Before talking about the importance of APIs in the real estate industry, let us first talk about the concept of an API.
An API is an interface that provides developers with a chance to simplify their work when it comes to creating applications. This is because, with an API, these applications are able to communicate with each other and share information and resources. The API also allows developers to use already written code including procedures, sets of classes, and functions among others.
Many multinational companies such as Google, Facebook, and PayPal have opened access to their databases and some of their services by providing developers with an API. These are commonly known as third-party APIs. For instance, you use a third-party API when you display a Twitter feed on your website, log in to an application using your Facebook account, or even display a map on your website using Google Maps.
APIs in the Real Estate Industry
When it comes to the real estate industry, a property API plays a huge role especially in providing developers with access to large real estate databases. These databases are provided by real estate companies that have been in the business and are ready to share the information they have collected with other developers.
In return, property APIs provide users with information such as;
• A detailed analysis of the property industry: Most of the time, people that are renting, selling, or buying a house will be contended with the information they get about a property. However, this is not enough for investors. Investors want to know the current state of the real estate market and possibly predict how the market will look like in the future. Fortunately, property APIs make this possible for them by collecting, analyzing, and providing data in a human readable way through which the investors can make their predictions and get what they need.
• Detailed information about a specific property: If a real estate agent or an investor wants to get all the information about a particular property, they can use an API which in turn would provide them with information such as the features of the location the property of interest is located, criminal levels, natural disaster risks, market value, date of construction, the property condition among others.
• Marketing techniques: APIs provide investors with a chance to effectively market their investments. This is because the APIs offer them access to the latest customer preferences and real estate market conditions.
How do Real Estate APIs Work?
Real estate APIs obtain information about properties from different online sources shared by other real estate proprietors. In some European countries and the United States of America, the most common source is the MLS (Multiple Listing Service). Using this service, for instance, real estate agents are able to share information regarding properties. On the other hand, developers can integrate the MLS database into their applications using an API.
This way, when a customer is using an application to look for an apartment, they visit a property website and enter a search criterion that matches all the requirements that they need. The property website will then access a third-party database using a real estate API, get the resources, and finally pass it back to the customer in a human readable way. This way, the API has made everything simple for both the customer and the developer of the real estate website. The developer saves a lot of time when building their website and is able to gain access to other resources and the customer is able to get a result from large databases that, possibly, contains all the properties available at the time of the search.
Finally, real estate investors need to keep an eye on the next technological trends in the real estate industry to stay afloat in the market. This is because technology has become the mainstream in everything we are doing and has also changed the way real estate operates.