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Jeff is a writer, founder, and small business expert that focuses on educating founders on the ins and outs of running their business. From answering your legal questions to providing the right software for your unique situation, he brings his knowledge and diverse background to help answer the questions you have about small business operations.
Cassie is a deputy editor collaborating with teams around the world while living in the beautiful hills of Kentucky. Focusing on bringing growth to small businesses, she is passionate about economic development and has held positions on the boards of directors of two non-profit organizations seeking to revitalize her former railroad town. Prior to joining the team at Forbes Advisor, Cassie was a content operations manager and copywriting manager.
Jeff is a writer, founder, and small business expert that focuses on educating founders on the ins and outs of running their business. From answering your legal questions to providing the right software for your unique situation, he brings his knowledge and diverse background to help answer the questions you have about small business operations.
Cassie is a deputy editor collaborating with teams around the world while living in the beautiful hills of Kentucky. Focusing on bringing growth to small businesses, she is passionate about economic development and has held positions on the boards of directors of two non-profit organizations seeking to revitalize her former railroad town. Prior to joining the team at Forbes Advisor, Cassie was a content operations manager and copywriting manager.
Contributor, Editor
Updated: Mar 2, 2024, 5:32pm
Editorial Note: We earn a commission from partner links on Forbes Advisor. Commissions do not affect our editors' opinions or evaluations.
A real estate CRM is a customer relationship management (CRM) system that helps manage all communications with both leads and clients. CRM tools are becoming more important to the daily work of real estate agents and the success of their brokerages every year. The best real estate CRM will be specific to the industry with features, such as email and text messaging, lead follow-up tools and click-to-call capabilities.
Many CRM platforms can be customized to fit the needs of real estate agents, even if they aren’t made specifically for the industry. However, there are some CRMs that are more effective for real estate agents. Forbes Advisor has put together a list of our favorite CRM software for real estate agents today, all of which are built for their specific needs.
Propertybase: Best for end-to-end real estate management
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We reviewed a number of CRMs using a detailed methodology to help you find the seven best real estate CRMs. Our ratings considered many factors, including the depth and quality of features, reviews by actual users, several metrics around pricing and an overview by our panel of experts. All ratings are determined solely by our editorial team.
Best overall real estate crm
Wise Agent
3.8
Our ratings take into account a product's cost, features, ease of use, customer service and other category-specific attributes. All ratings are determined solely by our editorial team.
Wise Agent is a good all-around CRM for real estate agents that offers many features you’d expect, including automated emails and SMS texting. Wise Agent sets itself apart with comprehensive customer support that makes it easier to customize or integrate the software with other tools. Wise Agent’s customer support always offers a real person and is available 24/7/365. This is almost unheard of in the CRM space.
Wise Agent also offers a plethora of integration options to streamline your communication and lead generation services. From bringing leads in to nurturing them and retargeting old customers, the integration options will cover you for any feature that Wise Agent doesn’t offer out of the box.
Who should use it: Agents who might need a good deal of customer support due to not being technically inclined or wanting lots of integrations and customization options.
A/B testing through strong email automation options
Strong value for money
Weak interface compared to other options
Need integrations to get some features others offer
Best real estate CRM with AI tools
LionDesk
3.7
Our ratings take into account a product's cost, features, ease of use, customer service and other category-specific attributes. All ratings are determined solely by our editorial team.
Starting Price
$25 per month
(billed annually)
Top Features
AI-powered lead assistant, bulk texting, customizable fields
AI-powered lead assistant, bulk texting, customizable fields
30 days
Editor's Take
LionDesk is an industry leader because it incorporates most features any real estate agent would be looking for. The CRM includes rich messaging options and click-to-call, and you’re able to customize just about any field in your pipeline management. Additionally, LionDesk offers an AI-powered lead follow-up tool that can automate texts and streamline new sales.
LionDesk is also one of the easiest CRMs to use right out of the box, making it a top choice for individual agents or small teams. You can set up LionDesk within an hour or two, in most cases, and start using it to reach out to customers or set up automated messages within the same day.
Who should use it: Agents that need an out-of-the-box solution that is easy to customize. Those who want an automated text solution to follow up with leads and prospects will also find this CRM tough to beat.
Pipeline management isn’t as strong as other platforms
No solid transaction management flow
Most customizable real estate CRM
Realvolve
3.7
Our ratings take into account a product's cost, features, ease of use, customer service and other category-specific attributes. All ratings are determined solely by our editorial team.
