How to find technology that best fits your real estate firm

Shared: November 17, 2021

By: Travis Saxton

Real estate brokerages and teams need different technology at different sizes. In fact, the right technology for smaller firms just will not fit as firms pass a certain agent count. This article highlights some of the technology considerations for brokerages and teams at different sizes.

Technology opportunities, challenges and needs for real estate teams and brokerages change as they grow and develop. A smaller team and brokerage should focus on different technology than those of larger sizes.

Brokerages and teams do not always understand this cadence and how their technology should change as their agent counts grow. They can waste a lot of time looking for technology they don’t yet need or stuck in platforms that hold them back from optimizing operations     .

T3 Sixty provides this article to give brokerages and teams clarity on how they should tailor their tech for their size. Brokerages and teams have been organized into three broad categories by agent count:

  • Small: 6-20 agents
  • Medium: 21-50 agents
  • Large: 51-100 agents

Brokerages and teams with below six agents and above 100 agents typically have unique needs and are not covered in this article. On the smaller-brokerage end, agents typically tailor their technology to their personalities and the vagaries of their business; on the larger end, these firms need enterprise-level technologies that operate at different scales and levels of sophistication.

Small Brokerages and Teams (6-20 Agents)

Brokerages and teams who grow past five agents generally begin needing technology and systems that support the organization as more of a business than as a collection of point solutions.

Technology at this stage should focus on taking the success that the firm experienced with a handful of agents and scaling that into a larger business that can support many more. For example, if the company focuses on lead generation or sphere marketing to win business, it should specifically optimize technology for that. The leadership goes from making personal business decisions to more collective ones.

At this size, the brokerage and team leadership should look to transition from selling to running a business and finding technology that supports a team, such as transaction management, CRMs, websites and email marketing.

The tech transition itself often involves moving from a local, smaller tech operator, such as a web developer or a marketer into a more scalable, adaptable system. However, these brokerages and teams are not yet big enough to need the higher-powered, more expensive systems. 

Technology systems optimized for brokerages and teams of this size include: 

  • BoomTown
  • CINC
  • Realvolve

Medium Brokerages and Teams (21-50 Agents)

At this stage, real estate brokerages and teams operate solidly as a business. They have some systems in place, however, tech and system decisions often remain made in silos. Marketing and lead generation, for example, may have been thought about and implemented separately with two different systems and strategies.

In order to start realizing some efficiencies and benefits that come from economies of scale, brokerages and teams in this stage need to start integrating their technology and strategies. At their revenue point, too, they can now afford to purchase and support some higher-powered technology solutions that enable document-sharing, file storage and compliance to a greater degree.

Technology systems optimized for firms of this size include: 

  • Union Street Media
  • Ylopo
  • Follow Up Boss
  • Sierra Interactive
  • Placester

Large Brokerages and Teams (51-100 Agents)

When brokerages approach approximately 50 agents, brokerages and teams start having some specific technology needs, particularly ones that allow them to navigate and guide a larger organization and optimize numerous activities for profitability. 

At this size, everything from lead to technology to marketing to personnel and support and training must be scalable. Integrations become key, as the operation increasingly needs to support data analysis, intranets and single-sign-on operability.

Large brokerages and teams begin needing more automation for marketing, transactions and compliance needs. In addition, these operations will have to support their technology platforms with thorough training and ongoing maintenance. They can reduce the support calls they will get by consistently integrating and training agents and staff, as systems at this scale get more complex and harder to navigate.

Technology systems optimized for firms of this size include:  

  • MoxiWorks
  • Inside Real Estate
  • Delta Media Group
  • Constellation1

Takeaway

If you’d like help customizing your technology stack or are looking for specific technology recommendations, feel free to reach out to me, Travis Saxton at travis@t3sixty.com, for a no-obligation chat.