Let me begin by presenting a scenario in the life of a real estate agent. 

Oliver has been running XYZ real estate agency for a couple of years now.

Here’s what an average day looks like for him.

His latest buyer prospect has left him on read, a seller wants an immediate update at 12 am at night, and on top of that, he has a dozen unread follow-ups from past customers. Sounds like a nightmare?

Well, if you're in the real estate business, you know that a single deal can take 4-6 months, and managing customers, properties, and paperwork can quickly turn chaotic.

Worry not, because there’s a solution to tackle this nightmare. That’s the real estate CRM.

A real estate CRM will act as a reliable tool by assisting you from the day of your customer’s first home viewing to closing day and will also aid you in a bunch of other activities.

Let’s understand in detail how real estate CRMs function.

What is Real Estate CRM software?

CRM in the real estate industry focuses on managing leads, nurturing customer relationships, and organizing workflows – covering all major sales process steps to help agents and brokerages close deals faster.

Real estate CRM software is mainly used by:

Real estate agents: They use it to manage leads, schedule property tours, and track customer interactions.

Brokerages: They use it to supervise agent performance, automate workflows, and manage customer data across teams.

Property managers: They use it to track tenants, manage property listings, and handle communication with buyers and renters.

What are the features of Real Estate CRM?

Lead management

This includes three things which are:

Lead capture: This integrates with different lead sources like websites, paid ads to capture and organise leads.

Lead routing: This allows you to automatically assign leads to specific teams or agents based on customisable rules.

Lead segmentation: This allows you to organise and filter leads based on different criteria like location, status etc. in order to tailor follow-up and communication strategies.

AI features

Chatbots: You can use these chatbots to engage with leads on your website or via messaging platforms. These bots answer questions, qualify leads and gather relevant information about buyers and sellers.

Predictive analytics: AI helps predict which deals in the sales pipeline are most likely to close by analysing historical data.

Behavior analysis: AI tracks customer behavior based on property listings, such as which properties they viewed or inquired about, and uses that data to make tailored recommendations for them in the future.

Drip campaigns: AI allows you to create automated, behavior-driven drip campaigns that help nurture leads over time. These campaigns are personalized based on the lead's behavior and preferences, thereby ensuring that they remain engaged.

Third-party integration 

Website and IDX integration: This feature allows you to create custom websites with IDX(Internet Data Exchange) integration thereby portraying listings directly from MLS.

Zapier integration: You can use Zapier to connect the CRM to other apps thereby automating workflows across all platforms.

Channel party management

Channel party management is a feature designed to streamline and manage the relationships, communications, and activities between a company and its channel partners, such as brokers, agents, developers, distributors, or other third-party collaborators.

These partners act as intermediaries who help the company sell its products or services, and this feature ensures that their contributions are effectively tracked and optimized.

Property management

This feature allows you to organize and maintain property listings, track availability, and manage property-related details such as pricing, location, amenities, and images. Some systems also integrate with Multiple Listing Service (MLS) platforms to sync listings automatically.

Omnichannel

The omnichannel feature allows you to connect with leads and customers across multiple channels, including email, phone, SMS, chat, social media, and even in-person interactions, while keeping all communication centralized in the CRM.

Transaction management

With a real estate CRM, you can manage the entire sales cycle, from initial offer to final closing. It also helps you track deadlines, automate reminders, and ensure compliance with legal requirements.

Document management

You can store and organise important documents like contracts, agreements, and property listings, making them easily accessible.

Contact management

This feature allows you to store customer information, including preferences, communication history, budget and property interests.

Customisable customer portals

This feature allows you to offer customers a personalized portal where customers can view property details, transaction progress, and documents.

Task and reminder automation 

This feature allows you to create automated reminders for follow-ups, property showings, contract deadlines, and other important tasks.

Sales pipeline management

You can create multiple sales pipelines, which helps tailor the CRM to different business processes.

Task and activity management

You can create and assign tasks to team members in order to ensure that follow-up actions are completed. You can also log meetings, calls and emails related to leads and deals into the CRM.

User-friendly interface

The real estate CRM helps simplify real estate workflows with its intuitive, easy-to-use interface — this is essential while running a highly functional sales organization. With menus that are easy to navigate, customisable dashboards and minimal clutter, it is designed to save time and improve overall user experience.