Starting Price
$94 per month
(billed annually)
Top Features
Workflows, customized dashboards, library of templates for workflows and campaigns
Workflows, customized dashboards, library of templates for workflows and campaigns
14 days
Editor's Take
Realvolve is a great CRM choice with a lot of great features that real estate agents need. It takes this a step further by offering customized workflows that help you get both your workspace and your communications exactly how you would like them to be. Plus, in case you’re not sure how to set things up, Realvolve has put together a library of templates to spark your ideas on everything from the workflows themselves to actually how you should reach out to leads.
Who should use it: Individual agents who need either a lot of customization or are looking for help in determining how and when to communicate with leads or clients.
Pros & Cons
Workflows to automate your communications
Some of the strongest customization options available
Templates for everything
Can be difficult to learn how to use efficiently
No drag and drop option to build out your workflows
Best real estate CRM for integrations
Follow Up Boss
3.6
Our ratings take into account a product's cost, features, ease of use, customer service and other category-specific attributes. All ratings are determined solely by our editorial team.
Starting Price
$58
per user, per month
Top Features
Unlimited leads and contacts, automatic follow-up, drip and batch emailing
Unlimited leads and contacts, automatic follow-up, drip and batch emailing
14 days
Editor's Take
Follow Up Boss is a popular CRM tool throughout the real estate industry and has been an industry leader for a number of years. While we feel like other options have progressed faster, Follow Up Boss continues to offer great features that make it a solid choice. All messaging options are directly integrated within the software, including email, texting and calls.
Its features, combined with the hundreds of integration options, make it customizable for just about anyone. However, if you don’t have strong tech capabilities you may find it difficult to use for your specific needs.
Who should use it: Follow Up Boss is a good option for just about anyone with the tech capabilities to set up integrations and make customizations on their own. If you don’t feel like you’ll need a lot of customer support help, then you should give it a try.
Pros & Cons
Seamless user experience
Strong marketing tools that offer built-in texting, email and calling
Long list of built-in integration options
Value for money isn’t as strong as other options
Customer service can be slow to respond
Best real estate CRM for automation
Top Producer
3.6
Our ratings take into account a product's cost, features, ease of use, customer service and other category-specific attributes. All ratings are determined solely by our editorial team.
Starting Price
$129 per user
per month
Top Features
Large amount of built-in integrations, email automation options, transaction management tools
Large amount of built-in integrations, email automation options, transaction management tools
None; demo available
Editor's Take
Top Producer has been an industry leader for quite a while and it has kept up with industry trends by implementing new features and innovating on its old product. This CRM comes with a plethora of built-in integration options and advanced tools that help your automation hit the next level of effectiveness. Overall, Top Producer is a solid option but isn’t the most affordable CRM on our list.
Who should use it: Agents or teams that need transaction management tools or advanced features, like syncing with your MLS, will find it difficult to beat Top Producer.
Pros & Cons
Email automation can sync with your MLS
Strong transaction management tools that many options don’t have
Excellent lead management tools
Value for money isn’t as strong as other options
No free trial readily available
Best real estate CRM for marketing
Market Leader
3.5
Our ratings take into account a product's cost, features, ease of use, customer service and other category-specific attributes. All ratings are determined solely by our editorial team.
Starting Price
Contact sales team
Top Features
Automated text listing alerts to clients, strong marketing automation tools, list properties directly on your site
Automated text listing alerts to clients, strong marketing automation tools, list properties directly on your site
None without a demo
Editor's Take
Market Leader is a solid CRM option that takes marketing automation and listing management to the next level. All within the single platform, you can post your listings directly to your website and your network of clients will be alerted if the listing matches their criteria. While the value-add of automating a lot of your business can’t be overlooked, the pricing is unclear. You’ll have to reach out to the sales team to schedule a consultation and determine pricing for your unique situation.
Who should use it: Agents needing a large amount of automation in both marketing and client management will find Market Leader as a good option.
Pros & Cons
Marketing automation tools
Built-in leads platform can be added on
Automates lead generation and conversion
Unclear pricing
No free trial readily available
Best for end-to-end real estate management
Propertybase
3.4
Our ratings take into account a product's cost, features, ease of use, customer service and other category-specific attributes. All ratings are determined solely by our editorial team.
Starting Price
Contact sales team
Top Features
AI-powered lead assistant, bulk texting, customizable fields
AI-powered lead assistant, bulk texting, customizable fields
None without a demo
Editor's Take
Propertybase is a full-featured platform that provides much more than just traditional CRM solutions. It is built to manage an end-to-end real estate business. It is a robust solution that can be more expensive than other CRM options and is really for a specific target audience of a larger brokerage or team. You can manage everything from lead generation to MLS postings and website development within the same system. Like Market Leader, the company doesn’t list pricing on the website and requires you to speak to a representative for details.
