Most people across the globe have mobile phones; in fact, they are more popular than personal computers, making them the most relevant Internet-capable devices in the world. Considering that smartphones are the main framework for communication these days (both via cellular networks and social media), most companies have to consider this factor if they want to engage in high-quality marketing campaigns.

Many firms in the real estate market already know that they need to target smartphones. Some have sites and even web apps for their customers. Others even prepare dedicated applications for their clients. Regarding the second option, there are two ways to proceed. On the one hand, you can use off-the-shelf white-label software and customize it to your needs, or, for example, use some outside apps and upload the core information into them. This option works great for smaller companies that don’t have many resources. On the other hand, hiring a real estate app development company and asking it to create customized solutions for your business is possible. Let’s review both options in-depth and decide which is the best in our world of ever-growing market competition.

Off-the-shelf apps are cheaper in the short term. They don’t require an active development process and are relatively easy to implement. Moreover, they can even fit your company’s exact needs in the initial stages. So, what’s the catch? The “catch” starts at the point when major changes occur, either in your company or in the vendor’s organization. Imagine you want to add a new service to your current offerings by expanding from residential real estate into industrial or renting activity. Suddenly, the white-label software or a full-scale off-the-shelf app you paid for may become obsolete. As a result, you’ll have to create makeshift solutions to resolve this problem. This may be a separate site for your new activities, or even a new app. Because of this, your customers’ overall experience will become utterly fragmented. Instead of having one unified location for working with your business, they must concentrate on two or several. The long-term outcomes of this approach for your business may be pretty adverse: a fragmented image of your company may significantly reduce the effectiveness of your marketing efforts and create a complex structure of request processing for your business.

So, what are the core advantages of custom solutions for your business? Yes, such solutions are usually more expensive than off-the-shelf ones in the short term. However, the long-term benefits of having an ecosystem for your brand will significantly outweigh the initial investments. The first reason to invest in this type of technology is that you’ll have complete control over it. What do we mean by this? The source code of the relevant apps will fully belong to you, and only you will define the direction in which it will transform. Consequently, this automatically removes some long-term problems, such as the possibility of vendor lock-in and unwanted changes in the design of the mobile apps created by outside companies. More importantly, you’ll be able to add features curated by you to the app, thus preventing a situation in which someone else will be able to decide this question and allowing yourself to focus on the capabilities that your customers, and not anyone else, wants to see in those apps. This control will enable you to tailor your app directly to the needs of your business, aligning it with every facet of your marketing and sales strategy.

An investment in an off-the-shelf app is simply not flexible. A business that expects to function for decades is unlikely to survive in the market without significant changes. No outside vendors would ever be able to reflect those changes, as they are stakeholders with their internal interests. Custom apps prepare you for the future, allowing you to gain a high level of security and control over your entire framework and add revolutionary features. For example, you can react much faster to the AI revolution with the help of this technology. Therefore, it will be possible to gain a competitive advantage much quicker.

Platform compatibility is another issue that you need to consider. Many app vendors focus on just one platform, Android or iOS. This fragmentation is one of the most frustrating aspects of using smartphones, and it has become pronounced in the real estate sector. You may find an excellent app for your business, but it may be from a region with a very different “balance of power” regarding the available platforms. Consequently, it will simply have low relevance in your exact area. Custom apps help solve this problem once and for all. You can dedicate resources to creating new app versions if necessary, and choose frameworks that remove the need to do this by enabling very simple cross-platform functionality.

This information means that custom mobile apps are essential in the modern real estate market. Firstly, succeeding in the current market is challenging without a smartphone-oriented app. Companies that are not mobile-friendly are likely to fail. Secondly, custom apps offer a much better experience for customers, allowing you to react to their needs faster and prevent service fragmentation.