When business is booming, the last thing you want to do is hunt through emails and spreadsheets for client information. When it’s slow, you need an easy way to activate your network to generate referrals and new business.
If you’re ready to take your real estate business to the next level, allow me to introduce you to a life-changing tool: the real estate CRM.
A CRM (customer relationship management) system is an online contact database that lets you manage leads and customers, launch marketing campaigns, and save time in the process.
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What is a real estate CRM?
CRM software acts as your single source of truth for prospect and client information, allowing you to cultivate relationships and make data-driven decisions. For top-performing real estate agents, a CRM is an essential tool for managing a healthy pipeline.
Why Agents Need a CRM
As a real estate agent, you’re probably juggling multiple clients at a time and prospecting for new ones — all while trying to keep your appointments and contracts organized. Using a CRM for real estate agents can automate the repetitive aspects of your workload so you can focus on more meaningful tasks.
Here are some of the key features a CRM offers to make your life easier:
- Organize prospect information, making it easy to find (i.e., no more hunting through spreadsheets).
- Quickly respond to property inquiries without having to dig through your inbox.
- Keep track of which prospects you’ve reached out to and which are farther along in the home-buying process.
- Gather digital metrics, such as your prospects’ website activity or whether they opened your emails.
- Manage your sales pipeline in one place and keep track of closings.
- Maintain contact with past clients for relationship management and referrals.
- Automate tasks and workflow, such as email follow-ups after open-houses.
There are dozens of CRM platforms on the market, but not all of them are good. You may have had a poor experience in the past with clunky interfaces, limited functionality, or a lack of support.
But no more. To save you time, I found and reviewed the 12 best CRMs for real estate agents. These 12 tools have powerful communication tools, analytics, integrations, and AI-powered insights to transform your business at an affordable price.
If you’re new to using a CRM and are looking for a low-risk way to test one out, many of these software have free trials or basic levels. However, most businesses find that a CRM pays for itself with value added and time saved.
CRM Software for Real Estate: Features to Look For
Marketing Automation
Marketing automation software can save you a lot of time and hassle – giving you more time to do what you do best: sell property. A CRM software that’s optimized for real estate professionals will help you automate the lead qualification process and create a hub for your digital marketing needs.
You can also find tools that help you identify your target audience and tailor your digital marketing strategy accordingly.
Lead Capturing and Tracking
When choosing a CRM, you want to be sure that it has a feature to help you capture and track your leads. Your prospective clients likely come from a variety of sources, whether it be via digital marketing, referrals, or social media. In order to convert more of these leads into customers, you’ll want a tool that can help you track and organize your inquiries.
Some tools, like Qobrix, can go a step further and match leads to properties that suit them.
Communication Tools
You know that real estate is a relationships-driven business. So, how you build relationships with your customers — from client stage to post-sale — is crucial to your success and reputation. A great CRM can simplify much of this process for you, helping you to build trust and loyalty over time.
For example, a CRM will help you keep a detailed record of client interactions, preferences, and milestones. Stay one step ahead and deliver a tailored approach to your client communications.
Data-Driven Reporting
Real estate professionals rely on data analysis to make decisions. Whether you want to track detailed data about market trends or client behavior, you can use a CRM to help you synthesize and analyze the information that matters most.
You’ll also want the ability to generate points to learn more about how your business is doing. That can include future revenue projections, performance of marketing campaigns, and more.
Now that you’ve got an idea of what to look for, I’ll guide you through some of the best real estate CRMs on the market. You can compare them for price, benefits, and the features that matter most to you.
1. HubSpot
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Get HubSpot’s Free CRM for Real Estate Businesses
Key Features
- Task automation
- Call tracking tools
- AI email writer
- Live chat software
- Company insights
Our all-in-one CRM is designed to grow with your business, making your job easier every step of the way. With features such as contact management, email templates, and meeting scheduling, HubSpot CRM is designed to help you sell faster and better.
Its features include email templates, call-tracking tools, sales automation capabilities, and pipeline management systems. You can also automate tasks, create a personalized appointment scheduler, add live chat to your website, and integrate the CRM with your company’s apps and tools through our App Marketplace.
