The New Age of Real Estate Apps is Here

The Thing About Modern Real Estate Apps

Real estate is an industry that is always in flux. Bubbles form and shatter, technology redefines how we do things and the consumer always expects more than before. Just like every other online activity, the real estate purchasing/selling experience is also moving online. Consumers want a smooth, seamless and hassle-free experience like they do with top-notch e-commerce brands.

This calls for real estate apps that can keep up with the times. It is no longer just a list that you can filter through. It is all about providing the best customer experience that is consistent throughout the entire buying and selling journey.

Building such an app is a complex process, but thankfully, we have the MERN stack to put to work.

A Brief Intro to the MERN Stack: It is Packed Full of Powerful Tools

MERN is a combination of multiple powerhouse technologies that are all based on JavaScript. It is designed to help developers create web apps that are fast and full-stack. Here’s a list of all that comes with the MERN stack:

• MongoDB: A NoSQL database designed for flexible and scalable data storage. This is the kind of database you need to tackle the huge demands that property listings can make.
• Express.js: A fast, minimalist framework for Node.js. It handles the backend, managing everything from your server to your API.
• React.js: This is the ultimate front-end solution. It is a library that helps you create beautiful, fast and intuitive interface that is functional as well as engaging.
• Node.js: A runtime environment that lets JavaScript run on the server side, powering the backend logic and supporting the entire stack.
• GraphQL: A smarter way to fetch data. Unlike traditional REST APIs, GraphQL allows the front end to ask for only the data it needs, cutting down on unnecessary fetches and boosting efficiency.

Why MERN + GraphQL for Real Estate Apps?

Why do real estate apps choose MERN? Let’s take a closer look:

• JavaScript Everywhere: Since all of MERN is based on the same foundation, the entire stack is built on the same language. Developers write both frontend and backend code in JavaScript, speeding up development and reducing errors.
• Scalability and Performance: Real estate apps deal with lots of data and heavy user traffic. MERN is built to scale, meaning it can handle the load as your platform grows.
• Dynamic User Experience: React.js makes building smooth, interactive user interfaces easy. Imagine filtering properties, exploring listings, or zooming through virtual tours with ease.
• Efficient Data Fetching (GraphQL): With GraphQL, you only get the data you ask for, no more, no less. That means faster load times and less wasted bandwidth.
• Rapid Development: MERN’s smooth integration makes it easy to prototype and iterate quickly. Whether you’re launching a new feature or tweaking an existing one, the stack speeds things up.
• Stronger Data Consistency (GraphQL): GraphQL’s strong schema definition ensures that data remains consistent and error-free, which is key when working with a large amount of information.

Key Features of a Modern Real Estate Application

As we mentioned earlier, we have left the days of simple property listings far behind us. Now is the time for delivering the same level of experience as every other top-rated app in the world. Keeping this in mind, we created an app that has it all. Here are the highlights of what we have built:

1. Multi-Level User Roles: From admins to brokers to developers, our app offers a robust system with distinct roles, ensuring everyone has the right level of access.
2. Interactive Property Listings: Listings come alive with high-quality photos, neighborhood details, and advanced filtering options that help users narrow down their search effortlessly.
3. End-to-End Deal Creation UI: From start to finish, managing a deal is a breeze. A step-by-step process guides users through everything—creating deals, managing stakeholders, and tracking progress.
4. Integrated Document Signing: Need a signature? No problem. Our in-app PDF renderer and secure e-signature tool make signing documents fast and legally binding.
5. Detailed Deal History: Every transaction gets its own complete history, which tracks everything from initial availability to final closing.
6. Deal Status Tracking: Get real-time updates on where each deal stands—whether it’s waiting for signatures or payments or moving towards completion.
7. Centralized Deal Details: All documents, payment details, and timelines are stored in one easy-to-access area, making collaboration a breeze.
8. Integrated CRM: Track leads, manage communications, and keep everything in one place with our powerful CRM system.
9. Email Communication System: Need to send updates? Our email system comes with automated notifications, customizable templates, and campaign management.
10. Unit Tracker: Project admins can easily track unit availability and key project info in one place.
11. Advanced Search: Looking for a specific property? Our robust search and filtering options let users quickly zero in on what they need.
12. Reporting System: Dive deep into performance with comprehensive reports and beautiful data visualizations.

Revolutionizing Real Estate: Behind the Scenes – Document Management

Real estate has one aspect that is atypical when compared to most other industries – paperwork. The listings and the deals all boil down to managing documentation. That is why we equipped our app with a robust document management system. It can render, merge, track and facilitate signing documents. All of it is done seamlessly and most importantly, securely. Here’s how we did it:

• PDF Rendering: We use the Mozilla-backed pdfjs-dist library to render PDFs directly within the app. No need for downloads—just smooth, fast document viewing across any device.
• PDF Manipulation & Merging: For more advanced PDF tasks, like merging documents or adding dynamic data, we turn to pdf-lib. It lets us seamlessly combine PDFs, add images or text, and ensure everything stays formatted perfectly. And with “merge fields” (think placeholders like {{propertyName}} or {{buyerName}}), we can inject real-time data directly into PDFs.
• On-Application Signature Handling: Forget third-party e-signatures. We’ve built a custom, secure signature capture system that lets users sign documents right on the screen using a simple canvas element.
• AWS S3 Integration: We store everything in AWS S3, ensuring security, scalability, and easy access. Whether it’s PDFs, signatures, or media files, everything is stored safely and efficiently. We also use versioning, so if we need to look back at a previous document version, it’s simple.

Taming the Data: Scalable Data Handling – Advanced Tables with MUI and MongoDB

Displaying large datasets in real-time without sacrificing performance is crucial for a real estate app. Our solution allows users to effortlessly interact with massive databases. Here’s how we did it:

• Frontend Presentation: Material-UI (MUI) powers the tables, offering rich, interactive features like sorting, filtering, and pagination. The best part? The tables are responsive, meaning they look great on any screen size.
• Backend Processing with MongoDB: MongoDB’s aggregation pipeline does the heavy lifting, letting us filter, sort, and paginate large datasets efficiently. We use dynamic queries to ensure only the data the user needs gets pulled.
• Server-Side Data Processing: We chose to go all in on the serverside and take away all the heavy lifting from the client. So the client still has access to huge datasets but isn’t asked to handle it all. The user gets a smooth infinite scrolling experience while filtering, searching and sorting is handled by the server.

We are Only Just Getting Started

Key Benefits of Our Approach:

• Scalability: As your data grows, our architecture grows with it. We’re ready for large-scale operations.
• Performance: We have lighting fast load times and response times, all thanks to intelligent server-side processing.
• User-Friendly: The system is designed with the user in mind. Searching, filtering, and sorting through data feels effortless—even with vast amounts of information.
• Security: We keep the data safe by cutting down on all but the essential data transmissions, keeping it low risk and secure.

The real estate world is undergoing a silent revolution when it comes to creating new-age, all-digital user experiences and we are taking our place right on the frontlines. This just the beginning.

Author: Sayan Maity

Editor: Shailpik Biswas