How to Develop a Property-house Valuation Estimator App like Zillow?

We all need shelter over our heads. While we all might own a permanent house that we call home, all of us are interested in real estate. Be it finding a home for rent in a new city or looking for a property in terms of investment, buying, and selling have been one of the core activities in mankind. However, due to increasing cases of fraudulent activities, it has become important to know the complete background information before proceeding with interest in selling, buying, or renting out a property. Some techies explore the opportunity to make money with a credible Property Valuation Estimator Apps.

So, apps like Zillow have emerged as the technological face of these real estate transactions where you can do a lot with the properties. Whether it is selling, buying, renting, accessing foreclosing, pre-foreclosing properties, or anything else, you can do everything on these platforms. Let’s go into the deep knowledge of these platforms and how developing one for yourself can be a great business idea.

Real Estate Software Market Stats

Before starting with the core content, let’s have a glance at the market of real estate software that has emerged around us in recent years. 

According to Grandviewresearch, 

The real estate software market size was valued at USD 10.24 billion. The market is expected to showcase a Compound Annual Growth Rate of 12.8% from 2023 to 2030. 

Also, customer relationship management software in real estate had the biggest market share of 27.2% in 2022.

What Is the House Property Valuation Estimator App?

As the name suggests, the property-house valuation estimator app is the software that helps to determine the cost or rental value of any property. These applications consider a lot of factors which include the type of property, location of the property, amenities, age of construction, current condition, furnishing, ownership type, and much more. These types of software are helpful to get an idea about the price of the property so that any real estate agent doesn’t blurt out whatever price they want.

At the same time, most of the property-house valuation estimator apps come with additional features that help you gain much more insight. Here, you can find properties for rent, and sale, and you can even list your property for any of the actions.

Why Do You Need a Home Value Estimator App?

Here are some reasons why using a home value estimator app can be a good idea-

· Helps You Better Price Your Home

The foremost benefit of using the home value estimator app is to get a fair market value. You can get unbiased pricing of any property to sell or rent according to the current market situations and provided amenities. The chances of manipulation for the property price can be eliminated here.

· Offers a Competitive Price

By getting the approximate estimate of the selling/renting price of the property, you can offer a competitive price to the seller, buyer, landlord, or the relevant stakeholder and not negotiate blindly without any ground. This helps you grab the right offer at the right time.

· Calculates the Potential Net Proceeds

These apps can be one of the best methods to fill out the seller’s net sheet to estimate the money one can earn from a particular property. This net sheet is the calculation in which the extra expenses like realtor commission, taxes, fees, etc. are deducted from the expected sale price of the property. So, you can make the decisions like paying the capital gain tax, purchasing a new home, or proceeding with another investment more smartly.

·  Determines the Ability to Refinance

With a home value estimator app, you as well as your lender can decide if you have sufficient equity in your home for refinance purposes. You might need at least 20% equity to qualify for the refinancing. Thus, this is also a great tool to determine your ability to refinance.

Recommended Read: Real Estate App Development Companies

How Zillow Works: The Business Model

Zillow is digital software relevant to different real estate operation needs. It is a platform based in the USA that simplifies the process of buying, selling, leasing, renting, remodeling, and financing homes. Whether people are looking to buy a new house, looking for a property on rent, or planning to rent out their property, Zillow has become a go-to place for people nowadays. The application has over 30 million active monthly users. The business model of the platform is the main contributor to the success of this platform as it helped simplify the different transactions and let the users find the service category they are looking for.

Here are the three business models that Zillow follows-

For Sale

This is the section where the properties are listed for sale. One can filter the properties on various measurement factors such as owner, age of construction, agent, foreclosure, and much more to find the right one in the least time. Also, people looking to buy a property can directly jump into this category to save their time.

Potential listing

Here are the properties that are foreclosed, under the pre-foreclosure, or “Make Me Move” category. These are the properties that buyers might proceed to gain more knowledge to buy.

