01The four records that matter: the person, the search, the property, the next call
A real estate CRM is a memory, and it needs to hold four things. The person: name, how they reached you, whether they buy, rent or sell. The search: area, rooms, rough budget and timeline, in a few set fields rather than a free-text note. The property: price, status (available, reserved, sold), the owner and every price change. And the next action: a date and what you promised. That is enough to answer the question that earns commission, which is who asked for something like this flat last month. A form with forty fields is the one nobody fills in between viewings.
- Person: name, contact, source, and whether they buy, rent or sell
- Search: area, rooms, rough budget and timeline, in set fields
- Property: price, status, owner and price history
- Next action: a date and what you promised
02Where leads actually arrive, and whether the CRM can see them
A CRM only knows what is entered or what flows into it on its own. List where your enquiries really come from: listing portals by email, phone calls, WhatsApp, a form on your site, referrals. Calls and WhatsApp messages have to be logged by a person, so pick one place and one habit, such as noting the call within a minute of hanging up. Ask any vendor how a portal enquiry gets into the system and what happens to a message sent after hours. PROOF48's AUTOMATE plan bundles a CRM with website chat, AI DM and email auto-responders and booking automation. It does not cover WhatsApp or phone, so anything that arrives there is yours to log.
- List every channel where enquiries arrive and count them for a month
- Phone and WhatsApp are logged by a person, within a minute of the call or message
- Ask any vendor how a portal enquiry gets in and what happens to an after-hours message
- AUTOMATE covers website chat, DM, email and booking, not WhatsApp or phone
03Personal data: keep less, and know where it lives
A CRM holds names, phone numbers, budgets and sometimes identity details of buyers and owners. Article 5(1)(c) of the GDPR asks for personal data to be adequate, relevant and limited to what is necessary for the purposes it is processed for, and Article 5(1)(e) asks for it not to be kept in identifiable form longer than necessary. In practice: do not store copies of identity documents in a chat or a notes field, give each agent access to their own clients, and take access away the day someone leaves. Ask the vendor where the data is hosted. How long you may keep a lead who never bought is a question for your lawyer or data protection adviser, not for us.
- Store what you need to do the deal, and nothing more
- No photos of identity documents in chats or free-text notes
- Access per agent, removed the day someone leaves
- Retention periods and consent wording: your lawyer or data protection adviser decides
04Spreadsheet, off-the-shelf tool or something built
With a handful of live deals, a spreadsheet with four tabs for people, searches, properties and next calls is a CRM, and it costs nothing. An agency with several agents and a steady flow of enquiries outgrows it, and a ready-made tool is the next step. We cover the general question in our post on whether you need a CRM or better automation: a CRM is only useful when something feeds it. PROOF48's AUTOMATE bundles a CRM with chat and booking at 2,997 EUR a month, which suits an agency whose enquiries already arrive on its website, in DMs and by email. A CRM built around your own listings and buyer matching is a web app, from 5,000 EUR, with its own timeline.
- A few live deals: a spreadsheet with four tabs
- Several agents and steady enquiries: a ready-made CRM tool
- AUTOMATE: a CRM bundled with chat and booking, 2,997 EUR a month
- A CRM built around your listings and buyer matching: a web app, from 5,000 EUR
05Where PROOF48 is the wrong choice for a real estate agent
We have not built a CRM for a real estate agency, and none of our eight published builds is one. For a solo agent, AUTOMATE at 2,997 EUR a month is the wrong purchase: a spreadsheet and a calendar reminder cost nothing. It is also wrong if your enquiries come mainly by phone and WhatsApp, because they sit outside the plan and the CRM would never see them unless you log them yourself. A matching tool that pairs each new listing with the buyers who asked for something similar is a custom web app, from 5,000 EUR, and we would settle its scope with you before building. If you have no website yet, the site comes first: up to about five pages, 500 to 2,500 EUR, built in 48 hours and paid for after the preview.
- No real estate CRM among our eight published builds
- A solo agent: a spreadsheet and a calendar reminder cost nothing
- Enquiries by phone and WhatsApp sit outside AUTOMATE
- Matching listings to buyers: a custom web app, from 5,000 EUR
Not an agency: one record shape for three kinds of work
None of our eight builds is a real estate agency. The closest is ATP Spedition, which runs courier, moving and freight, three different kinds of work. We built them one job model that covers all three, each with its own rules, and it carries a job from quote through dispatch and delivery to invoice and payment in one system. For an agent the lesson that carries over is the same: one record shape for a sale, a rental and a valuation, instead of three spreadsheets. We have no traffic or volume figures for ATP to quote, and no real estate numbers either.
See the build: ATP SpeditionQuestions, answered
Does a solo real estate agent need a CRM?
Probably a spreadsheet first. With a handful of live deals, four tabs (people, searches, properties, next calls) and a calendar reminder do the job. A CRM tool earns its cost when several agents share the same enquiries.
Can a CRM log my WhatsApp chats and phone calls?
Not as part of AUTOMATE, which covers website chat, DM, email, booking and CRM. Anything that arrives by WhatsApp or phone is logged by a person.
Can PROOF48 build a CRM that matches buyers to my listings?
That is a custom web app, from 5,000 EUR, with its own timeline. We have not built a real estate one, and we would settle the scope with you before building.
Does using a CRM make me GDPR compliant?
No. A tool holds the data, and the obligations stay with you. Article 5 asks for data limited to what is necessary and kept no longer than necessary. A lawyer or data protection adviser confirms what applies to your agency.
Where PROOF48 fits
A real estate agent needs a CRM that remembers the person, the search, the property and the next call, that something actually feeds, and that holds no more personal data than the deal needs. For a few deals a spreadsheet does it. PROOF48's AUTOMATE plan, at 2,997 EUR a month, bundles a CRM with chat and booking for an agency, not WhatsApp or phone, and we say plainly when it is more than you need.
Cosmin Tiu · Founder, PROOF48
Cosmin has worked in online marketing and software development since 2018, and has built with AI every day since January 2023. He still writes code from scratch daily, in Python, React, Rust and C#. PROOF48 ships business websites in 48 hours and invoices afterwards, so every opinion on this blog was paid for in real builds, not in theory.