Pricing and quoting

This feature allows you to generate quotes and set pricing rules and also helps create invoices for closed deals.

Customer onboarding and retention

You can automate onboarding sequences to improve overall customer experience. The option to personalise follow-ups and offer incentives also helps in customer retention – important element of a good sales strategy.

Analytics and reporting 

This feature allows you to track lead sources, conversion rates, agent performance, sales analysis, and marketing ROI. You can also access visual dashboards and detailed reports.

Mobile app

This feature allows you to access the CRM whenever and wherever you want.

What are the benefits of Real Estate CRM?

• Enhanced efficiency
• Increased revenue
• Easier collaboration
• Better sales
• Better security
• Better customer experience
• Access to strategic insights

Traditional Real Estate Tools vs Real Estate CRM

Which are some of the best CRMs for real estate?

There are plenty of CRMs out there for you to choose from. I’ve mentioned the names and key features of some of the best and widely used ones below. 

Superleap

Superleap CRM revolutionizes real estate management by simplifying workflows and enhancing productivity. Its intuitive, customizable dashboard helps you manage leads, properties, and transactions with ease, allowing you to focus on closing deals.

With features like automatic lead capture, smart routing, and segmentation, Superleap ensures faster follow-ups and efficient lead management. It also strengthens collaboration with brokers, agents, and developers through channel party management and integrates seamlessly with MLS to keep property details updated.

The CRM’s omni-channel communication tools, transaction tracking, and customer portals offer a unified, transparent experience. AI-powered chatbots, predictive analytics, and behavior-based campaigns keep leads engaged, while sales pipeline management and actionable analytics help optimize performance.

Superleap also integrates with tools like Zapier, creating a tailored, automated solution to boost your real estate business and deliver exceptional service.

Realvolve

Realvolve CRM is designed to streamline your real estate workflows and automate repetitive tasks, helping you manage customer relationships more effectively. With a single, easy-to-use platform, it combines contact management, transaction tracking, and marketing automation.

What sets Realvolve apart is its customizable workflows, enabling you to create personalized processes for follow-ups and deal management. This flexibility ensures you stay organized and efficient, no matter the size of your real estate business.

Propertybase

Propertybase CRM helps brokerages and agents manage their business seamlessly. Built on Salesforce, it combines powerful CRM tools with features like lead management, marketing automation, transaction tracking, and MLS integration. This CRM allows you to streamline workflows, nurture customer relationships, and manage listings and transactions in one place. Its robust reporting and analytics tools also help teams make data-driven decisions to grow their businesses efficiently.

Follow Up Boss

Follow Up Boss is a real estate CRM designed to help agents and teams manage leads, automate follow-ups, and close deals faster. It integrates seamlessly with lead sources like Zillow, Realtor.com, and Facebook, consolidating all leads into one platform. With tools like automated reminders, customizable workflows, and in-depth reporting, Follow Up Boss ensures agents stay organized and responsive. 

Sell.Do

Sell.Do CRM is a comprehensive real estate CRM platform that offers end-to-end solutions for lead management, sales automation, and marketing campaigns, helping real estate professionals streamline their sales operations. With features like AI-driven lead scoring, omnichannel communication, and advanced reporting, Sell.Do helps sales teams prioritize high-quality leads and improve conversion rates.

How to choose the right CRM for real estate?

Which common mistakes to avoid while using Real Estate CRMs?

Not making the most out of automation features

If the real estate CRM software provides you the option to automate repetitive tasks like capturing leads from multiple sources or coordinating schedules with agents and customers for property meetings, use it. If your team spends too much time doing tasks that can easily be automated, they end up spending less time on high-value tasks.

Not maintaining data accuracy 

A CRM software is an efficient tool only if you use it well and make the most out of it. If your team doesn’t regularly update customer data and perform cleanups, there’s a possibility of accumulating outdated or redundant data.

Ignoring follow-ups and customer interactions

Your CRM software can provide timely reminders for conducting follow-ups with buyers or sellers. But, if your team doesn’t follow up and interact with them, the reminders become futile.

What are some Real Estate CRM case studies?