What I Like
HubSpot CRM is part of Sales Hub and can be bundled with Marketing Hub, CMS Hub, and Service Hub for even greater functionality. This tool is ideal for real estate agencies that want to scale while keeping all of their systems unified in one place.
What Users Say
“Everything you need in a CRM.” — Estevan R., Brand Marketing Lead, Mid-Market
- “From the customer management, plug-in functionality, and user-friendly interface, this has everything we need … This platform by which all CRMs should be measured as they are truly the Gold Standard.”
“One of the best CRM tools!” — Viraj M., Small Business
- “It’s got a refreshing UI, the filter options are really good, the contacts that can be stored are unlimited, and the customizations are virtually unlimited. For someone who has never used a CRM, the setup and usage are a breeze …”
Pricing: Individuals and small teams can use the tools for free. Paid versions start at $15 a month per seat. Professional versions cost $90 a month seat. Enterprise plans cost $150 a month per seat.
2. Pipedrive
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Key Features
- Syncs with Google Calendar
- Segment leads
- Contact management
- Insights and reporting
- Email and communication tracking
Pipedrive was designed to simplify the CRM experience for users. The tool makes sales visual by creating customized pipelines so you can see exactly where all of your deals are in the sales process.
Notable features include reminders, Google Calendar syncing, and task automation. Its visual sales pipeline also allows you to update contact data, create new deals, and take a sale from start to finish in one intuitive, drag-and-drop interface.
What I Like
Pipedrive is built for sales and offers a mobile app and integrates its system with popular third-party systems, including Asana, Trello, and Slack.
What Users Say
“Great for SMB B2B sales and account management!” — Josh L., Business Development Manager, Small Business
- “I love that Pipedrive is business-centric (rather than person-centric), I can easily add and format custom fields … The built-in reporting functionality has almost everything I need out of the box for my team to manage their pipelines.”
Pricing: Essential plans cost $14 a user per month. Advanced plans cost $29 a user per month. Professional plans cost $49 a user per month. Power plans cost $64 a user per month. Enterprise plans cost $99 a user per month.
3. Zoho CRM
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Key Features
- Easy collaboration
- Customer segmentation
- Comprehensive analytics
- Robust automation
- Personalized solutions
Zoho CRM allows agents to connect with customers no matter where they are. By integrating with live chat software, email, and social media, you can set up real-time notifications to be in the know any time a lead or customer interacts with your business. The real-time reports and insights ensure you can have up-to-date data at your fingertips, no matter your location.
What I Like
Other features I like include workflow automation, contact management, and deal management from stage to stage. You can also build a sales process for your real estate agents so that prospective buyers get a consistent experience regardless of the team member they work with.
What Users Say
“Zoho CRM has totally changed the way I control my clients” — Ridhi S., Small Business
- “I like that I can easily customize the dashboards to my requirements. I can see instantly the status of my sales possibilities, project development, as well as customer interaction.”
Pricing: Standard plans cost $14 a user per month. Professional plans cost $23 a user per month. Enterprise plans cost $40 a user per month. Ultimate plans cost $52 a user per month.
4. Real Geeks
Key Features
- Agent routing
- In-app, email, and SMS notifications
- Real-time lead activity monitoring
- Activity History
- Advanced Search Filtering
Real Geeks CRM provides automated support for real estate businesses. As leads enter the system, it notifies agents via email and mobile, allowing you to follow up immediately. Managers can also track agent accountability and productivity for optimal performance and training opportunities.
What I Like
With Real Geeks, you can also create an IDX website for your real estate business without needing to code it from the ground up.
Using this website creation feature, you can list properties from your target geographical areas, create landing pages for your agents, and create a home valuation landing page for prospective sellers. All the leads that come through the site will automatically enter your CRM as contacts.
What Users Say
“User-friendly CRM built for Real Estate” — Abby R., Small Business
- “My favorite [part] is the ease of impersonating clients’ searches in the MLS to build customized searches for them. This encourages them to search properties via my website and helps me see what they are interested in touring.”
Pricing: Establish plans cost $299 a month. Grow plans cost $599 a month. Expand plans cost $999 a month. Conquer plans cost $1599 a month.
