The Blueprint for Creating Real Estate App Like Zillow

The real estate market encounters several challenges, including economic instability, legal issues, and increasing land prices. Whether you are a broker or an agent, having an app for your real estate business is essential to staying ahead of the competition. Hundreds of real estate apps claim to be the best, but none match Zillow’s success.

Zillow has over 10 million downloads on the app store, making it the clear leader in real estate mobile apps. However, to beat the tough competition and take a share of the American real estate market, you must develop a real estate app that isn’t just like Zillow.

Moreover, the worldwide real estate market was valued at $3.69 billion in 2021 and is expected to reach $5.82 billion by 2030. Therefore, massive opportunities exist to explore and lead this market.

You must be above Zillow’s functionality to tackle your target audiences, competition, laws, government policies, and other factors. Take note of Zillow’s strength, but move forward. Use our tried-and-true real estate mobile application development process to build an app like Zillow that your agents and clients love.

What is Zillow?

In 2006, Rich Barton founded Zillow, an American tech real-estate marketplace company. Zillow connects people with agents for easy buying, selling, financing, and renting properties. It helps them locate and acquire the house of their dreams. Zillow offers clients a transparent, nearly flawless end-to-end shopping, renting, and financing experience on demand.

Zillow is developed on a deep understanding of movers’ requirements and a motivation to assist you in achieving your objectives. When you request to connect with an agent, it works to comprehend your unique scenario and connect you with a local real estate professional. After that, the agents will tailor their services to you, assist you in exploring options, and be your guide to winning your next home.

Benefits of Real Estate App Development Like Zillow

To develop Real Estate Apps like Zillow, you must consider the demands and desires of your target audience. The real estate industry typically has three users: buyers, sellers, and realtors. Your custom real estate app will benefit each of them.

A. Benefits for Buyers

Based on feedback from leading real estate, let’s discuss the advantages your Zillow mobile app can offer buyers.

• Availability of latest information at all times
• Comparing properties without having to make a trip saves time
• Search properties with a range of filters
• A simple way to contact an agent and receive round-the-clock assistance
• Advice on purchasing and signing documents

B. Benefits for Sellers

Let’s examine how apps like Zillow can attract vendors by providing the advantages listed below:

• An excellent method for verifying prices
• Expanded market penetration
• The ability to display homes at their best
• Expedites the sale of real estate
• Advice on selling and signing document

C. Benefits for Realtors

Let’s briefly discuss the main advantages of building an app like Zillow for your agents.

• Comprehensive property details at your fingertips
• Automating repetitive tasks
• Elevated market reach and improved lead retention
• An additional source of income
• Increased recognition of the brand

How to Build a Real Estate App Like Zillow?

The real estate business is challenging, but an ideal application can assist you in selling more properties. A leading custom app development company makes creating your app for iOS, Android, and the web seamless, quick, and cost-efficient. They can also help you run and make it scalable. Real estate apps like Zillow can also save you time from monotonous tasks so you can focus on what you’re good at—selling houses.

1. Market Research

It is imperative to remain aware of current market situations and future trends. This will assist you in comprehending whether the market is favorable or not. Hence, you can plan your real estate application development and technology stack according to your needs. Extensive market research is necessary to make your house apps like Zillow impactful.

2. Define Feature Set

The main objective of building a real estate app like Zillow is to attract users’ attention and make the buy-or-sell process smoother. Of course, you do not want just another real estate app in the app stores with no downloads. Thus, keeping a tab on the latest features and integrating them into your Zillow house apps is essential.

3. Select Technology Stack

Selecting the tech stack is like choosing the building blocks of the application’s architecture. This decision significantly impacts the app’s future performance and capabilities. Thus, correctly picking the tech stack is critical to staying competitive.

Scalability is also essential, especially in the dynamic real estate industry, where user demands and data volumes increase. A well-selected technology stack enables real estate app development to handle increased traffic and data without hampering performance.

4. UI/UX Design

You must design an app like Zillow to meet the requirements of all target audiences. The real estate app design should streamline all the selling and buying processes. Users should not find it challenging to navigate the search filters or calculate the mortgage, and sellers should not struggle with uploading a photo or description of their offer.

A custom real estate mobile app development combines colors, precise composition, eye-catching illustrations, icons, and interactive animation. The app’s visual side is as crucial as its features.

5. App Development

After getting the design, real estate app developers revise the budget. Their responsibility is to design each screen and create the code that logically connects them to authorize the functionality to operate. Furthermore, they employ the logic and concepts to connect the data-storing back end and the app’s user-visible front end.

6. Integration of APIs

An API serves as a bridge between diverse software applications. In real estate, developing and integrating APIs enables you to access and incorporate real estate data, property listings, market trends, proptech trends, demographic data, property valuations, local amenities, and more into your applications or websites. The more integration you use, the more Zillow API costs you have to pay.

7. Testing & Deployment

All app problems and technological disparities are fixed during testing and quality assurance. Because some modules might not work on a particular device, bypassing this phase will instantly lose the initial consumers after launch. A real estate mobile app and website like Zillow are tested for style and design. Then, they are deployed to various app stores following the necessary guidelines.