Who should use it: Teams or agents needing more than just a CRM to manage their business will find Propertybase as a potential solution. If you’re managing a large team or brokerage, then this could be a great solution to streamline internal operations and communications and make working with clients much more effective.
Pros & Cons
Many more features than most CRM options offer
Built-in MLS interface to use right inside the software
Advanced lead scoring that can be customized
It can be expensive compared to other options
No free trial readily available
Texting and in-app dialing are add-ons
Forbes Advisor Ratings
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Wise Agent
3.8
$49 per month, billed monthly, or $499 per year (billed annually)
As we were choosing the best CRM for real estate agents, we considered all of the factors that make the needs of a real estate agent unique and important. We looked at everything from pricing and ease of use to the specific real estate industry features that are available. Let’s look at the most important criteria that impacted our recommendations.
Pricing
We wanted to make sure that all the options on this list were affordable for what each offered. The value for the amount you’ll have to spend was weighed to make sure that each solution is a viable candidate to use compared to the competition. Additionally, we looked at the range of prices between plans and the value that each higher-priced plan brings to the user. We also looked for transparent pricing by a provider as some require potential customers to contact their sales department to receive a quote. This accounted for 10% of our weighted scoring.
Features
We looked for how the features meet the specific needs of real estate agents and teams. Real estate agents need more direct messaging features with easy access to history since some customers won’t provide repeat business for years to come. Being able to easily communicate with leads, prospects and past customers in different ways was a necessity. Other features we considered for essential included pipeline management, analytics tools, custom dashboards, document libraries, third-party integrations, mobile apps and multicurrency support. We weighted features at 55% of our total score.
Third-party Reviews
We researched reviews from real users to gauge their opinion of each platform. This entailed ranking both the overall score from customers and the number of reviews on site that included G2 and Capterra for these scores to give the fullest picture of reality and reduce bias. These accounted for 5% of the total score.
Expert Analysis
Our experts preferred software that was not only easy to navigate and use without any customizations but also one that is easy to make needed changes without a tech team. Agents don’t have a lot of extra time to learn a complicated CRM system, so the more it just works with their natural workflow, the better.
Other factors we looked at include value for the money, popularity and stand-out features, such as customer support. Many real estate agents don’t have access to a tech team, so customer support on all software can be very important. Whether you might need help setting up integrations or just to get the software running, customer support plays a big role in finding any software—especially a CRM that you’ll be using every week. Altogether, this analysis makes up 5% of the total score.
A CRM is a software platform you can use to gather customer data to share with others on your staff and internal teams. This makes it possible for your teams to create opportunities that will allow them to increase sales and create long-term clients for your business.
Who uses CRM software?
Companies that need to nurture leads or create effective and positive customer journeys at scale use CRM software. Many startups manage leads and customers using spreadsheets. As they grow, however, managing a growing list of leads and customers manually can become overwhelming, leading companies to miss out on sales opportunities. A CRM offers efficiency and data storage tools that make managing large lead and customer lists easy.
Why do real estate agents need a CRM?
A CRM system helps real estate agents manage communication and activity with prospects, leads and customers. It helps you keep all of your contacts and communication history in one place so you can convert new customers and retarget old ones easily.
How do I choose a good real estate CRM?
The best real estate CRM should be built specifically for the real estate industry and help you streamline your prospect and customer communications. It should have easy-to-use communication as well as contact and lead pipeline management tools. Make sure that the CRM you pick is made for the real estate industry and matches your specific use case.
How much does a real estate CRM cost?
The costs of real estate CRMs vary and can cost anywhere from $20 per month to more than $1,000 annually and many depend heavily on how many users you put on the platform. Most options have a free trial that lets you test drive whatever solution you think might be the best fit for you.
Does CRM require a large IT investment?
There are plenty of cloud CRM solutions that information technology (IT) novices can employ. You don’t have to make a large investment in physical IT infrastructure or hire IT staff to manage your CRM. Many CRM solutions are available as software as a service (SaaS), which means that you only pay for what you use and can stop using it at any time.
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Jeff is a writer, founder, and small business expert that focuses on educating founders on the ins and outs of running their business. From answering your legal questions to providing the right software for your unique situation, he brings his knowledge and diverse background to help answer the questions you have about small business operations.
Cassie is a deputy editor collaborating with teams around the world while living in the beautiful hills of Kentucky. Focusing on bringing growth to small businesses, she is passionate about economic development and has held positions on the boards of directors of two non-profit organizations seeking to revitalize her former railroad town. Prior to joining the team at Forbes Advisor, Cassie was a content operations manager and copywriting manager.
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