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Brokerage Engine is back-end business management software for real estate brokerages.
Platforms: Browser
Ideal for: All size brokerages
Top selling points:
- Highly flexible, scalable
- Broker-built and influenced
- Nicely consolidated UX
- Custom to existing workflows
- Comprehensive reporting tools
Top concern:
Mainly that it has to compete with what so many brokerages are building in-house. However, solutions like this can level the playing field for mid-size groups losing recruits to the larger brands.
What you should know
Brokerage Engine is build-to-suit software designed to help brokers support their operation in a myriad of ways. It’s very top-down, meaning the company aims to work with leadership to determine priorities and examine best practices before proposing how to best create a solution. This is a good thing. It can offer performance reporting, listing management, in-house buyer needs sharing, company-wide task lists, transaction oversight and accounting capabilities.
Brokerage Engine was revved up while its founders were part of a Sotheby’s operation looking for a unique way to better manage the day-to-day of a growing office, and it’s since been deployed to a number of other Realogy—sorry, Anywhere—brands. It’s also a solutions provider partner with LeadingRE and RE/MAX.
Our demo was centered on a Realogy brand’s solution, offering a robust look at what Brokerage Engine can build for its clients. What I saw was a solid, consultative solution designed to elevate the current processes of its users.
The software has off-the-shelf features, but that’s not the way it approaches client needs. Features can be tweaked and scaled according to agent count, lead generation tactics, reporting needs, task structure and accounting systems.
From a user interface perspective, Brokerage Engine manages to collapse a lot of functionality into concise menu structures and content boxes, critical to getting busy brokers’ buy-in. It’s easy to quickly see what tasks are on tap for the day or week, what listings are coming soon and which agents are sharing buyer needs with the rest of the office, a feature that should be leveraged heavily to keep deals in-house as often as possible.
There’s an agent roster contact list that integrates with a growing list of CRM and marketing system providers, like Cloze and ActivePipe. Remember, this is software meant to augment what you already do, not replace it. Oh, and it has single sign-on capability for smooth access to those partners.
Brokerage Engine highlighted for me its Under Contract Forecast, a peek into what’s expected to produce a closing within variable periods, according to each office. Brokers can benchmark this report against agent performance, use it to make marketing decisions and know what deals may need extra attention to reach the finish line.
And speaking of deals, all listings under the brokerage are easily accessed by leadership, including the agents, vendors and marketing tasks related to them.
For me, the integrated marketing center seemed a bit off-brand for Brokerage Engine. While I understand the need to control costs and see what agents are spending, I found the inclusion of creative, such as postcards, email marketing, social and brochure something most of its CRM partners would likely provide, and an unnecessary add-on.
I can relate to its role in the system, but ultimately, it could be more streamlined without it, and brokers are more results-focused than worried about the copy and content that creates them.
Brokerage Engine has a sharp “links and documents” panel for important brokerage information, and its Transaction feature is smart about pulling in listing data and building out a remarkably detailed breakdown of every financial nuance of the deal. Fees, earned commission details, connected invoices, agent balances, and disbursement authorizations, where applicable, are all here for review.
Contracts and all other critical deal documents can be reviewed for compliance, and every deal has its own unique URL for fast access and interaction. Nice touch.
I don’t have much to say outside the positive for this software, which has been around quite a while before I learned of it by sitting behind one of its team members on my way to Inman Connect New York.
See? All the worthwhile companies go to that event.
Have a technology product you would like to discuss? Email Craig Rowe
Craig C. Rowe started in commercial real estate at the dawn of the dot-com boom, helping an array of commercial real estate companies fortify their online presence and analyze internal software decisions. He now helps agents with technology decisions and marketing through reviewing software and tech for Inman.