Rental property

Here the landlords can accept rental applications and rent payments from people looking for houses, rooms, buildings, or apartments for rent. However, renters have to pay a fee of $29 for application which includes the charges for background checks and credit analysis.

Features and Functionalities of Property Search Apps like Zillow

Here are some of the features that make the app like Zillow usable for the target audience-

1.  User Sign-in and Profile

The foremost feature is the sign-in option which helps to create a separate profile for home seekers, and agents. One can create the profile by putting the relevant personal information as well as integrating the platform with Apple ID, Google Account, or social media account. The app also ensures the safety and privacy of sensitive information.

2.  Search Engine with a Database

The application comes with a search engine with a database where the user can easily search for any kind of property they want. Here one can search based on the type of property, amenities, floors or stories, number of rooms, area covered, location, year built, price, and much more.

Moreover, being a real estate agent or agency, if you have your property databases, you can prefer to develop your app with the following external sources-

2.1.  MLS

MLS Database refers to the Multiple Listing Services Database which is one of the best and easiest ways to integrate up-to-date property listing information into your app. This is managed by the American Realtor Society which is used by the realtors to exchange listings. For using this database in the app, one must sign up for the membership and pay an annual fee.

2.2.  Other Listing Platforms

If you don’t want to rely on MLS for some reason, there are several other APIs that you can use to obtain the property listing in different locations, belonging to different sizes, and particulars. ListHub is the best example of such a platform that helps to extract listings from over 600 MLS sources.

2.3.  Collaboration

Collaboration with agencies, brokers, and property owners can be one of the traditional methods to bring insight about available properties onto your app. However, you might have to spend a lot of time along with hard work to bring information this way.

3.  Forum or Messenger

As the name suggests, it is more like a communication medium that enables the buyers and sellers to communicate with each other to make the deal. One doesn’t have to share personal contact information with this messenger feature. Also, all the formal talks can take place within the app only.

4.   Virtual Tour

The virtual tour is an advanced feature that helps the user to take a walk around the property with the help of virtual reality. If a user is searching for a property in a far away area, they might not prefer to visit the property in real life. So, a virtual tour helps them get a better idea about the property and make the final decision.

5.   Currency Converter

When searching the properties in other markets and countries, this feature allows the users to access the price of the property in their local currency. This makes the task a lot easier for people looking to invest in any international country. However, one has to go for a lot of formalities as well as eligibility for such decisions.

6.   Machine Learning

Zillow’s price estimate model Zestimate is the best example of a Machine Learning model. The machine learning feature allows the app to perform some fundamental calculations on the basis of certain algorithms and then present the relevant information to the end users. It includes calculating property prices, predicting the value under certain circumstances, predicting the future value of property, etc.

7.   Data Analytics

Based on the search history of users, the data analytics feature helps to identify potential users and thus the platform owner can use this data to provide more relevant results and advertisements to the users. This practice helps significantly to transfigure the chances of a successful deal.

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Some Additional Features

Here are some additional features that further enhance the capability of real estate mobile apps or software-

Filtering Algorithms	This helps the users to search properties on the basis of particular measurements and preferences.
Mapping and Geolocation	This feature provides the exact navigation and location of the property to the user from a distant location.
Cloud Infrastructure	Cloud infrastructure keeps all the information of the property and app on the cloud for better synchronization.
Property Value Estimator	This feature provides the estimated value of the property on the basis of location, ownership, amenities, and other factors.
Mortgage Calculator	This calculator provides the estimated mortgage value of the property to the user for better decision-making.
Real estate Agent Directory	As the name suggests, this is the directory that provides the names and contact information of all the real estate agents in the area.
Push Notifications and Alerts	This feature informs the user about new updates by sending push notifications and alerts.
Favorite Properties	Users can save the properties by adding them to their favorite section and accessing them later easily.
Schedule Property Visits	The user can schedule the day and time for the property visit which will be shared with property owners. This helps to arrange the meeting.

How to Build a Zillow-like Effective Real Estate Application?

