Have suggestions for products that you’d like to see reviewed by our real estate technology expert? Email Craig Rowe.
Quo is an app for agents to collaborate with buyers during home searches and transactions.
Platforms: iOS
Ideal for: All tech-forward agents and teams
Top selling points
- Centralized source of communication
- Multiple listing service (MLS) integrations
- Lifestyle-driven home searches
- Past activity tracking
Top concerns
Quo’s developers are working on transaction workflow that I think will mar the valuable intent of the app in its current state. I could be wrong, but I feel they’re already offering agents and consumers a valuable product.
What you should know
Quo is a sharp, common-sense app that can help real estate agents stay in touch with today’s high-demand, fast-twitch buyers.
Its launch comes at a good time, as inventory shortages are making the buying environment a stressful, rapid-fire experience.
In concept, Quo is simple: buyers and agents can share listings via MLS connection, capture pictures or video, comment on them and arrange showings.
Quo enhances the process with some neat features such as a home preference form that instead of asking only about square footage and budget, uses a list of toggle-button options for “how” they use their home:
If I had to choose:
- Great Location
- Great Space
I use the living room for:
- Relaxing
- Entertaining
Cooking habits, most of the time I:
- Cook
- Eat out
These lifestyle-focused questions provide agents with a much more well-rounded look at what their buyer is seeking in a new home.
Quo also asks about commute times, floor preference and where buyers shop for clothes.
Parties can text or email from within the app, embedding listings, images and videos directly into individual text conversations.
Conversations remain categorized under the listing in question, ensuring agents don’t need to dive into email or their CRM to remember what a buyer said about a listing, kitchen counter or view from the bedroom.
Buyers can “downvote” a listing, schedule a showing or ask questions directly to their agent.
A map interface links listings and preferences together geographically, providing further data for agents to use when narrowing down options.
Alerts let an agent know when a client has liked a listing or changed a preference. Buyers are then alerted when a listing is reduced in price or an open house is scheduled.
Agents can also add listings to a buyer’s dashboard, and buyers can invite others to comment on listings.
Quo can grab contacts from your iPhone or they can be entered manually. In that respect, the user experience is efficient and icon-heavy, clearly developed as an app first, not a companion product to a more robust browser version.
The team at Quo is planning to eventually use the data collected by the app to help agents predict where specific demographics of buyers will prefer to buy. This is a logical byproduct for the app but will likely take quite a while to reach fruition.
Buyer agents in fast-selling urban markets should consider giving this app a trial run at the very least, especially if they’re not already working with buyers in a centralized interface.
Have a technology product you would like to discuss? Email Craig Rowe.