5. Follow Up Boss
Key Features
- Imports leads from 200+ sources
- Mobile app
- Outbound call management
- Central OS
Follow Up Boss is a real estate CRM designed to turn every agent into a top performer. Notable features include auto-send for emails, inbound and outbound call management, and automated text messaging in one streamlined interface.
What I Like
Follow Up Boss’s lead providers include Zillow and Realtor.com, which are natively integrated into the platform, as well as Homes.com. You can also integrate with useful third-party tools such as Showcase IDX, an IDX plugin, and RealSavvy, a software tool for creating IDX websites.
What Users Say
“The Follow Up Boss community levels up every aspect of your real estate business!” — Tricia S., Small Business
- “It’s user-friendly, but if you have questions, support is super responsive by phone or email. Also, you’re assigned an account manager. One of my favorite things they do is video examples step-by-step from my account.”
Pricing: Grow plans cost $58 a user per month. Pro plans cost a user per month. Platform plans cost $833 a user per month.
6. IXACT Contact
Image SourceKey Features
- Mobile app and Google Sync
- Personalized ‘mass texts’ and auto-responder
- Tracks commissions
- Monitor sales pipeline health
- Nurture and convert leads into clients
IXACT Contact is a real estate CRM and marketing automation solution that acts like an assistant, helping agents and teams organize critical business information.
Its main feature is contact management and lead nurturing. With IXACT, you can send personalized mass texts and set up automated reminders to keep in touch with current clients. You can also capture leads from websites such as Zillow, manage your property listings, and track commissions.
What I Like
New users are offered a concierge setup service, helping you migrate your existing data from documents and spreadsheets into their easy-to-manage database. The platform also offers pre-written campaigns, letters, and newsletters you can customize and distribute for your business.
What Users Say
“Robust, reasonably priced CRM for small brokerages” — Tom B., Licensed Associate Real Estate Broker, Small-Business
- “This is a great CRM for small brokerages, looks good and provides all the functionality most agents will need without breaking the bank.”
Pricing: Plans start at $46.75 a month when billed annually or $55 a month when billed monthly.
7. Close
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Key Features
- All-in-one selling
- Automation with workflows and call assistant
- Email and calendar sync with customizable call software
- Sales funnel reporting
- 100+ integrations
Close is a robust CRM with built-in sales automation. Features most appealing to real estate professionals include two-way email sync, built-in calling and SMS, and a comprehensive search feature so you and your team will never have to hunt for prospect information again.
What I Like
Another handy tool is the in-app Zoom integration, allowing you to host Zoom meetings directly on the CRM. The recording will be added automatically to your contact’s card for easy access in the future.
What Users Say
“Efficiency improvement & easy integration — my experience with Close,” Yannik H., Digital Marketing Manager, Small Business
- “The automation features of Close have revolutionized my workday. From email sequencing to call automation, everything is designed to accelerate the sales cycle while simultaneously maintaining personal relationships with potential customers.”
Pricing: When billed annually, startup plans cost $49 a user per month; professional plans cost $99 a user per month; enterprise plans cost $139 a user per month.
8. Nutshell
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Key Features
- Custom reports
- Easy team collaboration
- Marketing & email automation
- Intuitive sales automation
- Insightful reporting
Nutshell CRM is a customizable platform that reduces time-wasting tasks for you and your fellow agents. With contact management, Gmail integration, and sales automation capabilities, this CRM is designed to save you time and expedite the sales process. Useful features include automated email sequences, one-click phone dialing and recording, and funnel and activity reports that let you know how your business is doing.
What I Like
I like how you can have multiple sales pipelines if you deal in both commercial and residential real estate. This is useful if you serve multiple client types with different buying stages and processes.
What Users Say
“Exactly what we were looking for!” — Mariah B., Small Business
- “We love how customizable the platform is … It helps that they integrate with Zapier as well so we can connect our different systems together. Great to communicate with the whole team and have an area where you can see the big picture and everything at once.”
Pricing: Foundation plans cost $16 a user per month. Pro plans cost $42 a user per month. Power AI plans cost $52 a user per month. Enterprise plans cost $67 a user per month.
9. Less Annoying CRM
Key Features
- No complicated price tiers
- Easy to use
- Team collaboration-friendly
- Empowered support
- Small business focused
It’s all in the name — Less Annoying CRM is designed to be incredibly easy for small teams to learn and use. They offer customizable real estate features, including pipelines for tracking sellers and buyers and straightforward analytics.