Having an idea about the complete development process of real-estate applications like Zillow can be a good idea. Here are some steps that you must ensure during the process-

1.   Purpose Behind the Property Valuation Estimator App

Here you will develop the purpose and vision behind the Mobile app development. You should answer the questions like what will be your target audience, who are your competitors, what you want to achieve by app, what is going to be the monetization model, etc. Moreover, you will also collect the necessary insight into the market trends and real estate landscape before ensuring your presence in the market.

2. Deciding upon the Features and Functionalities

Once you have taken all the insight into the market, ensuring the big decisions, and are ready to start the development journey, you will have to figure out the features and functionalities of your app. You must remember that features are the backbone of any app which makes your application different from the competitors. List all the features and functionalities that you aim to provide in your software. Including more features might increase the cost of your app development but at the same time, it should never be your reason to compromise with the features.

3. Prototype

This is the rough structure of the app as well as the first deliverable from your development partner. A prototype of the app will give you an idea about the UI/UX, theme, features, buttons, and overall appearance of the app. You must analyze and check the prototype efficiently. Suggest the changes and give feedback to the development team at this stage. It is easier to make changes till this time while it might be time taking and money-exhausting to implement changes once the prototype has been passed.

4. Core Development

All the coding work begins at this stage where the development team builds the front-end and back-end of the application to integrate them. All the third-party support and API integration are also part of this step only which makes the software fully functional.

5. Testing

As the name suggests, the quality analysis team conducts several tests like performance testing, speed testing, bug removal, user experience testing, and many others. The purpose is to deliver a seamless user experience to the end target audience.

6. Deployment and Maintenance

Now comes the deployment stage where the application will be uploaded to app markets like the Google Play Store or Apple App Store. It helps to make the app available to the target audience. Once the app has been deployed, one has to ensure consistent maintenance with bug removal, adding or eliminating the features, updating the version, etc. so as to continuously ensure the best user experience.

Benefits of Real Estate Mobile App Development

Here are some of the relevant stakeholders like buyers, sellers, and realtors leverage-

Benefits for Buyers

1. First of all the buyer gets access to up-to-date information at any given time about the price range, region, type, amenities, and much more.
2. One doesn’t have to visit the different properties physically as features like Virtual reality give them property tours from any location. This saves a lot of time for the buyer.
3. Buyers can apply a range of filters that help to sort out only the preferred property. Thus, it becomes easier for buyers to get relevant results and save a lot of hustle.
4. These applications provide 24*7 support service and thus buyers don’t have to compromise their everyday schedule to search for the property.
5. The apps also give guidance into buying and document signing which plays a significant role to prevent any fraudulent activity.

Benefits for Seller

1. Sellers can double-check the price of the property with a big data algorithm integrated into the app. This helps them offer the right price which saves a good profit to them without impacting the pocket of the buyer.
2. Apps like Zillow have over 200 million monthly users which opens the door to a huge customer base to expand the business significantly.
3. Sharing property videos, using AR/VR, and adding virtual tours help significantly to enhance the chances of sales.
4. By targeting a huge customer base, the speed of property selling also increases.
5. Similarly, the document signing and guidance help the seller to ensure all the formalities during the process.

Benefits for Realtors

1. Realtors’ business has increased tremendously as they can access hundreds of properties at their fingertips in no time. This way, they can offer more numbers and types of property to their customers.
2. A lot of routine tasks have been automated. For example, tracking the production metrics, drafting reports, and viewing agent ranking has become very easy for realtors with these apps.
3. Realtors have got another platform to generate leads and increase their profit. AI integrated into the app helps them to send the right message to the right customer at the right time.
4. Along with their offline operations, Zillow-like apps provide an extra income stream to the realtors without any significant effort.

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Monetization Model: How Does Zillow Generate Revenue Despite Being a Free Platform?

Here are some of the core methods that help apps like Zillow make money-

1.  Ad Sales- Zillow charges the real estate companies and websites like Trulia, HotPads, etc. to advertise their listing on the platform.

