always running the latest version.	Constant software updates to remove bugs and add features.

It’s true, there are benefits to both cloud based estate agent software and on premise but unless you are in a super regulated and high risk business then working from the cloud will be more than suitable.  The trick is to make sure that you have the right cloud based estate agent software that will give you all the benefits of both options.

Respacio has been carefully designed and created to do precisely that.  You will be able to have your cake and eat it too, as they say.  You will have accessibility, speed and value for money all while also having industry leading security, more customizability than any other system and be as legally compliant as you need to be.

If you would like some help making a decision on the right estate agent software for your agency then book a demo today.  All you have to do is invest 30 minutes of your time to change your business forever.

7. Innovations in estate agent software: What to expect in the future

One of the biggest mistakes you can make when choosing estate agent software is to overlook what’s in the pipeline for future development of the system.  You need to make sure that the innovations and changes they intend to make to the software are in line with or above what the industry standard seems to be.

There are some key questions to ask yourself regarding the future of the software you are looking at.

1. Does the software have updates coming that will address new technologies coming to the market?

2. Is it evident that the estate agent software you are looking at has, in the past, added features and updates to work with and connect to emerging tech?

3. What are the current integrations like for the software?  Are there many or does it seem a pain to get anything else to integrate?

4. Are there a lot of automations that can be created to alleviate admin tasks and get people selling?

5. What do past clients say about the functionality and updates of the system?  Are there a lot of positive comments about being open to new exciting technologies?

Ask these questions of every estate agent software you test/demo, you may be surprised by the answers.  

At Respacio, we are committed to being at the forefront when it comes to integration, innovation and technological advancements.  We pride ourselves on helping you work as seamlessly as possible by integrating with as many software platforms as possible, making your life easier and giving you the ability to boost the sales and profits of your agency by freeing up your time.  We are constantly playing with new tech and evaluating its usefulness to the marketplace so we can bring to you only the best additions to the system.

To have a first hand look at what we currently can do and what is in the not so distant future then book a demo today.  All you have to do is invest 30 minutes of your time to change your business forever.

8. Evaluating the cost-benefit of estate agent software

When it comes to choosing estate agent software the price discussion always creeps in.  Now, we aren’t saying it’s not important to consider price, on the contrary it is very important.  But it is more in how you look at price when making your decision that matters.

The main question you should be asking yourself is about the value of the software you are considering.  You may be asking yourself, what do you mean the value and how do we calculate it?  Value is measured by the perceived benefit and return on investment you will get from the estate agent software.  Again, focus on what’s in it for you and not on the gigantic features list.  That is what we mean by value and you can calculate it by how many yes answers you get to the following questions.

Will the software save my team and I time through task automation we are now spending needlessly?

Is the estate agent software customisable to a level that I will be able to replicate my exact business processes?

Does the software have a pipeline workflow system that will allow me to have a live dashboard view of all the sales/rentals/instruction progressions in my agency?

Will the estate agent software give real time analytics that will help me make better, more profitable marketing spend decisions?

If I choose this software will the internal and external communication process in my agency become streamlined and be much better than it is now?

Will the software make my company more organised and therefore more efficient causing more instructions to be won and more sales to be made?

If you can answer yes to all these questions when picking new estate agent software then you are on the right track.  If you want to see a live demo of how Respacio’s estate agent software answers a resounding yes to all of these questions and way more then book a demo now.  All you have to do is invest 30 minutes of your time to change your business forever.

9. Estate agent software for team collaboration and workflow management

Ensuring your team is working together as a well-oiled machine is essential to any successful business especially an estate agency where the competition is fierce and the market moves so quickly.  Your estate agent software should be a tool that not only helps collaboration but actually encourages it.

This is why we have stressed, above, the importance of workflow pipelines that organise every deal in your business in a way that makes it simple for your team to work together and serve the client in the same way, every time.  

Gone are the days of siloed working where everyone could only see what was happening in their own small world.  Today’s marketplace requires an open and transparent way of working where access to all information is possible at the touch of a button.

Imagine if a current client walked into the office and wanted to know what was happening with their property they had listed with your agency for sale a month earlier and they were being looked after by, let’s call her Lucy.  The only problem is Lucy is on leave for a week and cannot be reached.  Now, without collaborative estate agent software this poor client would have to wait for an update until Lucy was back from her leave and in the office.

As you can see by this example collaboration and workflow are imperative if you want to beat the competition and sellmore property faster.  With this in mind, Respacio’s workflow pipelines were created and they solve this problem perfectly and make teams better, stronger and faster than ever before.

Want to get your team working better and faster together instead of individually?  Then book a demo today.  All you have to do is invest 30 minutes of your time to change your business forever.

10. Why is customer support so important when choosing Estate agent software

Things are going to go wrong no matter which estate agent software you choose, it’s unavoidable.  If anybody tries to tell you differently then they are just trying to fool you.  

In all businesses, including the software business there will be problems but it is the frequency of those problems, how they are dealt with and what measures are put in place to prevent them occurring again that makes for great customer service and support.

With Respacio, you will be assigned a business analyst  that will be with you through your subscription lifetime and you will be given direct lines of communication that are always accessible.  This analyst will onboard you, train you and help set up your system as well as be there to answer any questions you have and receive any technical support claims and raise the issue ticket on your behalf. 

We firmly believe that being there or our customers on a one to one personal level is critical to our success and to theirs.  The service starts right from the first meeting when we demo our estate agent software so why not book yourself a demo now and experience what it’s like to be part of the Respacio family.  All you have to do is invest 30 minutes of your time to change your business forever.