What I Like
You can keep your entire team’s events and tasks in one calendar, streamlining communication from agent to agent and reducing friction in internal projects. Less Annoying CRM also allows you to restrict access to certain data and tools so that your team can focus only on what they need to focus on.
What Users Say
“The first CRM that actually works for me!” — Carol M., Small Business
- “The integration with my existing email and calendar is fantastic — no more double entry of messages, events, and tasks. If you want a CRM that you can simply and quickly adapt to your sales style, Less Annoying is definitely for you!”
Pricing: $15 per user a month.
10. Freshsales CRM
Key Features
- Lead scoring
- SMS, email, and chat capabilities
- AI-based insights
Freshsales CRM (a product of Freshworks) includes features such as contact management, lead scoring, and a built-in phone system so you can keep your important lead data in one place. You can also add custom fields, create custom sales activities, and manage your sales pipeline in an intuitive drag-and-drop interface.
What I Like
Freshsales’ analytics and dashboards are top-notch. You can toggle between table, list, and Kanban view for customers, score contacts, and predict deal closures and sales forecasts with Freddy AI insights.
What Users Say
“Versatile & affordable, modern CRM” — Georgia H., Mid-Market
- “It combines simple off-the-shelf functionality, with highly configurable & bespoke elements so very suitable for our specific requirements as we needed a bespoke booking system built into our CRM. I also like how it is ‘future-proof’ & is continually being enhanced with additional functionality at no extra cost.”
Pricing: When billed annually, growth plans cost $9 a user per month; pro plans cost $39 a user per month; enterprise plans cost $59 a user per month.
11. NetHunt CRM
Key Features
- Integrates with Google Workspace
- Centralized metric tracking and reports
- Omni-channel communication
- Streamlines commission calculations
- Automated workflows
NetHunt CRM is specifically created for real estate agents and agencies. This tool integrates seamlessly with Google Workspace, allowing you to close deals, manage contacts, and organize buyer profiles directly in your Gmail web app.
What I Like
Since real estate agents work on the go, the Gmail integration is a game-changer. You can access all your client’s data, documents, and past conversations within your Gmail account. You can also create email templates that make it effortless to communicate with clients.
What Users Say
“Best G Suite CRM” — Nick A., Small Business
- “The Gmail interface is a lifesaver. We can manage all of our CRM, project, event, and client information from right inside Gmail. Very easy to use, and not much to the setup, the workflow and automations were very intuitive and straightforward to create.”
Pricing: Basic plans cost $24 a user per month. Basic plus plans cost $34 a user per month. Business plans cost $48 a user per month. Business plus plans cost $68 a user per month. Advanced plans cost $99 a user per month.
12. kvCORE
Key Features
- One central place to manage leads and SOI
- Ongoing contact validation & insights
- Sophisticated lead routing
- AI-driven automated follow-up
- Collaborate across the brokerage
KvCORE is a comprehensive real estate platform designed to help real estate professionals manage their businesses more efficiently. The platform has social media and SMS tools to make it easy to stay in touch with customers. It also integrates with DocuSign, Dotloop, and SkySlope for signatures.
What I Like
With kvCORE, you can create fully customizable IDX websites with real-time property alerts for home buyers. The platform’s AI-powered behavioral automation follows up with leads automatically at a time when they’re most likely to respond.
What Users Say
“The CRM That I Recommend to my Real Estate Team!” — Igor T., Mid-Market
“Once you login to your kvCORE, you might feel overwhelmed for a short period of time … But after that first 20 minutes of using the CRM, you will love it as much as I love it … I use this CRM daily, and I recommend it to my entire team of 50+ realtors.”
Pricing: Available upon request.
Grow Your Real Estate Business with a CRM
Managing a real estate business is no easy task. A long list of properties, an expansive portfolio of real estate listings, and a high volume of contacts can feel overwhelming to organize in one place. But that’s where a real estate CRM comes in. By using a CRM, you can improve your client communication while making the sales process faster and easier for you and your team.
Editor’s note: This post was originally published in September 2020 and has been updated for comprehensiveness.