2.  iBuying- Zillow uses the iBuying technology for the transaction process of the seller. Here, the customers can use any online platform to share details of their property and Zillow gives them the offer. Then, Zillow buys the house to refix it, sell it, and make money.

3.  Premier services- Zillow provides premier services to agents which include multiple listing service searches, client reviews, past sales, photos, and videos. Agent pays Zillow for this feature.

4.  Ad Space- Zillow even sells the ad space to other businesses where they can promote their services and products.

Tech Stack for a Proficient Real Estate App Development

Application Designing	Adobe Photoshop and Canvas Flips
Android Application Development	Java, JDK, SQLite, Kotlin
iOS Application Development	Swift/Objective C, Mac OS, iPhone SDK
Video Calling API	Twilio
Backend Development	PHP, MySQL
Database	Zillow app API, MapBoxGoogle Maps APIs, SimplyRets, iHomeFinder, Spark APIs, Spatial Neighborhood APIs, Google Places API
SDK files	Firebase SDK, Facebook SDK

Team Required to Develop Property Valuation App Like for an Estate App Development like Zillow

While every development company has a different structure of the team, the following are some of the roles that you must ensure in your team-

Project Manager

This is the person responsible for the overall project management. You will be receiving all the updates from the project manager about your project. Also, the PM ensures coordination between the different stakeholders of the project.

Developer

You will see backend and front-end developers in the team who build the core part of the app. The backend developer will perform all the coding work to include features and functionalities. At the same time, front-end developers will bring those features to your mobile screen.

UI/UX Designer

The person working on this profile will design the dashboard of your app. The user interface is the screen that you see just after opening the app. The whole appearance of the software is designed by UI/UX designer.

Quality Tester

As the name suggests, this person tests your app to ensure that there are no bugs in the application. Also, they test the speed, performance, and functionalities of the app.

Read More: How to Create A Real Estate App

Cost to Develop a Real Estate App like Zillow

The cost of a real estate app development is dependent on a range of factors. According to the needs and preferences of app owners, the price of app development varies to a significant extent. Let’s have a look at the different factors that determine the price of real estate app development-

Number and Complexity of Features	If you want to see more features in your app, definitely you will have to pay more dollars. Similarly, if you want advanced features like AR/VR in your app, the cost will increase.
Location of Developer	Development companies in India cost a lot lower than development companies in the USA and UK.
Time Taken for the Project	According to the per-hour cost of the developers, the more time they spend on your project, the higher will be the cost.
Platform of the App	The cost of developing a mobile app for iOS differs from that of an Android Mobile App.
Security Measures	If you want to integrate advanced security features into your application, it will cost you extra dollars.
Third-party Integrations and APIs	Third-party integration and APIs significantly increase the cost of app development.

How Do Apps like Zillow Get Listing Data?

Here are some of the sources that most of the listing data come from on apps like Zillow-

Multiple Listing Services (MLA)

This is the dataset that instantly provides access to thousands of real estate listings in the app. However, one has to be a member of MLA to leverage the services. All the stakeholders like brokers, agents, sellers, and buyers put their offerings in this database which you can show in your app.

Real Estate Companies

Another option is to partner with local and national real estate companies to provide their listing on your application and get more relevant and valuable leads. By bringing separate listings of real estate companies from different locations, you can easily bring a lot of real estate data to our site.

Brokers, Agents, and Sellers

Local brokers, agents as well as property sellers are also one of the core mediums to get listing data on the app. Providing a feature to list the properties for everyone helps significantly to bring big listing data on the app free of cost.

Property Owners

Similar to the previous one, you can directly contact the property owners to list their properties on the application with a description. This feature helps to connect buyers and sellers without any middlemen.

Conclusion

Finding the right property for rent or purchase has become significantly easy with platforms like Zillow. Similarly, it has become even easier for sellers to find the right customer for their offerings. At the same time, developing an app like Zillow can be a beneficial business idea for you. By meeting the demands of millions of users, you can generate good revenue. So, Octal IT Solution invites you to start the digital journey and develop a real estate app like Zillow.

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