Realty Texas

Location:

United States

Partnership period:

2019-2020

Industry:

Real Estate

Technologies:

Laravel, Angular, Python, AWS, Javascript, Application, Cost Optimization, Data & Analytics, SaaS Solutions,

Team Size:

1 Manager, 2 Frontend Developer, 3 Backend Developer, 2 Database Engineer

Competitive Environment

The real estate market in Texas is highly competitive, with over 100,000 active real estate agents in the state. Our client, Realty Texas, was struggling to stand out and attract new property listings. They were relying on outdated processes - printing pamphlets, cold calling potential clients, and posting listings on basic MLS websites. This lack of technology and online presence was hindering their growth. Competitors with more robust online platforms were dominating the market. Realty Texas wanted to modernize their business to gain a competitive edge.

Problem Statement

Realty Texas approached us wanting to create an end-to-end real estate platform to facilitate the entire property sales and leasing lifecycle. The lack of tech integration into their business was causing them to lose listings to competitors. The client needed a user-friendly way for homeowners and property managers to list properties available for purchase or lease. They also required an advanced search feature for buyers and renters to easily browse and filter listings. Finally, seamless communication channels between agents, sellers, and buyers was critical to improve deal closure rates.

Solution and Objectives

We proposed building a custom online real estate portal called RealtySpace to solve these issues. The three key objectives were:

Enable home sellers/property managers to easily list and manage properties available for purchase or lease.
Allow buyers and renters an intuitive way to search listings based on detailed criteria and location factors.
Facilitate direct communication between real estate agents, property sellers, and interested buyers.

Technology Planning

After consultation with Realty Texas, we decided to build RealtySpace as a Laravel-based SaaS web application with ElasticSearch powering the listing search functionality. Some key technical requirements included:

Intuitive admin dashboard for agents to submit and manage property listings on behalf of clients
Advanced filtering/search to allow homebuyers to narrow down listings by property attributes, location, price, etc.
Interactive mapping features to view exact addresses and surrounding neighborhoods
Lead generation forms to enable direct outreach from interested buyers
RESO MLS data standards across all listings and database architecture

To meet these goals within the client's budget and timeline, we utilized a distributed agile development process across our global delivery centers.

Phases

Phase 1

Phase 2

Phase 3

Conclusion and Results

In 8 months, we successfully built and launched RealtySpaces's full-featured Laravel/ElasticSearch real estate SaaS platform. The system transformed Realty Texas's operations and essentially digitized its entire sales process.

With the new tech capabilities RealtySpace enabled, the agency increased its listings by over 40% in year one. They added nearly 500 new properties across various cities in Texas. Lead conversion rates also rose by 30%, thanks to more engaged buyers via the portal's intuitive search and messaging.

By integrating best-of-class location intelligence, search functionality, and lead management, RealtySpaces became a major sales driver that bolstered Realty Texas's market share. The client was extremely pleased with the final product and associated ROI.

Key Challenge

Balancing advanced search features while optimizing query performance was an initial hurdle during development. With a growing listings database, inefficient queries would slow buyer search response times. We mitigated this by leveraging ElasticSearch's speed and scalability for all property searches.

Next Steps

With RealtySpace functioning smoothly in its first year, next priorities are introducing a native mobile app for on-the-go usage and exploring expansion into other states.

Realty Texas

Realty Texas

Competitive Environment

Problem Statement

Solution and Objectives

Technology Planning