8. Feedback & Iteration

Feedback is essential for gauging user input regarding their experience with apps similar to Zillow. You can integrate a feedback or rating functionality into your real estate app to enable users to express their opinions, report bugs, and suggest modifications. Integrating user feedback into the iterative design procedures of your house rental apps like Zillow ensures regular enhancements and alignment with user demands and preferences.

Must-have Features to Include in Apps Similar to Zillow

Now, let’s look at the essential features to incorporate in a custom real estate app development:

1. Database

A robust database offering value will help your software like Zillow gain traction. For the application to work, the database must be incorporated into your real estate websites and app development process. The more updated and expansive your database is, the more likely it is to maintain users’ interest in your application.

2. Onboarding

A simple onboarding procedure will help customers understand your software for real estate and its features. You can implement one that satisfies the three main goals: operations, navigation, and adding value to users’ eyes.

3. User Profile

Housing apps like Zillow and others are full of features that cater to various customer segments through a single app. Developers of real estate apps need to allow customers to create their profiles within the app.

4. Search, Filter, and Sort

Giving customers the option to customize your app makes it more relevant. They can select the properties that best suit their needs and preferences based on criteria like location, amenities, requirements, and budget. The ability to identify and filter properties is a crucial component that needs to be included in the real estate app design process.

You have the option to apply search and sort filters based on the following:

• Location
• Price
• Purpose
• Bedrooms
• Bathrooms
• Year built
• Built-in area
• Types of home
• Mortgage

5. Interactive Maps

A well-integrated map is an essential component of any mobile property search application. It provides users with helpful information and is the only method to ensure that those looking for real estate arrive at the appropriate spot at the proper time. You can display important information and figures regarding local institutions like banks, schools, hospitals, average household incomes, crime rates, etc.

6. Apartment Details

Every real estate listing has a wealth of information, including a description, images, videos, cost information, local locations, landmarks, owner data, and more. Your platform could only be deemed truly productive if it provided detailed information on each property listed on the app. Everything should be made highly apparent on apps like Zillow, including the area in square feet, the neighborhood, and the contact information.

7. Push Notifications

This feature helps you keep customers at the forefront of your thoughts. The same principles apply to mCommerce apps as to property search apps. The app’s push notification option lets you inform users about price changes, appointments, and other information.

8. Currency Converter

As any real estate app development company would advise, a currency conversion feature is necessary for an application like Zillow, where more individuals want to buy or rent a home wherever they live.

9. Virtual Tours

Technologies such as AR/VR greatly aid virtual tours, which allow potential buyers to virtually tour the property before making a purchase. Virtual tours are a fantastic tool for converting app users into prospective customers genuinely interested in investing in the property. You can also consult an AI development services provider to integrate a chatbot to answer user queries efficiently.

10. Favorites

The favorites function, essential to the success of any real estate app, allows you to save your favorite properties for later. With this functionality, your end users may quickly shortlist their favorite properties. This functionality allows your users to access the properties they have shortlisted at any time and from any location, aiding them in the buying-selling process.

Also Read | Real Estate in Metaverse

Tech Stack Needed For Rental Apps Like Zillow

The technology stack is essential to develop a mobile app for the real estate industry. Specific technologies are needed to make your app fast and reliable and integrate the abovementioned features. Real estate app developers utilize the technologies below to create an app best suited for your audience.

Platform	Technology/Tools
App Designing	Adobe Photoshop and Canvas Flips
iOS App Development	Swift/Objective C, Mac OS, iPhone SDK
Android App Development	Java, JDK, SQLite, Kotlin
Backend Development	PHP, MySQL
SDK files	Firebase SDK, Facebook SDK
Database	MongoDB, Microsoft SQL Server, Apache Cassandra, Elasticsearch, MySQL, PostgreSQL
Video Calling API	Twilio
DevOps	Docker, BitBucket, Git, Visual Studio, Code, Ansible, Docker Compose, New Relic, Sentry, Terraform, Kibana,
Utilities	Amazon SNS, AWS Elasticate, AWS Chatbot, ElasticSearch, Postman, Twilio SendGrid
Core Location	Google Maps or Apple Maps.

How Much Does it Cost to Develop an App Like Zillow?

Numerous variables determine the mobile app development cost. Some of these include the app’s complexity, the size of the development team, and the location of the engaged development agency.

If your property search app operates with the features mentioned above and the technology stack we previously revealed, then the cost to build a real estate app like Zillow would be between $75,000 and $1,00,000. To keep your app development process on track, you can build an MVP before investing your entire money in the project.

Final Thoughts

Building a profitable real estate app is easier than it might seem; it requires careful planning and a calculated strategy. Mobile real estate apps are pretty handy, and there will be a growing market for them. Even though Zillow exists, people are still searching for innovative app ideas. Thus, what steps should you take to create a real estate app worthy of this niche?

And the answer is—look for an experienced mobile application development company. Remember that the design of your mobile real estate app must be user-friendly as well. In addition to having enormous property databases, apps like Zillow are well-liked for their simple user interface. It’s more complicated to balance these criteria for app development. However, you can quickly achieve your goal with the appropriate app development company.