Ten questions to ask before choosing a CRM for your estate agency

Choosing software for an estate agency is not hard. Getting out of the wrong software is. The data has been migrated, the team has adapted, the annual fee has been paid. A few extra hours at the selection stage are cheaper than a year of regret.

The ten questions below are for looking past the polish of the demo. For each one we explain why it matters and what a good answer looks like. We also give PropOrdo's own answers honestly, and on some we are weak.

1. What happens to client data when an agent leaves?

The system should tie records to the company, not to the user. When an agent's account is closed, clients, appointments and conversation records should stay put and be reassignable to another agent. A system that says “the agent can export their data and take it with them” is the agent's system, not the agency's.

PropOrdo: Records belong to the company; when an account is closed the records remain and the manager reassigns them.

2. Which portals does it integrate with?

Listings in Türkiye go on a handful of large portals, and entering each one separately takes time. If there is an integration, ask which portals, in which direction (pushing listings, pulling enquiries) and how reliably it works.

PropOrdo: This is a weak spot. Portal integration is not available for every portal; listings are recorded in PropOrdo and in most cases entered on the portal separately. Competitor listing monitoring exists; automatic listing push is not broadly available. If this is critical for you, know it up front.

3. Who is responsible for mandate expiry?

Is expiry tracking a built-in field, or will you be setting up the reminders yourself? A good answer: the end date is required, reminders are staged, and they reach the manager too.

PropOrdo: The Mandates screen; automatic reminders at 30, 14, 7, 3 and 1 days to the agent and the branch manager.

4. What happens if a viewing outcome is not recorded?

Every product has an appointment calendar. The question is whether the outcome of a completed viewing (positive, negative, no-show) is recorded, and whether an unrecorded outcome corrupts the reports. In a system without outcome entry, the conversion funnel is fiction.

PropOrdo: Appointments close with an outcome; an appointment without one cannot open a sales file.

5. How is the lead source recorded?

Free text or a closed list? Is there a funnel report by source? Are loss reasons captured? Free text produces no report.

PropOrdo: The source is chosen from a short fixed list of channels, with details in a free-text field beside it; the field is not required, and the funnel report shows the share of unsourced records and warns you. The Conversion Funnel breaks down by channel and agent with loss reasons. There is no ad-spend entry per channel; cost per sale is computed in your own spreadsheet.

6. Is there rental and property management, or only sales?

If your agency manages rentals or plans to, you need a collection calendar, rent-review tracking and tenant request logging. Not every product with a “Rentals” tab does rental management.

PropOrdo: Rental Contracts, a collection calendar, Property Management packages and Service Requests. PropOrdo does not hold rent money; it keeps the calendar and the record.

7. How are commission splits calculated?

Agent, branch and company shares; a file shared by two agents; a referral partner's share. Are these calculated, or do they come out of a spreadsheet at month end?

PropOrdo: Commission on a sales file is split agent/branch/company; referral partner commission lives in a separate module.

8. Personal data and security: who sees what, who did what?

Are roles and permissions enforced on the server, or only hidden in the interface? Is there an audit log, and can it be deleted? Is two-factor authentication available? Can deleted records be restored? Are backups taken? These questions are dull, but in a data breach it is the agency's name that appears, not the software's.

PropOrdo: Roles and permissions are enforced server-side; the audit log is append-only with no delete endpoint; optional TOTP 2FA; a recycle bin for restores; daily automatic backups.

9. Can the team use it on a phone, and in which languages?

Agents are in the field; desk-bound software does not get used. Does it genuinely work on a phone, can it be installed as an app? If your team or your clients use a language other than Turkish, is the interface available in it?

PropOrdo: An installable PWA; interface in Turkish, English and Russian. There is no native iOS or Android store app.

10. What is the pricing based on, and how do you leave?

Per user or per company? Is annual payment mandatory? Can you export your data, and in what format? After the contract ends, how long does your data stay accessible?

PropOrdo: Subscription is per company, not per user; monthly or annual, with a discount for annual; current prices are only on the pricing page and the public API, and we do not write a figure here because it can change. You can download a backup dump as JSON. There is a 14-day trial with no credit card.

One last question, for yourself

Software does not create a discipline the office lacks; it makes an existing discipline easier. If nobody records viewing outcomes and nobody writes down mandate dates, the best software shows an empty screen. Before choosing, talk to your team: which three things are they willing to record every day? Choose the software for those, and in the first month ask only for those three.

If you put these ten questions to a vendor and cannot get a clear answer, do not look for it in the demo. Ask us and you will get the answers above, weak spots included.